John Cruse is the principal of Cruse Investments in Petaluma, CA, holding a Series 66 designation and bringing 24 years of industry experience. He has led Cruse Investments since 2013. Cruse Investments provides investment management and written financial planning services to individuals, trusts, estates, and corporations. The firm customizes portfolios using stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds, operates primarily on a non-discretionary basis, and offers advice on retirement rollovers and employer plan distributions.

John Baughman is a financial advisor with Baughman Financial Group in Novato, CA, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and 33 years of industry experience. He has worked at First Allied Securities, Inc. from 2008 to 2018 and has been with Baughman Wealth Advisors Inc. and Baughman Financial Group since 2008 and 1999, respectively. Baughman Wealth Advisors, operating as Baughman Financial Group, provides portfolio management, financial planning, retirement and estate planning, and consulting services to individuals, families, trusts, foundations, charitable organizations, and various institutional clients. The firm employs a combination of fundamental, modern portfolio theory, technical, and cyclical analysis to create customized portfolios and offers discretionary management, insurance product sales, and educational seminars.

Daniel Peterson is a CFP® with 32 years of industry experience and has been with Northbay Financial Group, Inc. since 2003. He is the president and CEO of North Bay Financial Group, which provides income tax preparation services through its subsidiary Express Income Tax Services. Northbay Advisors is an independent firm serving individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and small businesses with personalized financial planning and investment management. The firm combines advisory services with an affiliated tax-preparation practice, offering clients integrated tax and planning coordination.

John Jones is the principal of John Schooler Jones LLC, an independent advisory firm based in Petaluma, CA. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has 24 years of industry experience. Jones has led his firm since its founding in 2003. John Schooler Jones LLC provides financial advisory and planning services to a client base primarily consisting of higher-net-worth individuals, closely held corporations, trusts, and pension plans. The firm operates on a non-discretionary model, coordinating third-party asset managers and dedicating significant focus to business succession planning.

“I want to make the right decisions but I don’t have time to figure it out on my own.” “Can you help me with my student loans? This is more complicated than I thought it would be.” “How do I invest? I know it’s important but I don’t know the best way to do it and I don’t want to mess it up” Have you said any of these before? You’re not alone if you have. I have heard these statements from many lawyers I’ve met throughout my wife’s time in law school and her legal career. As a CPA, CFP, and someone who has worked in financial planning, I have seen young people who are overwhelmed about managing their personal finances. I have also seen people near retirement who unfortunately didn’t make good financial decisions and now have to modify their future lifestyles because of their financial situations. I hate seeing people not achieve everything they want in life because they can’t afford their dream lifestyle. So I set out to change that. My mission is to help young lawyers establish a strong financial foundation early in their careers so they can capitalize on future opportunities instead of trying to fix financial mistakes. So I created the Developing Financial Process. My process identifies what is most important to you, analyzes your current financial situation, builds a comprehensive financial plan, implements the plan, adapts the plan as your life changes on an ongoing basis, and most importantly educates and empowers you throughout the entire process. My process helps you pay off your student loans completely, invest effectively, save and spend intentionally, and achieve your financial goals and ambitions. I believe that everyone should live their dream life without worrying about their finances. I live what I preach and when I’m not working, I am out living. I love to travel and have visited many states and countries. My family and I go camping, spend time at the beach, and visit friends and family as often as possible. I truly love educating and empowering people to live their ideal life. I hope you reach out to learn more about my process and how financial planning can benefit young lawyers like yourself!

E. Wannen is a financial advisor with Sustainvest Asset Management, LLC, holding Series 63, 65, and 66 licenses and 15 years of industry experience. He has worked at Sustainvest Asset Management since 2013. Sustainvest Asset Management provides investment management and advisory services to a diverse client base including individuals, trusts, charitable organizations, and foundations. The firm employs a long-term, diversified investment approach focused on sustainable and responsible investing using ESG factors, screened funds, and tailored portfolios, with an emphasis on working with charitable organizations and an active proxy-voting policy.

James Busterud is a CFP® professional with 27 years of experience in financial advising. He has been with Jack Point Advisors, LLC since 2017 and previously worked at UBS Financial Services Inc from 2008 to 2017. Jack Point Advisors provides discretionary portfolio management and financial planning services primarily to high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients such as foundations, endowments, pensions, and charitable organizations. The firm focuses on long-only, fundamental analysis to construct disciplined, long-term equity and bond portfolios tailored to clients’ time horizons, tax sensitivity, and risk tolerance.

Andrew Fedeli is the principal of Fedeli Financial, LLC, an independent advisory firm based in Novato, California. He holds a Series 65 designation and has three years of industry experience. Outside of his financial advisory role, he owns a consulting business specializing in Salesforce training. Fedeli Financial, LLC provides portfolio management and individualized investment planning for a small, high-net-worth client base. The firm employs a variety of analytical methods and offers tailored recommendations across diverse investment types, including private placements and venture capital, while maintaining a non-discretionary trading approach.

Autumn Kruse is a CFP® professional with 14 years of industry experience, currently operating Kruse Financial Strategy in Petaluma, CA. She has been working under her own name since 2007. Kruse Financial Strategy provides fee-only financial planning services tailored to individuals, families, and small businesses, with a focus on high-net-worth clients. The firm emphasizes comprehensive and limited-scope planning without managing client assets, often recommending mutual funds, ETFs, bond funds, and CDs, with attention to socially responsible investing.

John Rutledge is a CFP® and CFA® with 16 years of industry experience. He is the sole advisor at Phoundational LLC, an independent firm he has led since 2019. Prior to founding Phoundational, he worked for 11 years at Fairview Capital Investment Management. Phoundational provides investment consulting and financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, charitable organizations, foundations, endowments, corporations, and other businesses. The firm employs a liability-driven investing philosophy and typically recommends passive, index-based mutual funds and ETFs, operating on a fee-only basis without managing client assets directly.

Randall Huyser is a financial advisor with Full Compass Investment Advisors in Novato, CA, holding a Series 63 designation and 21 years of industry experience. He has been with Full Compass Investment Advisors since 2012. Full Compass Investment Advisors provides personalized investment management and advisory services to individuals, families, trusts, retirement plans, and charitable organizations, typically through separately managed discretionary accounts. The firm uses a multi-disciplinary investment process combining fundamental research with quantitative and qualitative analysis to construct tailored portfolios across various strategies.

John Cort is a financial advisor with Compass Wealth Advisors in Petaluma, CA, holding a Series 66 designation and 16 years of industry experience. He has been with Compass Wealth Advisors since 2012, where he serves as the firm's sole advisor. Compass Wealth Advisors is an independent, state-registered firm that offers comprehensive financial planning and discretionary investment management to individual and household clients. The firm employs an active management style tailored to clients’ risk tolerance and time horizon, utilizing both fundamental and technical analysis across a range of investment vehicles.

Peter Dobson is a Series 66–licensed financial advisor with five years of industry experience. He is the sole principal of Riverwest Financial LLC in Petaluma, CA, where he has worked since 2025. His prior roles include positions at Cambridge Investment Research Advisors and Cambridge Investment Research, as well as operating his own advisory practice. Riverwest Financial LLC provides discretionary investment management and financial planning services primarily to individual and high-net-worth clients. The firm employs a fundamental-analysis framework with a long-term orientation, utilizing exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, individual securities, bonds, CDs, and options, and offers both asset-based wealth management and hourly financial planning.

Jennifer Ramaswamy is a Series 66 licensed financial advisor with two years of industry experience. She is the principal of Sonoma Mountain Financial LLC, an independent firm based in Petaluma, CA, where she has worked since 2025. Prior to founding Sonoma Mountain Financial, she was with LPL Financial LLC for two years and has experience in other roles outside the financial industry, including as a homemaker and positions at Lyft and Within Unlimited. Sonoma Mountain Financial LLC provides wealth management, discretionary investment management, and financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, families, trusts, estates, and small businesses. The firm uses a strategic asset allocation approach grounded in Modern Portfolio Theory and offers customized portfolios with a variety of investments while maintaining a long-term orientation.

David Meucci is a CFP® professional with 29 years of experience in the financial industry. He is the sole advisor at Phase Change Wealth Management LLC, where he has worked since 2025. His prior experience includes roles at Western International Securities, Inc. and Financial West Group, spanning nearly two decades. Phase Change Wealth Management LLC provides investment management and project-based financial planning to individuals, high-net-worth clients, and corporate or business clients. The firm combines passive and active investment strategies based on modern portfolio theory and offers both asset-based portfolio management and hourly billing for limited-scope planning.

Brian Miller is a financial advisor with 5 years of industry experience, currently operating through 245 Investments LLC. He holds a Series 65 designation and has previously worked at Farnam Street Investments LLC and Blue Shield of California. Outside of his advisory work, Miller serves on the board of directors for Alta Mesa Cemetery Association, overseeing operations and finance. 245 Investments LLC provides discretionary asset management primarily through separately managed accounts and offers financial planning services exclusively to those clients. The firm serves individual investors as well as small businesses and institutional clients, employing a disciplined, bottom-up valuation process to manage concentrated, long-only portfolios with a focus on intrinsic value.

Domenica Stokes is a financial advisor at JPC Wealth Management, Inc. with two years of industry experience. She holds a Series 65 designation and previously worked at Curran & Lewis Investment Management, Inc. for five years and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP for five years. JPC Wealth Management primarily serves individual clients and manages approximately $312.7 million in discretionary assets. The firm offers goals-based financial planning and discretionary portfolio management, using a broadly diversified, multi-asset-class approach with an emphasis on passive asset allocation.

Christopher Dobson is a CFP® with 29 years of industry experience and has been with Dobson Asset Management since 1994. He is the managing member of Dobson Land Management, LLC, a family investment business. Dobson Asset Management serves individuals nearing or in retirement and small pension trusts, focusing on retirement planning and investment portfolio design using third-party money managers and pooled investment vehicles. The firm manages nearly $197 million for around 156 clients with a high AUM-per-advisor ratio and offers both discretionary and non-discretionary account management.

Julie Annett is a financial advisor at Asti Financial Management with 20 years of industry experience. She holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has been with Asti Financial Management since 2005. In addition to her advisory role, she is a licensed Health and Life Agent in California. Asti Financial Management is a small, state-registered advisory firm serving individuals, families, and small businesses, including high-net-worth clients. The firm offers comprehensive and hourly financial planning, developing investment strategies that include both active and passive vehicles, while clients implement recommendations through brokers or third-party managers.

Eric Ziegler is a CFP® professional with 17 years of experience in financial advisory services. He has been with Hutchinson & Ziegler Financial Advisors, Inc. since 2007, where he is one of two advisors at the firm. Hutchinson & Ziegler Financial Advisors serves individuals, high-net-worth clients, families, trusts, corporate pension and profit-sharing plans, and charitable institutions with discretionary investment management and financial planning. The firm focuses on asset allocation using primarily no-load, low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, tailoring portfolios to clients’ risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, and tax situations.