Top financial advisors working with gen x clients and career changers

Samuel Smith is a Financial Advisor with The Avagian Smith Group at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. He holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP) designation and the Personal Investment Advisor (PIA) credential. Samuel works with successful individuals, families, business owners, and corporate executives to help them make informed financial decisions throughout different life stages. Samuel's areas of expertise include retirement planning, investment management, tax-efficient strategies, estate and legacy planning services, business succession planning, concentrated stock and stock compensation planning, and wealth transfer strategies. He and his team focus on coordinating key aspects of their clients' financial lives to provide a disciplined framework for making confident decisions. Samuel is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Indianapolis and holds a Bachelor's Degree from Indiana State University. Outside of his professional work, Samuel enjoys baseball, basketball, football, spending time with his family, and watching movies.

Jesse Zora is a CFP® with 14 years of industry experience and has been with Zora Financial since 2014. He serves on the board of directors for Seabed, Inc., a closely held family farm in Marion Junction, AL. Zora Financial serves individual households—including both high-net-worth and non-HNW clients—and sponsors of employer retirement plans. The firm employs a long-term, buy-and-hold investment approach grounded in Modern Portfolio Theory, supplemented by fundamental, technical, and cyclical analysis, and offers a range of planning and advisory services.

Laura I. Rotter, CFA, CFP is the founder of True Abundance Advisors, a fee-only financial life planning firm. Laura runs a unique firm built on the belief that true abundance comes when we create meaning with our money. Her meetings are a safe space for her clients to explore what they value and what gives them a sense of meaning and purpose. Together, they develop and implement a plan that broadens the concept of “investing” beyond financial assets to another scarce resource: time. Laura had a successful career on Wall Street, managing money for institutional investors, including Citicorp and Para Advisors. Her definition of abundance shifted, and she realized that she was using her life to make money, rather than using her money to make a life. She is drawn to work with others navigating a big life transition, and who are seeking purpose in their lives.

Avery Krasnow is an Investment Consultant at Fidelity Investments, a role held since 2025. They work directly with clients to develop personalized financial strategies that align with their individual goals, using Fidelity's planning tools. Avery's professional background includes experience as a Relationship Manager at Fidelity Investments from 2024 to 2025 and as a Financial Representative from 2023 to 2024. This progression demonstrates a focus on client relationships and financial planning within the firm. Outside of work, Avery has personal interests in board games, cooking and baking, exploring food, caring for pets, pilates, and puzzles.

Lelamarie Kelly is a financial advisor at Life UnLocked Partners LLC with a Series 65 credential and two years of industry experience. She has a background in legal services, owning LSK Legal, a professional law corporation, and serves as principal and general counsel for Tennenbaum & Kelly, Inc., which manages privately held investments. Outside her advisory role, she holds CFO and general counsel positions at both MailRoute, Inc., an email security company, and SCBI Online Store, LLC, a skincare business. Life UnLocked Partners provides financial planning, investment monitoring, and recommendation services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, families, trusts, estates, and other business entities. The firm’s investment approach centers on a value/dividend strategy designed for income replacement around career changes, transitioning to longer-term appreciation vehicles, and also includes sub-advisory arrangements.

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.

Many blue-collar business owners spend years building successful companies but struggle with inconsistent cash flow, high taxes, and uncertainty about how to turn their business into a secure retirement. Unlike most financial firms that focus primarily on investments, I take a planning-first approach that connects your business strategy with your personal financial goals. As a CFP® professional and fee-only fiduciary advisor with 10+ years of experience, I help business owners integrate cash flow planning, tax strategies, risk management, retirement planning, and investments into one coordinated plan. Having experienced the challenges of business ownership firsthand and growing up in a family business, I understand that your business is often your largest asset. My goal is to provide the guidance and strategy business owners need to protect what they've built and create financial freedom beyond their business.

I believe that everyone should have access to a professional advisor who understands their needs and can help them achieve the lifestyle they desire. As a financial advisor, I am dedicated to learning about your personal goals and using them to build a retirement plan tailored to your unique situation. NexJenn Financial Services was founded in response to the demand for financial planning from my tax clients. Often squeezed between spending for their kids’ education, caring for an elderly relative and saving for their own retirement, many were anxious about their financial future. I have enjoyed helping my clients find a balance and focus on building a strong financial future. I am a CPA® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER Professional®, as well as a Retirement Income Certified Professional®. Additionally, I am a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors and the XY Planning Network. In my spare time, my husband and I volunteer at a homeless shelter. I also love to bike and travel and am an aspiring photographer. I have been married for 30 years and together with my awesome husband, we’ve raised three awesome kids.

I'm a fiduciary & CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER living in Indianapolis, Indiana but serving clients nationwide. For years I've helped individuals and families plan for retirement and other imporant financial decisions. In college, I studied economics with a concentration in finance. After college, I worked for large wealth management firm in Indiana and then a boutique financial advising office specializing in retirement planning. That firm was later acquired and after a few years working for the acquiring firm I left to start WealthGuides. As an advisor I've worked with clients age 22 to 92. While I've worked with a wide range of people, I've always found my passion was with working with people to create a plan for retirement. As an advisor I provide guidance to my clients on taxes, their investment portfolios, estate planning, & charitable giving amongst others areas. I show people where they can save on taxes and I give clarity and strategies for how my clients can maximize the potential for what they can spend on themselves and give to others. On the personal side I'm a runner, a reader, a cat dad, and a traveler. I also enjoy sipping on a nice glass of wine or whiskey.

I am a seasoned technology professional and an entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. I have experience starting and running a software company that was venture-funded and subsequently acquired by a public company. During my high-tech career, I got intrigued by money matters such as savings, investments, insurance, taxes in order to achieve my family's financial goals. Out of curiosity, I spent time reading and researching various aspects of personal finance. I realized that there are a growing number of financial options available with increasing complexity in these choices. My passion towards financial planning ultimately resulted in pursuing formal education in financial planning, subsequently completing the CFP Board requirements to be a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional. I launched Encover Personal Finance in 2018, primarily to help technology professionals achieve their financial life goals based on my own experience. I believe in serving clients honestly and transparently in a conflict-free manner. https://www.encoverpersonalfinance.com/about