Top advisors focused on christian faith based in Iowa

Austin Norris is a financial advisor with Edward Jones in Oskaloosa, IA, holding Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and bringing 21 years of industry experience. He has been with Edward Jones since 2005. Outside of his advisory role, Norris has ownership interests in real estate and construction businesses, including a real-estate office building, farmland, and involvement in a construction project. Edward Jones is a full-service wealth management firm serving individual and institutional clients nationwide. The firm manages over $1 trillion in assets through a large network of advisors and offers a range of advisory programs, including discretionary wrap fee strategies, separately managed accounts, and affiliated mutual funds, operating under a fiduciary standard.

Blake Hamer is a CFP® professional at Stifel with eight years of industry experience. He has been with Stifel since 2017 and worked previously at Ocwen Loan Servicing from 2013 to 2017. He serves as Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors for the Family YMCA of Black Hawk County. Stifel serves a diverse client base including individuals, institutional clients, and municipal entities, offering brokerage and investment advisory services that incorporate proprietary capital market assumptions and probabilistic modeling developed by its Investment Strategy Group.

Michael Gasperi is a financial advisor at Avantax Planning Partners, Inc. with 28 years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 credentials and has worked at Cetera Wealth Services, LLC, Avantax Investment Services, Inc., and ProEquities, Inc. He also serves as a Senior Financial Advisor and Non-Equity Partner at Honkamp Krueger Financial Services, where he acts as a wholesaler to CPA representatives. Avantax Planning Partners provides investment advice and planning primarily to individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, and businesses through referral arrangements with independent CPA firms and registered advisor representatives. The firm employs a model-based style allocation strategy overseen by an Investment Advisory Committee and generally manages client accounts on a discretionary basis with centralized trading and reporting.

Nicholas Manna is a financial advisor at Merrill with a Series 66 designation and experience starting in 2023. His prior work includes roles at Bank of America, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Merrill serves a wide range of clients, including individuals, retirement plans, corporations, and institutional investors, offering managed account programs, discretionary portfolio management, and brokerage execution. The firm emphasizes manager selection and tax-efficient strategies, supported by deep integration with Bank of America affiliates and a comprehensive investment platform.

Kyle Ver Woert is a financial professional with nine years of industry experience, currently affiliated with Cetera. He holds the Series 66 designation and has worked at firms including Equitable Advisors and Axa Advisors. He is also involved with Haga Kommer, a financial services business. Cetera Investment Advisers serves a diverse client base including individual, high-net-worth, institutional, and retirement-plan clients through a network of independent advisors. The firm offers discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management, financial planning, fiduciary solutions, and access to third-party managers, combining retirement and fiduciary capabilities with a broad institutional platform.

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.

Robert Stewart is a financial advisor with LVZ, Inc. in Cordele, GA, holding a Series 66 credential and 21 years of industry experience. He has worked at LVZ, Inc. since 2020 and previously spent five years at Harbour Investments, Inc. Stewart is also the owner and operator of Stewart Financial Group, an independent insurance agency, and is involved in tax consulting and property evaluation dispute resolution. LVZ, Inc. provides discretionary investment management and financial planning services to individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations, and qualified retirement plans. The firm employs a blended investment approach combining fundamental and technical analysis with qualitative review of economic and social trends, offering portfolios in Classic and Specialty styles.

Bruce Traub is a CFP® professional with 26 years of industry experience, currently serving as an investment adviser representative at 724 Capital, LLC since 2023. He has also been associated with Ministry Partners Securities LLC since 2013. Outside of his advisory roles, Traub leads a Kingdom Advisors study group focused on educating financial professionals about applying biblical principles to their business. 724 Capital serves individual and high-net-worth clients, corporations, and employee benefit plans by providing portfolio management, financial planning, and pension consulting. The firm employs a variety of analytic approaches and investment strategies, including discretionary account management and third-party money manager allocations, with regular portfolio monitoring and reporting.

Kevin Riggs Apolinar is a financial advisor at Behavior Shift with three years of industry experience. He holds a Series 66 designation and has previously worked at Edward Jones and currently serves as a Personal Financial Counselor for Magellan Federal. Outside of his advisory work, he is a part-owner of Good Finds Company, a retail business that sells curated merchandise at local market events. Behavior Shift provides investment management and financial planning services to individual clients, including high-net-worth individuals, using a fee-only structure. The firm combines Modern Portfolio Theory with behavioral finance concepts and offers faith-based investment options, serving a client base that includes non-U.S. residents.

William Caldwell is a CFP®-certified financial advisor at Guidestone Advisors with three years of industry experience. He has worked at GuideStone Financial Resources since 2021 and previously held positions at Whole Foods, Patton House, Breaking Free Ministries, and King Soopers. Guidestone Advisors provides investment advisory and financial planning services to individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and other entities, including high-net-worth clients and plan participants. The firm employs discretionary management and model portfolios aligned with a faith-based investing policy that excludes certain industries.