Independent financial advisors working with government employees in Bethesda, MD

Oliver Fratzscher is the principal of EM Leaders, LLC, an independent advisory firm based in Bethesda, MD. He holds a Series 65 designation and has 13 years of industry experience. Since founding EM Leaders in 2012, he has focused on providing investment advisory services related to emerging markets. EM Leaders serves institutional investors seeking exposure to emerging markets by selecting and monitoring local investment managers across multiple jurisdictions. The firm offers multi-manager and fund-of-fund supervisory services, emphasizing thorough local due diligence and customized investment policy implementation.

Peter Ryan is a financial advisor at Alikos Wealth Management, LLC with nine years of industry experience. He holds the Series 65 designation and has been with Alikos since 2015. Ryan also has over 30 years of experience at Ryan & Wetmore P.C. Outside of his advisory work, he is involved as a member in several real estate investment partnerships. Alikos Wealth Management serves individuals, retirement plans, trusts, charitable organizations, and small businesses by providing discretionary investment management, financial planning, and retirement plan consulting. The firm emphasizes long-term, broadly diversified portfolios primarily implemented with passively managed mutual funds and ETFs, and offers customized solutions including ESG, tax-sensitive, and fixed-income accounts.

Lee Miller is a CFP® and Series 65 credentialed financial advisor with 23 years of industry experience. He is the principal of Miller Capital Management, Inc. and also operates Lee J. Miller, CPA, P.C., a public accounting practice. Miller serves on the board of directors of a charitable foundation as its vice president and treasurer and acts as trustee for several trusts. Miller Capital Management provides personalized investment supervisory services and financial planning to individuals, high-net-worth clients, and trusts. The firm focuses on capital preservation through fundamental security analysis and a long-term buy-and-hold strategy, making tailored recommendations and requiring client approval before transactions.

Anna N'jie Konte is a CFP® professional at Poder Wealth Advisors with 10 years of industry experience. She previously worked at RBC Capital Markets and also served as CEO of Dare to Dream Consulting, where she provided speaking engagement services. Poder Wealth Advisors is a state-registered firm serving individual clients, business owners, and nonprofit entities. The firm employs a primarily passive investment approach based on Modern Portfolio Theory, offering diversified, low-cost portfolios alongside comprehensive financial planning and discretionary portfolio management.

Gretchen Bolton is a financial advisor with Equitable Advisors in Bethesda, MD, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and having 32 years of industry experience. She has worked at Equitable Advisors and its predecessor, AXA Advisors, since 1999. Outside of her advisory role, she serves in leadership positions on several local community boards, including as secretary of the Old Georgetown Office Park Condominium Owners' Association and vice president of the Waterside Reserve Property Owners Association. Equitable Advisors serves a diverse client base including individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, corporations, and charitable organizations, offering financial planning, retirement plan consulting, and various asset-management programs. The firm utilizes a range of investment models and third-party asset managers, providing services that span mutual funds, ETFs, separately managed accounts, and select alternative investments.

Amanda Fleming is a financial advisor at Edward Jones in Lexington, NC, holding a Series 66 designation with one year of industry experience. Prior to joining Edward Jones, she was involved with several businesses including Max Travels, LLC, a travel agency she founded and where she designed vacations for clients, primarily family. Edward Jones is a full-service wealth management firm serving more than four million individual and institutional clients with a range of investment programs and advisory services supported by a nationwide network of over 23,000 financial advisors.

Michelle Vargas, Certified Financial Planner™ is the President of Waymaker Financial Planning, a Fee-Only firm that provides transparent and accessible financial guidance. She enjoys helping clients navigate and plan all aspects of their financial life so that they will worry less about their future and free up more time to spend doing what they love. After earning a degree in Finance from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1990, she moved to Florida and started her career with Harcourt Brace Publishing. Her journey into personal finance began when she signed up for her 401K and wanted to learn about additional options to plan for retirement. This eventually led to working as a financial advisor and completing the extensive education requirements for becoming a CFP® in 1998. She believes her experience as a young professional searching for unbiased advice enables her to better serve Gen XY professionals because she remembers what it was like being in their shoes. As a former homeschool parent and the wife of a federal employee, she is passionate about helping women, homeschool families, and federal workers plan wisely for a comfortable financial future. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking in Colorado, barbecuing with family, and working in her garden.

Richard Schaeffer is a CFP®-certified financial advisor with 41 years of industry experience. He is associated with Schaeffer Financial LLC, where he has worked for over two decades, and currently serves as part of a five-advisor team. His prior experience includes roles at Grove Point Investments and LPL Financial. Schaeffer Financial serves individuals and families, including federal employees and foreign nationals holding G‑IV visas, as well as trusts, foundations, and small businesses. The firm provides financial planning and discretionary portfolio management, emphasizing diversified asset allocation tailored to clients’ goals and risk tolerance, and frequently coordinates with outside professionals to implement client plans.

Hi, I'm Steve. I've loved financial planning ever since I was a kid watching the ticker tape on CNBC as my mom, a homemaker learned about finances herself. I grew up in a very frugal household who taught me about working hard and saving for the future. My mother was a homemaker or "domestic engineer" as she calls it and my father was a federal employee. I was fortunate to be introduced to Rita Abel and become the owner of her small, family owned financial planning firm in 2019. Today we work with approximately 60 families. What makes us unique is our passion to be "accountability partner's" for our clients to ensure they take care of the important financial matters in their lives. We are part financial advisors and party financial therapists for our married couples but most importantly we are organized, proactive and have a passion for financial planning. Looking forward to meeting and if you want to know more, I encourage you to read our google reviews online. Just search "Abel Financial Reviews" in google.

Mark Teichman is a financial advisor at C2 Investment Group with 20 years of industry experience. He holds a Series 63 designation and has worked with C2 Investment Group since 1998. He is a co-owner of C2, LLC, which operates Tracker, a portfolio accounting and reporting application. C2 Investment Group provides non-discretionary investment consultation to institutional clients, such as municipalities and public funds, focusing on government bond index tracking using US Treasury and Agency securities. The firm offers index-tracking optimization tools to assist clients with portfolio rebalancing and does not provide discretionary portfolio management.

Jared Fruth is a financial advisor at Northwest Asset Management with four years of industry experience. He holds a Series 65 designation and previously worked at Securities America, Inc., KMS Financial Services, Inc., Oppenheimer Funds, and John Paul Mitchell Systems. Northwest Asset Management is a registered investment adviser managing approximately $3.6 billion for nearly 3,000 clients, including individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, charities, and corporations. The firm employs a customized, fiduciary approach using Modern Portfolio Theory and strategic asset allocation, combining fundamental and technical analysis to build diversified portfolios with periodic rebalancing.

Edwina Martin is a Series 65 licensed financial advisor with two years of industry experience, currently with Waverly Advisors, LLC. She previously worked at 9258 Wealth Management for five years and was employed at Teradata Corp for eleven years. Martin also serves as assistant director of tax planning at 9258 Tax and Planning, a non-investment related business. Waverly Advisors is a multi-team registered investment adviser managing portfolios for individuals, retirement plans, and pooled investment vehicles. The firm combines traditional equity and fixed-income strategies with alternative and private-market allocations, offering a range of investment management and financial planning services.

Craig Mcdaniel Jr. is a financial advisor with Capital Investment Advisory Services, LLC in Columbia, SC. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has 13 years of industry experience. He has been with Capital Investment Group, Inc. and The McDaniel Corporation since 2012. Outside of his advisory role, he is involved in life insurance sales and serves as an independent agent for annuities and related products. Capital Investment Advisory Services, LLC provides investment advisory and supervisory services to individuals, retirement plans, corporations, trusts, estates, and charitable organizations. The firm offers customized investment management through discretionary mandates, third-party managers, and private-label model portfolios, using a blend of analytical methods with ongoing portfolio monitoring.

David Hart is a financial advisor with Martin Wealth Management, LLC in Irvine, CA. He holds a Series 65 credential and has 15 years of industry experience. Hart previously worked with Safeguard Investment Advisory Group and LifePro Asset Management. He is also a Certified Financial Fiduciary and volunteers as an instructor with the Foundation for Fiduciary Education, providing unbiased fiduciary financial education to the public. Martin Wealth Management offers investment advisory services primarily to individuals and high-net-worth clients by co-advising and directing accounts to a third-party money manager, Matson Money. The firm focuses on client onboarding, documentation, and ongoing review of third-party manager accounts rather than direct asset management.

Sarah Currier Barrella is a CFP® professional with 26 years of experience in financial advisory services. She currently works at Santander Securities LLC and Santander Bank, NA, having previously held positions at TD Bank and Citizens Securities, Inc. Barrella is based in Boston, MA. Santander Securities LLC serves a broad retail client base with approximately $3.14 billion in regulatory assets under management across 10,800 client relationships. The firm offers investment advisory services, portfolio management through wrap-fee programs, and financial planning, operating both as a registered investment adviser and a FINRA-registered broker-dealer.