Amber Schiffert is a financial advisor and co-founder at TARA Wealth with eight years of industry experience. She holds Series 63, Series 65, and Series 7 licenses. TARA Wealth is a women-owned fiduciary advisory firm, bringing something unique to wealth management: advisors who share your perspective, understand your life transitions, and have no financial incentive other than helping you succeed. TARA Wealth was founded to set a higher standard — one built on trust, independence, and a genuine commitment to the women and families they serve. TARA Wealth financial advisors are happily located in San Diego, CA, and Raleigh, NC, and serve clients nationally.

Amanda DeCesar is a CFP® professional with 19 years of industry experience. She co-founded TARA Wealth in 2023 with Amber Schiffert. Her prior experience includes roles at MML Investors Services and J.P. Morgan Securities. TARA Wealth is an RIA serving individual and high-net-worth clients, couples, and businesses, providing Total Wealth Management, discretionary investment management, and comprehensive financial planning. The firm primarily uses a passive investment approach with index mutual funds and ETFs, delivering financial planning as an ongoing engagement and managing accounts both discretionarily and non-discretionarily.

Joseph Stover is a financial advisor at Reliance Financial Group, Inc. in Durham, NC, holding the PFS™ designation and Series 65 license with 22 years of industry experience. He has been with Reliance Financial Group since 1999. Reliance Financial Group is an independent firm providing discretionary portfolio management, financial planning, and consulting to individual investors, retirement plans, and charitable organizations. The firm emphasizes asset allocation and model-based portfolios, combining fundamental security analysis with long-term investment strategies and periodic rebalancing.

Jennifer Lazarus is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and holds a Series 65 license with 15 years of industry experience. She has been the sole advisor at Lazarus Financial Planning, an independent firm based in Durham, NC, since its founding in 2005. Lazarus Financial Planning is a fee-only advisory firm serving individuals, couples, trusts, small businesses, and retirement plans. The firm offers comprehensive financial planning and discretionary investment management, with a focus on socially responsible investing and a documented planning process that emphasizes asset-class allocation, diversification, and client-approved policy implementation.

Thomas Figgatt is a CFP® with eight years of industry experience, currently serving as the sole advisor at Portolan Financial Planning LLC in Durham, NC. He previously worked at Bank of America from 2015 to 2017 before founding Portolan Financial Planning in 2017. Portolan Financial Planning LLC offers personalized investment advisory and comprehensive financial planning, including tax preparation services. The firm serves individual clients, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, small businesses, and provides retirement plan consulting, utilizing a primarily technical analysis approach with strategic asset allocation and tax-management techniques.

Courtney Bauke is a financial advisor at Capital Consulting & Investment Group LLC with a Series 65 credential. Bauke has been with Capital Consulting & Investment Group since 2019 and has prior independent advisory experience dating back to 2014. In addition to advisory work, Bauke provides accounting and tax services, real estate advisory, mortgage consulting, and insurance planning through a separate business. Capital Consulting & Investment Group LLC offers investment advisory and financial planning services to a diverse client base, including individuals, families, business owners, and institutional clients. The firm provides personalized, non-discretionary advice across a range of planning areas and investment types, while clients retain final authority over transactions.

Nicholas Seligman is a CFP® with 13 years of industry experience, currently serving as the sole advisor at Center Peak Financial. He previously worked at Edward Jones for 13 years. Outside of his advisory role, he is also licensed as an insurance agent. Center Peak Financial Services is a state-registered investment adviser providing discretionary and non-discretionary investment management, retirement plan advisory, financial planning, and consulting services to institutional clients and individual households. The firm emphasizes strategic asset allocation with tactical flexibility and offers specialized pension consulting and retirement-plan fiduciary services.

John Morgan is the principal of Spectrum Advisers, LLC in Chapel Hill, NC, with 16 years of experience in financial advisory services. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has operated Spectrum Advisers since 2009. In addition to his advisory work, Mr. Morgan manages Fields Consulting LLC, a separate business through which he offers insurance products and real estate services in his capacity as a licensed insurance producer and real estate agent. Spectrum Advisers provides investment advisory and financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, qualified retirement plans, trusts, charitable organizations, and business entities. The firm combines institutional-level retirement plan management with individualized wealth advisory, employing a broadly diversified, tax-aware global asset allocation approach implemented mainly through mutual funds and ETFs.

Lyle Finley Jr. is a CFP® professional with over 31 years of experience in the financial industry. He currently serves as the sole advisor at RJ20, Inc. His prior roles include positions at Wells Fargo Bank, Wells Fargo Clearing, and Cic Advisers, LLC. Finley also served 14 years in the North Carolina National Guard. RJ20, Inc. provides non-discretionary investment guidance and educational tools to participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans through an online platform. The firm acts as an ERISA fiduciary focused on participant-level advice, using proprietary modeling and established analytical methods to deliver recommendations electronically without exercising investment discretion or holding custody of client assets.

Sherri Rose is a CFP® and Series 63 credentialed financial advisor at Azimuth Planning Group, LLC with no prior industry experience. She is the founder and managing director of Rose Group CPAs, PLLC, a CPA firm where she oversees auditing, accounting, tax preparation, and business consulting. Rose is also involved in several business ventures, including founding FastFile1040, LLC, providing online tax filing services, and co-founding SageCFO Group, Inc., which offers outsourced CFO advisory services. Azimuth Planning Group, LLC provides fee-only financial planning primarily to solopreneurs, service-based founders, and business owners, focusing on business planning, retirement and estate coordination, tax-aware wealth strategies, and succession planning. The firm delivers written financial plans and investment recommendations emphasizing asset allocation, tax efficiency, and passive investment strategies rather than discretionary asset management.

Steven Thorpe is the sole advisor at Pragmatic Portfolios, LLC, an independent registered investment adviser based in Durham, NC. He holds a Series 65 designation and has 15 years of industry experience. Thorpe has managed Pragmatic Portfolios since 2010 and previously worked at MCNC for 24 years. Pragmatic Portfolios provides portfolio management and comprehensive financial planning to individuals, families, high-net-worth clients, trusts, and select corporations or small businesses. The firm emphasizes broadly diversified, low-cost passive investments with strategic asset allocation and tax-efficient strategies, and offers client education through complimentary seminars and workshops.

Adam Vega is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with 16 years of industry experience. He is the founder of Avance Private Wealth LLC and has previously worked at firms including Goldman Sachs, Gladstone Wealth Partners, and Mercer Allied Company. Vega is also licensed to sell insurance products, dedicating approximately 10% of his time to this activity. Avance Private Wealth LLC provides portfolio management, financial planning, and pension consulting primarily for high-net-worth individuals and retirement plan clients. The firm manages accounts on a discretionary basis using a combination of modern portfolio theory, fundamental analysis, and charting, and offers a broad range of investment products including complex alternatives.

Leonard Brooks is a financial advisor with Brooks Financial of North Carolina, LLC in Durham, NC, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and with 28 years of industry experience. He has worked at firms including Cetera and H.D. Vest Advisory Services before founding his current firm. Brooks also owns a tax preparation and filing service and acts as an agent managing small commercial property insurance through Alpha Risk Management Services. Brooks Financial of North Carolina provides financial planning and non-discretionary portfolio management primarily for individual and high-net-worth clients, along with retirement-plan services such as profit-sharing and 401(k)/403(b) planning. The firm offers insurance planning, retirement rollovers, participant education, and tax preparation, managing accounts with client-confirmed trades and tailored asset-allocation strategies based on fundamental and technical analysis.

I didn't set out to become a financial advisor. I spent 18 years in the music industry as a recording and touring audio engineer. What I saw again and again were hardworking, independent people — musicians, artists, freelancers, and other creative professionals — who wanted the same things everyone wants: stability, a plan, a better financial future. But because their income was unconventional, they felt like the financial industry wasn't designed for them. Honestly, they were right. So in 2019 I launched my business, got my CFP® designation, and built a practice specifically for people who've spent their lives and careers outside the mainstream. I work with artists, musicians, authors, and other independent-minded professionals with unconventional careers and the financial complexity that comes with them. I offer two types of services: financial planning and investment management. Financial planning means identifying the two or three things that would make the biggest difference in your financial life right now and building a clear, actionable plan around them. Investment management means taking that completely off your plate — so you never have to think about it, worry about it, or wonder if you're doing it right. The work behind the scenes is rigorous. The experience on your end should feel like talking to someone who genuinely gets it. I live in Durham, NC with my family and our dog Yoshi. I have a degree in mathematics and grew up on a farm in Michigan. The through line: I've always figured things out on my own terms — and I have a lot of respect for people who do the same. If any of this resonates, I'd love to connect.

John Bland is a financial advisor with Diversified Investment Services LLC in Durham, NC, holding Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and bringing 24 years of industry experience. He previously worked at Blackridge Asset Management LLC and Commonwealth Financial Network. Bland is also a licensed insurance agent offering insurance product sales alongside his advisory services. Diversified Investment Services LLC provides portfolio management and financial planning to individual and high-net-worth clients, utilizing a range of analysis methods and investment strategies. The firm offers discretionary management, regular portfolio monitoring, and quarterly reporting, with portfolios that may include mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income, real estate funds, annuities, and non-U.S. securities.

Bert Bennett IV is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with 15 years of industry experience. He is the principal of West Fork Wealth Management LLC, an independent firm he joined in 2024 after working at Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated and Morgan Stanley. Outside of his advisory role, Bennett teaches summer camp at Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC. West Fork Wealth Management provides discretionary asset management and financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth families, non-profits, endowments, trusts, small businesses, and estates. The firm manages portfolios tailored to clients’ investment goals and risk tolerance, employing fundamental, technical, cyclical analysis, and modern portfolio theory.

Ohan Kayikchyan is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with seven years of industry experience. He is the principal and sole advisor at Alohana Financial, LLC, an independent firm based in Durham, NC. His prior experience includes roles at Wells Fargo Clearing and Wells Fargo Bank NA. Alohana Financial, LLC provides investment management and financial planning services to individuals and high-net-worth clients. The firm employs an asset-allocation driven approach grounded in Modern Portfolio Theory, combining passive and active investment vehicles with options for ESG customization upon client request.

Benjamin Birken is a CFP® with 18 years of industry experience, currently serving as the principal advisor at Pisces Financial Advisors, LLC in Chapel Hill, NC. He previously worked at Woodward Financial Advisors, Inc. for 12 years and holds a leadership role at Holistiplan, LLC, a financial services software company, where he is Vice-President for Customer Success and Engagement. Pisces Financial Advisors provides comprehensive financial planning and discretionary investment management to individuals, families, high-net-worth clients, and small businesses. The firm’s investment approach focuses on strategic asset allocation using low-cost, diversified mutual funds and ETFs with attention to diversification, cost control, and tax efficiency.

Christopher Harp is the sole advisor at CH Capital Management, an independent registered investment adviser based in Chapel Hill, NC. He holds a Series 66 designation and has 22 years of industry experience, having led CH Capital Management since 2010. CH Capital Management provides discretionary investment management and financial planning services to individuals, families, trusts, endowments, charitable organizations, and pension or profit-sharing plans. The firm typically serves clients with substantial assets and combines a solo advisor model with institutional-style client relationships, outsourcing operational functions to third-party providers.

Kathleen Scharl is the principal advisor at Scharl Advisory Services, Inc. in Durham, NC, holding CFP® and Series 63 designations with 23 years of industry experience. She has led her independent practice since 1989. Outside of advising, she is involved in tax preparation, bookkeeping, and small business consulting through Scharl & Associates, Inc., primarily during tax season. Scharl Advisory Services, Inc. provides fee-only financial planning and investment management to individuals and small businesses, focusing on retirement, tax, cash-flow, education funding, and estate planning. The firm employs a strategic, core-and-satellite asset allocation using no-load or low-load funds, and operates on fixed and hourly fees rather than asset-based charges.