Charles Hirlinger is a financial advisor with Covenant Financial Advisors, LLC in Phoenix, AZ, holding the PFS™ and Series 66 designations and bringing 25 years of industry experience. He has worked with multiple firms including Cambridge Investment Research and operates his own CPA practice, Charles Hirlinger Company, PC, which provides tax consultation and accounting services. Covenant Financial Advisors offers investment management, financial planning, and retirement plan services to individuals, trusts, and business entities. The firm integrates investment advice with affiliated accounting and tax-preparation services, utilizing a balanced ETF-based approach and providing specialized ERISA retirement-plan advisory and consulting services.

Dylan Huff is a financial advisor with Finest Edge Financial LLC in Scottsdale, AZ. He holds a Series 66 designation and has two years of industry experience. Prior to his current role, he worked at Anthem Strategist and Equitable Advisors. Outside of his advisory work, he provides tax preparation and consulting services through Anthem Strategist. Finest Edge Financial LLC offers portfolio management, financial planning, and retirement-plan consulting to individuals, trusts, estates, and small businesses. The firm’s investment strategies are based on fundamental analysis and include a distinctive service of limited-scope ERISA 3(21) plan advisory arrangements.

Austin Roncancio is a Series 65-licensed financial advisor with nine years of industry experience. He has worked at Synchravest LLC since 2026, following nine years at Quantumvest Inc. and five years at Fresh Air LP. Outside of his advisory work, Roncancio holds ownership interests in an HVAC company and an automotive business. Synchravest LLC is a newly registered investment adviser that offers discretionary asset management and custodial account supervision primarily for individual and high-net-worth clients. The firm employs a combination of fundamental and technical analysis across various investment strategies, with accounts tailored to client objectives and risk tolerance.

Christopher Schembri is a CFA® charterholder and Series 63 licensee with 22 years of industry experience. He is the sole advisor at P3 Financial Management, LLC, an independent firm based in Scottsdale, AZ. In addition to his advisory role, Schembri works as a senior financial analyst at Intel Corporation, where he focuses on metrics related to material returns and process efficiency as part of Intel’s post-sales support. P3 Financial Management provides comprehensive financial planning and investment management services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and small businesses. The firm uses a fundamental analysis framework with a primarily long-term investment approach and offers customized portfolio construction alongside ongoing consulting to align strategies with client goals and risk tolerances.

Katrina Lessard is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with 24 years of industry experience. She is the sole advisor at Lessard Wealth Management, an independent registered investment adviser based in Scottsdale, AZ. Prior to founding her firm, Lessard has been affiliated with LPL Financial since 2015. In addition to her advisory work, she conducts financial education seminars and serves as a notary for client documents. Lessard Wealth Management provides financial planning, consulting, and discretionary portfolio management services primarily to high-net-worth individuals and their families. The firm employs a value-oriented, long-term investment approach combining fundamental and technical analysis, with customized advice delivered through modular written plans or ongoing portfolio management.

Tanner Bortnem is a CFP® with eight years of industry experience, currently serving as a financial advisor at Harmoney Wealth, PLLC. He has worked at multiple firms including Vora Wealth Management and LPL Financial. In addition to his advisory role, he is the owner and attorney of Birch Tree Estate Planning, PLLC, providing legal services focused on estate planning. Harmoney Wealth serves individual clients, trusts, businesses, and employer plan sponsors by offering discretionary investment management and comprehensive financial planning. The firm combines passive and active investment approaches, tailoring portfolios based on client goals, tax considerations, and risk tolerance, with ongoing monitoring and regular plan updates.

Edward Heintz III is the principal of Heintz Wealth Management, LLC, a Scottsdale-based independent firm. He holds the CFP® designation and has 26 years of industry experience, including prior work at RHG Advisors LLC. Heintz has been leading his own firm since 2016. Heintz Wealth Management provides fee-only financial life planning and investment management services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, trusts, estates, and retirement plan sponsors and participants. The firm employs a four-stage financial life planning process and typically constructs portfolios using mutual funds and ETFs, with a focus on long-term holding and tactical asset allocation.

Richard Young is the sole advisor at Young Capital Management Inc in Fountain Hills, AZ, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses with 32 years of experience in the financial industry. He has been running his independent advisory firm since 1990. Young Capital Management, Inc. serves individual clients, including high-net-worth individuals, corporate pension and profit-sharing plans, small businesses, and institutional clients. The firm primarily focuses on individual equities using both fundamental and technical analysis, alongside mutual funds, ETFs, and fixed income, offering discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management and financial planning.

Branch Johnson is a CFP® professional with 19 years of industry experience. He is the owner and president of Vault Financial, LLC, an independent advisory firm he has led since 2008. Vault Financial provides investment advisory and financial planning services to individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, and business entities. The firm employs a combination of fundamental and technical analysis, including option strategies, to manage portfolios on a discretionary basis in alignment with client goals and risk tolerance.

Eric Burns is a Wealth Management Advisor with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. He has over 18 years of experience in the financial services industry, covering areas such as wealth management, lending, and banking. Eric focuses on offering comprehensive wealth management strategies tailored to individual client goals, including family wealth management, managing new wealth, personal retirement planning, small business strategies, and retirement income. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and holds the Personal Investment Advisor (PIA) designation. Eric earned a Bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Arizona State University. He is committed to honesty, simplicity, and transparency in his practice, aiming to help clients make smart financial decisions that positively impact their lives and legacies. Eric works in Scottsdale, Arizona, and lives in Gilbert with his wife and three children. Outside of his professional work, Eric participates in community activities, including volunteering with local organizations such as Gilbert Youth Sports. His personal interests include camping, golfing, ice hockey, and spending time with his family.

Ana Olaya is a financial advisor at Uncaged Impact with Series 65 credentials and experience dating back to 2014. Her prior roles include positions at CK Blueshift LLC and First Affirmative Financial. Uncaged Impact provides investment management, financial planning, and consulting services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, and charitable organizations. The firm emphasizes values-driven investing and philanthropic planning, combining passive and active strategies with ESG considerations and offering both ongoing advice and limited-scope consulting engagements.

Alberto Valtierra Jr. is a financial advisor with Vector Dynamics Wealth Management P.L.L.C. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has one year of industry experience. His prior work history includes roles at J.P. Morgan Securities and Morgan Stanley. Outside of his advisory activities, he is involved in commission-based aviation parts brokerage and real-estate wholesaling. Vector Dynamics Wealth Management serves entrepreneurs, business owners, first-generation high-net-worth individuals, self-employed professionals, US-based clients with cross-border ties, families, and beginning investors. The firm offers comprehensive advisory services with an investment approach emphasizing tactical asset allocation driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical analysis, technical and fundamental research, and options strategies for income and risk management.

Ascension Advisors was created to deliver a more personalized level of service and financial planning. I believe an investment strategy should align with one's values, priorities, and purpose. I created a firm where advisors have the flexibility, technology, and autonomy to craft tailored strategies that empower clients to pursue their goals with intention and confidence. Early in my career, I learned to value quality over quantity—sometimes, less is more. Deep, meaningful relationships built on empathy and trust are the foundation of delivering true client value. Managed growth enables me to cultivate these relationships with intention and provide exceptional client experiences, regardless of client net worth. The need for comprehensive, personalized fiduciary financial planning continues to grow—particularly among select client segments. Ascension Advisors was created to meet that demand. While the core principles of building, managing, protecting, and transferring wealth remain constant, the broader economic and capital markets landscape is dynamic and continuously evolving. Clients are well served when partnering with an advisor who genuinely understands and appreciates their journey—and is committed to helping them reach their destination.

Kevin Schaefer is a CFP® professional with 15 years of industry experience currently serving as the sole advisor at Spirit West Advisors, LLC in Scottsdale, AZ. He has been with Spirit West Advisors since 2017 and has operated Spirit West Certified Planning, LLC since 2014, where he is also involved in insurance sales. His prior experience includes Gradient Advisors, LLC and managing land investment entities. Spirit West Advisors, LLC is an independent, fee-based investment adviser providing discretionary portfolio management and financial planning to individual and high-net-worth clients. The firm employs fundamental analysis and modern portfolio theory to construct portfolios and serves an unusually large client base for a solo advisor.

Kyle Spahn is a CFP® professional with 17 years of industry experience. He has been the principal advisor at Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC since 2016 and briefly worked at Taurum Retirement Partners, LLC in the same year. Spahn Wealth & Retirement provides discretionary portfolio management and tailored asset-allocation advice to individual and high-net-worth clients, managing approximately $167.4 million across about 120 client relationships. The firm’s investment approach is based on Modern Portfolio Theory with tactical adjustments, focusing on diversified allocations and periodic rebalancing aligned with clients’ objectives and risk tolerance.

Courtney Mason is a CFP® and Series 65 credentialed advisor with seven years of industry experience. She has been with CMC Advisors LLC since 2019, which she founded as an independent firm based in Scottsdale, AZ. Prior to this, she was focused on homemaking from 2016 to 2019. CMC Advisors provides investment management, financial planning, and consulting services to individual clients and families. The firm employs a core-satellite investment approach with fundamental and technical analysis, emphasizing large-cap growth positions, active risk management, and the use of derivatives within separately managed accounts.

Kent Stewart is a financial advisor with Dyad Financial Group in Mesa, Arizona, holding Series 65 and Series 66 licenses and bringing 16 years of industry experience. He has operated Dyad Financial Group since 2014 and owns Insurance Professionals of Arizona, an insurance business offering personal and commercial lines. Stewart is also an investor in Diamond Wholesalers LLC, a currently non-operational entity. Dyad Financial Group is a state-registered advisory firm providing discretionary portfolio management primarily for individuals and families. The firm employs a combination of fundamental and technical analysis across various investment strategies and maintains a hybrid model through its affiliation with insurance services.

Gregory Lane is a CFP® with 22 years of industry experience and is the sole advisor at Wellfit Financial in Phoenix, AZ. He has been operating Lane Financial, P.C. since 2009. Wellfit Financial provides asset management and financial consulting primarily to individual and high-net-worth clients, focusing on portfolios composed mainly of ETFs, mutual funds, and other publicly traded securities. The firm emphasizes continuous account supervision with regular reviews and employs a mix of fundamental, technical, and cyclical analysis without accepting discretionary trading authority.

If you are within a few years of retiring, or you have just inherited money and are not sure what to do with it, you are probably weighing decisions that are hard to reverse. When to claim Social Security. Whether to convert to a Roth before required distributions start. Which account to spend down first. What the rules are on an inherited IRA and how much time you actually have. Those questions are all tax questions before they are investment questions. That is the part most people are not getting help with. I am Aaron Randak, a CFP® professional and an Enrolled Agent. The EA credential means I am licensed to represent clients before the IRS and that I prepare tax returns. So when we decide on a Roth conversion or a withdrawal sequence in October, I am the one filing it in April. Nothing gets lost between the advice and the paperwork, because there is no handoff. Most of my clients come to me at one of two points. They are five to fifteen years from retirement and want a straight answer on whether the plan works, what it costs in taxes, and what has to change. Or a parent has died, and there is now an inherited retirement account with distribution rules attached, a house to deal with, and a stack of paperwork that arrived at a difficult time. Some of it can wait. Some of it has deadlines with real money attached. We figure out which is which first. Golden Acre Wealth Management is fee-only and independent. My compensation comes from my clients and nowhere else. I do not sell insurance, I do not earn commissions, and I serve as a fiduciary at all times. I work alongside your estate attorney rather than in place of one, since I am not an attorney and do not draft documents. There are no account minimums. I built the firm that way deliberately, because the people with the most complicated tax situations are not always the ones with the largest portfolios. Here is what happens if you reach out. We spend about thirty minutes on a call. You tell me what is going on and what is worrying you. I tell you what I see, what I would look at first, and whether I am the right person for it. There is no cost and no obligation, and if your situation calls for someone else, I will say so and point you in that direction. I grew up on a farm in rural Iowa and studied Finance and Financial Counseling and Planning at Iowa State. I now live and work in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Annette Bau is a CFP® professional with over 23 years of industry experience. She is the principal of Estate & Retirement Strategies LLC, an independent advisory firm she has led since 1996. She also operates MillionaireSeries.com, an education and certification platform offering workshops and publications related to financial freedom and self-improvement. Estate & Retirement Strategies LLC serves individual clients, including business owners, professionals, and those who are divorced, widowed, or retired. The firm provides comprehensive financial planning and investment management, emphasizing detailed data gathering, estate-planning coordination, and a combination of direct and third-party investment solutions.