Renee Smyth Lennon

John Bell is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with 21 years of industry experience. He is currently the sole advisor at Free State Financial Planning, LLC, having previously worked at Charles Schwab and Ameritrade, Inc. Beyond his advisory work, he serves as a FINRA arbitrator and acts as the financial secretary and council member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, where he manages donation tracking and budgeting. Free State Financial Planning LLC provides fee-only financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, and businesses. The firm’s guidance is based on Modern Portfolio Theory, emphasizing passive investments through low-cost ETFs and no-load mutual funds, and focuses on delivering educational resources without discretionary investment management.

Michael Hoffman is a CFP® with 18 years of industry experience, currently serving as Co-Managing Director of Forty W Advisors. He previously worked at Verdence Capital Advisors and held roles at Hightower Securities and Hightower Advisors. Forty W Advisors delivers comprehensive wealth management across three critical areas: financial administration, proactive tax-aware planning, and investment management with institutional access. Together, these services help align your personal wealth, family priorities, and business strategy into one coordinated plan, with the goal of reducing complexity and maximizing post-tax wealth.

Ben Arie is a financial advisor with Independent Financial Group, LLC, holding a Series 66 designation and two years of industry experience. He has worked at Sentinel Financial Group and Independent Financial Group since 2022 and previously spent one year at Plotkin Financial Advisors. Ben also has experience selling life and health insurance. Independent Financial Group, LLC provides investment advisory and brokerage services to a diverse client base, including individuals, high-net-worth clients, trusts, and retirement plans. The firm uses a combination of strategic asset allocation, multi-manager portfolios, and ongoing due diligence to develop tailored investment strategies across various risk profiles.

Simeon’s role is to help clients create a coordinated financial strategy that aligns their investments, taxes, retirement income, and long-term goals into one cohesive plan. A big part of his approach is helping clients simplify complexity and make confident decisions during periods of uncertainty.

Kathleen McQuade is a Certified Financial Planner® with three years of industry experience, operating as the sole advisor at her independent firm in Laurel, MD. She has been managing her practice since 2010 and holds a Series 65 license. Her firm provides fee-only financial planning and consulting services to individual clients, focusing on investment, retirement, insurance, education, and estate planning. The practice employs a long-term, buy-and-hold investment approach, primarily recommending no-load, low-cost, tax-efficient mutual funds with asset allocation as the key factor in portfolio returns.

Hi, I’m Matt. My job as a financial planner is to make your life simpler. To help you efficiently and effectively narrow down your options, so you can make the right decisions. And be confident in those decisions for the long-term. Financial planning and investment management are often muddied by unnecessary complexity (usually in an effort to sell you something). It doesn’t need to be this way. I began my career in the financial services industry in 2003 as an analyst with the due diligence law firm Snyder Kearney, LLC (Columbia, MD). At Snyder Kearney, I reviewed public and private securities offerings and evaluated national securities sponsoring companies, focusing on real estate investments and non-traditional investment products. It was there that I realized that I wanted to know more about the practice of law and a lot more about the pretty co-worker in the cubicle next to me, Sylvie. I earned my law degree in 2007 from the University of Baltimore School of Law and married Sylvie in 2008; further proof that education and personal relationships are the investments that produce the best returns. After law school, I practiced law with the firm David Albert & Associates, LLC (Bethesda, MD), focusing in estate planning and administration, guardianship administration, taxation of estates and trusts, and business formations. There, I recognized that helping clients through complicated and often stressful issues was intellectually stimulating and emotionally fulfilling. In 2010, I opened Patuxent Financial Partners, LLC, registered as an Investment Adviser with the State of Maryland in 2017. Here, I leverage my legal background to provide clients with value-added insight in the overlapping areas of estate and financial planning. More importantly, as a personal financial planner and small business owner, I can build lasting relationships with clients and their families; these connections make my work fulfilling, because client success becomes intertwined with my own. I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner and hold the FINRA Series 65 securities registration. Raised in Columbia, Maryland, I graduated from McDaniel College with a bachelor's degree in English. Outside of the office, I enjoy running, reading, and hiking with my wife, son, and our mutt hound, Kodi.