Brian Alex Buttolph

Stephen Lafrance is a financial advisor with Ridgestone Wealth in Greensboro, NC, holding CFP® and Series 66 designations and bringing 19 years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at Commonwealth Financial Network and UBS Financial Services. He also serves as a facilitator for the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program. Ridgestone Wealth is an independent advisory firm offering asset management and financial planning services to individuals, small businesses, trusts, estates, high-net-worth clients, and charities. The firm’s client-driven investment process incorporates fundamental and technical analysis and fiduciary due diligence, while its financial planning covers retirement, tax, estate, and other key areas with ongoing reviews and implementation support.

Corey Hodges is a financial advisor with Impact Partnership Wealth, LLC, holding a Series 65 credential and six years of industry experience. He has held roles at several firms, including Fortified Financial Wealth, LLC and ChangePath, LLC. Outside of advisory work, Hodges is involved in estate planning facilitation and coordination, connecting clients with licensed estate attorneys and providing access to platforms for estate planning documents. Impact Partnership Wealth, LLC serves individuals, corporations, trusts, and retirement plans, offering model portfolio solutions, discretionary asset management, and financial planning. The firm manages approximately $2.96 billion and supports various investment strategies through a broad affiliated service ecosystem.

Will Armfield is a financial advisor with Independent Advisor Alliance, LLC, holding a Series 66 designation and 18 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Independent Advisor Alliance in 2020, he worked at Edward Jones from 2008 to 2014 and at Commonwealth Financial Network from 2014 to 2020. He serves on the boards of two nonprofit organizations in High Point, NC: Family Service of High Point Foundation and High Point ABC Board. Independent Advisor Alliance is an SEC-registered enterprise RIA serving individuals, small businesses, retirement plans, pooled vehicles, charities, and estates. The firm provides a range of services including asset management, financial planning, wealth coaching, and retirement plan consulting, utilizing model portfolios, sub-advisors, and technology platforms through a network of 219 advisory representatives.

Charles Kern III is the sole advisor at Pilot Investment Services, LLC in Greensboro, NC, holding Series 63 and Series 65 credentials with 32 years of industry experience. Since 2015, he has operated his independent advisory firm and also works as an auditor for the Department of the Treasury in Charlotte. Pilot Investment Services, LLC provides discretionary portfolio management and limited financial planning primarily to individual and high-net-worth clients, as well as trusts and estates. The firm manages approximately $1.5 million on a discretionary basis and employs a blend of fundamental, technical, and cyclical analysis to construct portfolios using ETFs, individual equities, bonds, and selective options and margin.

Kathryn Higgins is a Series 65-licensed financial advisor with 10 years of industry experience. She is the sole investment adviser representative at Wrenn House Investments LLC, where she has worked since 2017. In addition to her advisory role, she prepares federal and state tax returns through her accounting firm, K P Higgins CPA PLLC. Wrenn House Investments provides discretionary asset management and investment advice primarily to individuals, high-net-worth individuals, and small business entities. The firm’s investment approach combines cyclical, fundamental, and technical analysis with a focus on long-term holdings, strategic asset allocation, and periodic rebalancing.

We’re built for families! We focus on bridging generations to connect families and their finances. As Baby Boomers, you created more wealth than any generation before you. Now in your retirement years, the economic expansion that aided your careers doesn’t feel as robust. You worry about your savings lasting a lengthy life expectancy. You also worry that your children and grandchildren will be the first generation to not have it better than the generation before them. Our goal is to solve both problems. Our structure allows us to provide the same great advice whether you have a lifetime of savings or you are just starting out. That means we can work with multiple generations, and where appropriate, find opportunities to coordinate across generations while maintaining privacy and independence. I am a millennial myself with over a decade of experience helping retirees with personal finances. That combination of youth and experience gives me an advantage over many of the advisors out there. My youth, to retirees, means I am likely to be around for the entirety of your retirement. All those plans you made with your advisor, will be executed by the advisor that helped you plan them. If that includes an inheritance, good news because I want to work with your heirs too! To a younger generation, you get an advisor you can relate to who doesn’t treat your problems as less significant because you don’t have the same level of assets. Just because I’m young, doesn’t mean I’m green! I was previously the Practicing Partner of a wealth management firm focused solely on retirees. As the lead portfolio manager, I oversaw almost $500 million in client portfolios. That experience means I’ve guided and advised clients through every stage of a successful retirement. It also means I know what a successful retirement looks like. As I’ve always said, best laid plans begin with the end in mind, so my experience serves just as well early in your journey to financial independence. I started my own firm because I saw an increasing need to reconnect families and their finances. Grandparents are providing child care, children are providing elderly care, and everyone is chipping in to pay for education. As much as ever families need each other, and our program is specifically designed to be prepared when they do.