Gerardo Martinez Y Carriles is a CFA® charterholder with one year of experience in financial advising. He is the sole advisor at BLU Capital and previously worked at Berlin Wealth Group Advisors and International Fintech Intelligence. BLU Capital serves institutional and individual clients, including foundations, pension plans, and small businesses. The firm uses a combination of fundamental research, quantitative modeling, factor-based strategies, and ESG screening, and offers services such as portfolio management, financial planning, and consultant selection.

Illumint is a fee-only financial planning firm for Millennial women who want to put their growing savings to work. Women like you have built your savings throughout your careers or received new money through an inheritance, bonus, or other financial windfall. Illumint will help you decide what to do next, with a focus on how that money can fit into and support the rest of your financial life. Illumint is Washington, DC-based, a virtual service, provides flat-fee comprehensive planning, offers optional investment management, and does not have an investment or net-worth minimum.

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.

Jessica Horner is a CFP® professional at Tender Wealth with experience that includes roles at Chevy Chase Trust and JMH Financial LLC. She also runs an after-school program combining ultimate-frisbee instruction with basic financial literacy lessons. Tender Wealth provides financial planning and consulting services to individuals and high-net-worth clients, offering educational seminars and workshops on financial literacy, budgeting, and retirement planning. The firm focuses on comprehensive planning and supports clients in implementing recommendations through custodians or brokers of their choice.

Raymond Gazelle Jr. is a CFP® professional with 19 years of experience, operating as the sole advisor at his independent firm, Raymond L. Gazelle Jr., since 2005. His background includes providing consulting services to small banks on internal operations and data processing. The firm offers comprehensive financial and investment planning services to individuals as well as corporate and nonprofit clients, frequently collaborating with financial officers or committees. It uses a long-term, strategic portfolio allocation approach focused on asset allocation, diversification, and mutual fund and ETF selection, delivering advice on a consultative, non-discretionary basis without managing client assets.

Monte Hoover is a financial advisor at Rockbound Capital LLC in Washington, DC, holding a Series 65 license with one year of industry experience. Prior to founding Rockbound Capital, he worked at Microsoft and is currently a PhD student and research assistant at the University of Maryland, focusing on generative AI safety and efficiency. Rockbound Capital provides discretionary portfolio management services to individuals and high-net-worth clients, utilizing model portfolios based on asset allocation and Modern Portfolio Theory. The firm emphasizes discretionary authority over client portfolios, employs a single qualified custodian for brokerage services, and is led by Hoover’s background in technology and machine learning research.

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.

Samir Bhatt is the sole advisor at SHB Advisors, an independent firm based in Washington, DC. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 credentials and has 19 years of industry experience. Bhatt has led SHB Advisors since its founding in 2013. SHB Advisors provides discretionary investment management to high-net-worth individuals, families, and trusts, tailoring portfolios to clients’ objectives and risk tolerances. The firm employs global macro and relative-value strategies across multiple asset classes, often using derivatives and leverage, and operates under Commodity Futures Trading Commission registration.

Katrina Riddick is the President and CEO of People First Financial Advisors with 31 years of industry experience. She holds Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and has worked with Percival Financial Partners and Faim Group Strategic Solutions Center. Her work includes providing financial advisory consulting to state and local governments on debt issuances and consulting for small and start-up minority-owned businesses. People First Financial Advisors is an independent, single-advisor firm that primarily serves government and quasi-government issuers, focusing on municipal financial advisory services such as structuring bond transactions and acting as a bidding agent for investments of bond proceeds. The firm provides non-discretionary advisory support and emphasizes a municipal-advisory focus with regulatory standing as a municipal advisor.

Ryan Lund is the sole advisor at Lund Capital Management LLC in Washington, DC. He holds a Series 65 credential and has three years of industry experience, including prior work as self-employed and roles with the Charlotte Symphony and ASM Global. Lund Capital Management LLC offers discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services to individuals and entities, focusing on client-specific financial profiles and investment plans. The firm employs diversified asset allocation using mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, options, and equities, and incorporates artificial intelligence as a research tool while retaining final investment decisions with the adviser.

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.

Christopher Oland is a financial advisor with Harmony Wealth Advisors, LLC in Edgewater, MD, holding Series 65 and Series 66 licenses and having nine years of industry experience. His prior work includes positions at Morgan Stanley, LPL Financial, and Wells Fargo Clearing. Outside of advising, he is a passive owner of a restaurant in Annapolis and serves as President of Southern Maryland Little League. Harmony Wealth Advisors, LLC provides portfolio management and financial planning services to individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, corporations, and charitable organizations. The firm manages approximately $22 million in client assets and employs a non-discretionary investment approach based on cyclical and fundamental analysis combined with modern portfolio theory.

Jeff Mitchell is the principal of JRM Capital Management Inc., an independent advisory firm based in Mitchellville, MD. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has 27 years of industry experience. Prior to founding JRM Capital Management in 2003, he has been associated with Lifemark Securities Corp. since 2009. JRM Capital Management provides investment advisory and financial planning services to individual and institutional clients, including pension plans, trusts, and charitable organizations. The firm employs both fundamental and quantitative analysis to manage portfolios across various asset classes and offers specialized pension consulting services alongside unique engagement models such as performance-based fees and subscription publications.

Christopher Mamunes is a financial advisor at Railroad Street Wealth Management, LLC with 29 years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has led his independent firm since 2014. Railroad Street Wealth Management provides customized investment management and periodic financial planning to individual and high-net-worth clients. The firm manages approximately $20.4 million across 55 client relationships, using a tactical, rules-based investment process that combines technical analysis with a relative-strength framework to guide portfolio construction and risk management.

Christopher Leader is the sole advisor at Leader Investments LLC in Silver Spring, MD. He holds a Series 65 designation and has two years of industry experience. Prior to founding his firm, he worked in various roles in the technology sector, including positions at Stripe and Preply, where he continues to work as a product manager. Leader Investments LLC provides personalized financial advice to individual investors without managing assets or taking custody of client accounts. The firm focuses on diversified, value-oriented portfolio recommendations primarily involving indices and publicly traded securities, delivering advice through consultations while clients maintain responsibility for executing transactions.

Sara Cavendish is a financial advisor at Plein Air Capital Advisers, LLC with 26 years of industry experience. She holds a Series 65 designation and has worked at Windward Asset Management, LLC since 2008. Plein Air Capital Advisers provides discretionary investment management and advisory services to individuals, trusts, corporations, and institutional clients. The firm employs a fundamentally driven, long-term, value-oriented investment approach with concentrated portfolios typically holding 15–20 stocks selected below their view of intrinsic value.

Jonathan Mathews is a CFP® professional with four years of experience in financial planning. He is the sole advisor at Nautical Financial Planning, an independent firm he has led since 2018. Mathews also works as a tax advisor with Block Advisors, providing personal and business tax preparation and planning. Nautical Financial Planning offers fee-only, hourly and project-based financial planning and consultation to individuals, couples, families, and business entities. The firm focuses on globally diversified, low-cost, tax-efficient passive investments and provides clients with guidance on asset allocation, custodial setup, and periodic portfolio reviews without managing assets directly.

Robert Sandler is the sole advisor at Robert A. Sandler, LLC in Clarksville, MD, holding a Series 65 designation with nine years of industry experience. Prior to founding his independent firm in 2017, he worked for four years at Element Fleet Management. Robert A. Sandler, LLC provides personalized financial planning and investment management primarily to individual clients. The firm focuses on diversified, low-cost index mutual funds and ETFs, employing a buy-and-hold strategy with regular rebalancing and tailored asset allocations based on client risk profiles.

Michael Hocker is a Series 65-licensed financial advisor with CTG Wealth Management LLC, where he has worked since 2023. He has two years of industry experience and previously held positions at the Defense Acquisition University from 2013 to 2019. CTG Wealth Management LLC provides fee-only investment management and financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, and charitable organizations. The firm manages discretionary portfolios using a combination of passive and active strategies and serves a significant non-U.S. client base, which introduces cross-border considerations into its planning and custody decisions.