Faith Anne Much

Hi, I'm Gerardo but most people call me Jerry. I am a Marine Corps veteran, a first-generation Latino, a CFP® Professional, and the co-founder of Confianza Wealth Management. Everything I've built to this point started from a moment I will never forget. The day I left the Marines, everything changed. In uniform I had structure, purpose, camaraderie, and a consistent paycheck. The day I left, all of it vanished. What followed was a cascade of emotions I was not prepared for: depression, anxiety, and fear. I had grown up facing financial hardships, relying on food stamps and public aid, and suddenly I was on my own with no roadmap and no one who understood what that transition actually costs. That moment changed the direction of my life. I decided to become the guide I wished I had. I obtained my licenses, earned my CFP® certification and my MBA, and joined a firm to learn how to help people build real wealth. For years I helped high-net-worth clients grow their assets but kept seeing the same gap. First-gen families who earn well, save consistently, own property but have no one looking at the full picture. No one building the plan around their actual life. No one who understands that their financial reality includes family obligations that never show up on a spreadsheet and cultural expectations that no textbook ever taught. Growing up in a Latino household, the elders have the final say. I watched financial decisions get made around me that I knew were not right. But questioning them meant disrespecting the people who sacrificed everything for me. So I absorbed it. And I carried that weight into my own financial life without realizing it. I felt the firm I worked at was never built for families like mine. So in 2024, my wife Bianca and I launched Confianza - a name that means trust and confidence built specifically for the first-gen professional who has figured out how to earn well and needs a roadmap for what comes next. We work with first-gen professionals and entrepreneurs, 33 and older, who are already saving and investing but have never had a coordinated financial plan built around their real life: income, assets, family, and the future they are working toward. When I am not working with clients, you will find me outside hiking or camping with Bianca and our German Shepherd, Obi. If you are a first-gen professional or entrepreneur who earns well but has never had a plan built around your actual life, we built this for you.

Scott Weber is a financial advisor with WealthLynk, Inc. in Fallbrook, CA, holding a Series 66 designation and 20 years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at J.P. Morgan Securities, Tollminder, UBS Financial Services, Chase Investment Services Corp., and Morgan Stanley. He is also an independent insurance agent. WealthLynk serves individual and high-net-worth clients by providing ongoing portfolio management, financial planning, and recommendations of third-party investment managers via the Altruist platform. The firm operates primarily on a non-discretionary basis, focusing on client-approved trades and long-term investment strategies.

Rick Alvarado is a CFP®-designated financial advisor with 36 years of industry experience. He has been with Wealth One Advisors since 2000 and has a prior affiliation with LPL Financial dating back to 1993. Rick is based in Fallbrook, CA, and holds the Series 63 license. Wealth One Advisors provides financial planning and consulting services to individuals, high-net-worth households, trusts, estates, and certain pension or profit-sharing plans, with a focus on retirement, estate, and protection planning. The firm offers written plans and consulting engagements without managing client assets, using both fundamental and technical analysis to tailor investment strategies that emphasize long-term asset allocation and periodic rebalancing.

Darren Schuringa is a CFA® charterholder and the sole advisor at Yorkville Capital Management LLC, where he has worked since 2006. He has 20 years of industry experience. Yorkville Capital Management provides discretionary portfolio management and investment supervisory services to high-net-worth individuals and various institutional and household accounts. The firm employs proprietary risk models and asset-allocation algorithms, tactical hedging, and short selling as part of its risk-management strategy.

Amy Sharp is a CFP® professional with over 30 years of experience in financial advising. She is the founder of Amy T. Sharp, CFP, LLC, an independent firm based in Valley Center, CA. Her prior roles include positions at CS Planning Corp, Investacorp Advisory Services Inc, PRUCO Securities, USAA Financial Planning Services, and MSI Financial Services. Outside of advising, she co-owns a family chocolate business producing sugar-free confections. Her firm provides financial planning and portfolio management services to individuals, businesses, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, and charitable organizations. The firm constructs diversified, actively managed portfolios with a systematic approach and offers educational resources including a monthly newsletter and online articles.

Ahmet Turken is a financial advisor with Turken Investments LLC in San Marcos, CA. He holds a Series 65 designation and has six years of industry experience. Prior to founding Turken Investments, he worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific and is currently a Senior Finance Manager at Becton Dickinson, focusing on financial planning and budgeting for their Biosciences division. Turken Investments provides investment management and financial planning services to individuals and legal entities, including executives, retirees, and business owners. The firm emphasizes diversified portfolios based on written Investment Policies and client risk questionnaires, operating on a non-discretionary basis with client approval for trades.