Jeffrey Elfont is the sole advisor at Pinnacle Capital Management in Walnut Creek, CA, holding Series 63 and Series 65 credentials with nine years of industry experience. He has been with Pinnacle Capital Management since 2001 and has prior experience in accounting, taxation, and auditing from his career in CPA firms. Pinnacle Capital Management serves institutional clients and pooled investment vehicles while also working with a small number of individual, non-high-net-worth clients. The firm emphasizes transparent custodian selection and explicit conflict-management policies in its investment management and advisory services.

Matthew Rittmann is the sole advisor at Rittmann Capital Management Co. in Moraga, CA, holding a Series 65 designation with 22 years of industry experience since founding his firm in 2004. He specializes in discretionary asset management and financial planning. Rittmann Capital Management Co. provides tailored investment strategies and financial planning services to individuals, small businesses, trusts, estates, pooled investment vehicles, and charities. The firm employs a combination of fundamental, technical, and charting analysis, managing assets actively with a focus on high-net-worth clients and larger accounts.

Eric Hull is a CFA® charterholder with 20 years of industry experience. He has been with Evergreen Wealth Advisors, Inc. since 2005, serving as the firm's sole advisor. Evergreen Wealth Advisors, Inc. is a fee-only independent registered investment adviser offering discretionary investment management and consulting services to individuals, families, trusts, estates, corporations, and retirement plans. The firm’s investment approach combines strategic and tactical asset allocation with economic trend analysis, emphasizing risk assessment and portfolio volatility control.

Thomas Porta is the sole advisor at Porta Investment Management in Vallejo, CA. He holds the CFP®, CFA®, and Series 63 designations and has 3 years of industry experience. In addition to advising, Porta is a licensed CPA, estate planner, and real estate broker. Porta Investment Management is an independent wealth management and investment advisory firm serving individuals, trusts, pension plans, corporations, and other business entities. The firm provides financial planning, retirement planning, and discretionary portfolio management, incorporating a core portfolio approach with exchange-traded funds and selective individual stocks, along with diversified holdings across multiple asset classes.

Nicholas Fullerton is a CFP® professional with 17 years of industry experience, operating Fullerton Advisors, LLC since 2008. The firm is an independent advisory practice based in Alamo, CA. Fullerton Advisors serves individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, pension and profit-sharing plans, and corporate entities. The firm provides discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management, modular financial planning, and pension consulting, using diversified asset-allocation portfolios built primarily with ETFs and mutual funds guided by fundamental and cyclical analysis.

John Knolle is a CFP® professional with 10 years of experience, serving as the principal of Saranap Wealth Advisors since 2016. He operates as the sole advisor at the independent firm based in Walnut Creek, CA. Outside of his advisory practice, he maintains involvement in rental real estate. Saranap Wealth Advisors provides portfolio management integrated with financial planning and investment consultation to individual and high-net-worth clients, small businesses, and retirement plan sponsors. The firm employs a blend of fundamental, technical, and cyclical analysis with strategies such as active asset management and core-plus-satellite construction, and it is known for serving pension and profit-sharing plan clients as well as offering employer-facing workshops and employee benefit analysis.

Kerri Kimball is a CFP® professional with 19 years of experience in the financial services industry. She is the managing partner and co-owner of Apogee Wealth Advisors, an independent firm she established in 2026. Prior to founding Apogee Wealth Advisors, she worked at Commonwealth Financial Network and Cambridge Investment Research Advisors. Kimball is also a co-author of the book *Redefining Success for Female Entrepreneurs*. Apogee Wealth Advisors provides discretionary asset management, financial planning, and retirement-plan consulting primarily to individuals and high-net-worth clients. The firm employs a combination of fundamental and technical analysis and uses both long- and short-term investment strategies, with portfolio management services delivered through third-party platforms and bundled programs.

Kristy Jiayi Xu is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and the founder of Global Wealth Harbor, a fee-only registered investment advisor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She provides financial planning and investment management for clients who are building or preserving wealth. She specializes in working with tech professionals, Chinese immigrants who moved to the U.S. for school, work, or business, and business owners. Kristy also holds the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation for helping business owners plan for an exit and analyzing what it means for their personal finances. Kristy was born in China and is a native Mandarin speaker. She moved to the U.S. during high school attended a boarding school in Pennsylvania. She earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University Stern School of Business and worked at Raymond James and The Stanich Group analyzing securities and developing investment portfolios for clients. Kristy then realized she wanted to be a financial advisor and meet the clients she was building portfolios for and help them directly with their investments and financial plans. So, Kristy earned an MBA degree at Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business,, where she met her husband who was pursuing a PhD in Physics and they moved to the bay area after graduation. Kristy got to know a number of tech professionals from Carnegie Mellon University and became their go-to person when they have investment questions because of Kristy's in-depth analysis approach when answering their questions. This is when Kristy made up her mind to start her own company to help those who are great at their work, but need help from a trusted financial professional for their personal finance. Today, Kristy works with clients from a wider range of backgrounds and helps them navigate more varied and complex financial situations, but has kept her promise of delivering in-depth analysis and providing customized services to each of her clients. In her spare time, Kristy enjoys sharing her financial planning knowledge, so you will see her sharing thoughts on New York Times, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Investor Business Daily, Wealth Management, etc. Outside of work, Kristy enjoys spending time outdoors with her daughter.

Michael Wilson is a financial advisor at Blueprint Retirement Advisors LLC in Moraga, CA, holding the ChFC® designation and Series 63 license with six years of industry experience. He previously worked at State Farm Insurance for 13 years before founding Blueprint Retirement Advisors in 2019. Wilson produces educational content through a YouTube channel and conducts workshops. Blueprint Retirement Advisors serves individual investors and business clients, including retirement plan sponsors and small pension plans, by providing advisor selection, monitoring services, and financial planning. The firm does not manage client accounts directly but identifies and monitors third-party money managers who implement asset-allocation strategies using mutual funds and ETFs.

John Cha is a financial advisor at KLESIS Advisors, LLC with 20 years of industry experience. He previously worked at VBL Advisors LLC for five years and TLA Capital Management, LLC / Twin Lakes Capital Management, LLC for 17 years. He holds a Series 63 designation. KLESIS Advisors, LLC is an independent investment adviser serving individuals and high-net-worth clients with investment advisory services, managed accounts, and financial planning. The firm customizes advice based on clients’ objectives, time horizons, and risk tolerances, employing various investment approaches and offering both discretionary and non-discretionary management.

Sammy Sung is a financial advisor with ALE LLC, holding Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and bringing 24 years of industry experience. He has been affiliated with ALE LLC since 2015 and is also involved in real estate brokerage through Exit Excel Realty and Exit Realty Team. In addition to his advisory role, he acts as a trustee for a family trust established in 1997. ALE LLC provides portfolio management, financial planning, and pension consulting services to individuals, pension plans, pooled investment vehicles, and business entities. The firm manages primarily non-discretionary accounts using a range of analytical methods and investment strategies, and is notable for its involvement in real estate brokerage, insurance distribution, and pension consulting.

Jake Birnberg is a financial advisor at Empowering Financial in Berkeley, CA, with 10 years of industry experience. He holds a Series 65 designation and has previously worked at Portsmouth Financial Investment Advisory. In addition to his advisory role, Birnberg operates Deduction Detectives, a tax planning, preparation, and representation business, and holds active licenses as a real estate and insurance agent. Empowering Financial provides ongoing investment management and financial planning services to individuals, small business owners, trustees, and fiduciaries. The firm uses a diversified investment approach and offers personalized Investment Policy Statements, combining fundamental, quantitative, and tactical asset-allocation analysis with hands-on oversight that integrates investment, tax, insurance, and real estate matters.

Daryl Wong is the sole advisor at Tula Investment Group LLC in Oakland, CA, holding a Series 65 credential with 13 years of industry experience. He has been with Tula Investment Group since its founding in 2013. Tula Investment Group LLC provides discretionary investment management and financial advisory services to individual and high-net-worth clients. The firm emphasizes a value-oriented, small-cap, and contrarian equity approach, complemented by opportunistic, event-driven research, and employs performance-based compensation for eligible investors.

Randy Benning is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with 33 years of industry experience. He is the principal of Benning Financial Group, LLC, an independent firm he has led since 2002. Prior to founding his firm, he worked at Triad Advisors, Inc. for nine years. In addition to his advisory work, he is also an insurance broker and owner, licensed with several carriers. Benning Financial Group provides discretionary portfolio management for individual investors, corporate entities, charitable organizations, and pension and profit-sharing plans. The firm employs a combination of fundamental and cyclical analysis and utilizes long-term, short-term, and trading strategies, including derivatives and option strategies, tailored to client objectives.

Wenjia Liu is a CFA® charterholder with five years of industry experience. Liu is the sole advisor at Teapot Investments LLC, having previously worked at Nuveen and Ned Davis Research, Inc. Teapot Investments provides advisory services to registered investment advisers, family offices, endowments, foundations, corporations, and individual clients. The firm combines fundamental analysis, proprietary quantitative models, and tax-aware strategies to design strategic asset allocations, offering both institutional and individual advisory services alongside a subscription-based software platform.

Much like you don't wait to join a gym until you're healthy, you shouldn't wait to work with a financial planner until you're wealthy. Unfortunately, the financial industry historically only wants to work with clients who have -insert any seven-digit-minimum amount of assets-. The good news is there are now plenty of financial planners who will gladly work with clients regardless of how much they have already saved. I am one of those planners. ;) I've been a financial planner for over a decade now, and I've worked lots of different clients from all walks of life. I've come to learn that sticking to the basics and keeping things simple is the best approach when helping clients develop a financial plan. My role is to help guide you on your path to financial freedom. New clients start with a financial plan. This is where we talk about your goals, time horizon, and all the numbers. We’ll review different scenarios so you can see what’s possible. By the end of the initial plan, you should be up and running, moving in the general direction of your goals. From there, we move to ongoing financial planning in which we meet semi-annually to monitor your plan and make adjustments when needed.

Matthew Wright is the principal of Wright Financial, LLC in Pleasant Hill, CA, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses with 26 years of industry experience. His career includes roles at Geneos Wealth Management Inc, Independent Financial Group, LLC, NPB Financial Group, LLC, and Seel & Wright, LLC. He also serves as a trustee for a family trust. Wright Financial, LLC provides investment management and financial planning services to individuals, trusts, estates, and small businesses. The firm manages approximately $74 million for around 118 clients, using a non-discretionary advisory approach based on Modern Portfolio Theory and a core-and-satellite investment strategy.

James Koch is the principal advisor at Koch Capital Management LLC, an independent firm based in Alamo, CA. He holds a Series 65 designation and has 17 years of industry experience. Koch also operates the Informed Household financial-education platform. Koch Capital Management LLC provides investment management and retirement-planning services to individuals, families, and trusts. The firm uses a structured retirement planning approach, offering discretionary portfolios and a fixed-fee retirement program, with a focus on active risk management techniques and integrated client collaboration tools.

Caxton Rhodes is the sole advisor at Rhodes Consulting Group LLC, an independent firm based in Orinda, CA. He holds a Series 65 designation and has 15 years of industry experience. Since founding Rhodes Consulting Group in 2006, he has focused on providing personalized investment counseling and portfolio management. Rhodes Consulting Group LLC is a fee-only investment adviser serving individuals, trusts, accredited investors, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, and corporations. The firm employs a client-oriented, long-term, global investment approach that combines fundamental and technical analysis to build diversified portfolios emphasizing cost efficiency and tax considerations.

Jeffrey Muhr is a financial advisor with Muhr Advisory Group in Clayton, CA, holding a Series 65 designation and eight years of industry experience. He has been with Muhr Advisory since 2003 and also operates Clayton Tax Consultants, where he provides tax preparation services. Muhr Advisory Group is an independent, fee-only firm serving individuals and various entities such as pension plans, trusts, and charitable organizations. The firm employs an integrated asset-allocation approach and manages approximately $51.6 million in client assets, primarily on a non-discretionary basis.