Top advisors focused on young professionals in Kansas

Kristin Manna is a financial advisor with Primerica Advisors and holds a Series 66 designation. She has one year of industry experience, including roles at Park Avenue Securities, Guardian Life Insurance Company, and Consolidated Planning Holdings, Inc. Prior to entering the financial industry, she worked in education for eight years. Outside of advising, Kristin is an author and publisher of a basketball coaching notebook and works as a math tutor for high school students. Park Avenue Securities serves a broad retail client base with a range of brokerage and advisory services, utilizing proprietary and third-party investment strategies across various account types and investment vehicles.

April Emeola is a financial advisor with RBC Capital Markets in Leawood, KS, holding Series 63 and Series 66 licenses with seven years of industry experience. She began her career at UBS Financial Services, where she worked for five years before joining RBC Capital Markets in 2017. Outside of finance, she is employed selling personal care products at Bath and Body Works. RBC Wealth Management serves a diverse client base including individual investors, institutions, and charitable organizations, offering a range of advisory programs that provide discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management, financial planning, custody, and brokerage services. The firm utilizes a blend of in-house and third-party investment managers and emphasizes tailored strategies based on clients’ risk profiles.

Justin Scicluna is a financial advisor at Edward Jones in Prairie Village, KS, holding the CFP®, ChFC®, and Series 66 designations with 13 years of industry experience. He has been with Edward Jones since 2013. Edward Jones is a full-service wealth management firm serving more than four million individual and institutional clients, including a range of household types, pension plans, corporate clients, and charitable organizations. The firm manages approximately $1.01 trillion in assets and offers various advisory programs, discretionary and non-discretionary strategies, and affiliated investment products through a nationwide network of over 23,700 financial advisors.

Norman Grant is a financial advisor with Commonwealth Financial Network, holding Series 65 and Series 66 licenses and 18 years of industry experience. He previously worked at Edward Jones for seven years and is the owner of Grant Capital, LLC, a private entity involved in securities, advisory, and insurance business. Grant also engages in fixed insurance sales as part of his professional activities. Commonwealth Financial Network is a registered investment adviser that supports a national network of approximately 2,950 advisors and their clients by providing operations, trading, technology, investment management, compliance, and practice-management services. The firm offers a variety of advisory programs and discretionary model portfolios, serving both retail and institutional clients.

David Wentz is a financial advisor with TFB Advisors, LLC, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and bringing 34 years of industry experience. He has worked with Ameritas entities for over 20 years and is involved in several related businesses, including serving as CEO of Tax Favored Benefits, a firm specializing in retirement plan administration. TFB Advisors serves a diverse client base including individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations, and pension and profit-sharing plans. The firm offers financial planning, discretionary portfolio and wealth management, and specialized retirement plan consulting, managing approximately $859.6 million in client assets across a multi-advisor team.

Donald Harris is a financial advisor at Beaird Harris with 29 years of industry experience. He holds the Series 63 and Series 65 designations and has been with Beaird Harris Wealth Management, Inc. since 1996, as well as Beaird Harris & Co P.C. since 1989. Outside of his advisory role, he serves as a managing officer and trustee for several trusts and management companies. Beaird Harris Wealth Management, LLC is a fee-only, SEC-registered investment adviser serving individuals, high net worth clients, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, pension plans, and business entities. The firm employs Modern Portfolio Theory with diversified asset-class exposure primarily through low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, and it offers alternative investments and tax-managed strategies.

Katie Strother is a CFP® with 10 years of industry experience, currently serving as a financial advisor at Curi Capital, LLC. She previously worked at Park Ridge Asset Management for seven years before joining Curi Capital and its affiliated entities. Outside of her advisory role, Strother is involved in her community as a nursery room leader at Peace Church and as a varsity girls soccer coach at Wilson Christian Academy. Curi Capital serves individuals, families, institutions, and charitable organizations with a range of wealth management, asset management, and retirement plan services. The firm employs a long-term, fundamental investment approach and combines in-house strategies with external managers to support its clients’ financial goals.

Jill Raderstorf is a financial advisor at Aptus Financial, LLC in Columbus, Ohio, holding a Series 65 designation with one year of industry experience. Her prior roles include positions at Hamilton Capital, LLC, Fifth Third Bank, and Ohio Innovation Fund. She also serves as an unpaid advisor for Accelerating Angels, an early-stage venture investment firm focused on high-growth, women-owned businesses, where she assists with due diligence processes. Aptus Financial provides flat-fee financial planning and advisory services to individuals, employer-sponsored plans, and organizations, primarily serving early- to mid-career professionals, business owners, and medical/dental trainees. The firm emphasizes a passive, long-term approach centered on tax-aware asset allocation and low-cost index funds and ETFs, operating as a fiduciary adviser without discretionary portfolio management.

We’re built for families! We focus on bridging generations to connect families and their finances. As Baby Boomers, you created more wealth than any generation before you. Now in your retirement years, the economic expansion that aided your careers doesn’t feel as robust. You worry about your savings lasting a lengthy life expectancy. You also worry that your children and grandchildren will be the first generation to not have it better than the generation before them. Our goal is to solve both problems. Our structure allows us to provide the same great advice whether you have a lifetime of savings or you are just starting out. That means we can work with multiple generations, and where appropriate, find opportunities to coordinate across generations while maintaining privacy and independence. I am a millennial myself with over a decade of experience helping retirees with personal finances. That combination of youth and experience gives me an advantage over many of the advisors out there. My youth, to retirees, means I am likely to be around for the entirety of your retirement. All those plans you made with your advisor, will be executed by the advisor that helped you plan them. If that includes an inheritance, good news because I want to work with your heirs too! To a younger generation, you get an advisor you can relate to who doesn’t treat your problems as less significant because you don’t have the same level of assets. Just because I’m young, doesn’t mean I’m green! I was previously the Practicing Partner of a wealth management firm focused solely on retirees. As the lead portfolio manager, I oversaw almost $500 million in client portfolios. That experience means I’ve guided and advised clients through every stage of a successful retirement. It also means I know what a successful retirement looks like. As I’ve always said, best laid plans begin with the end in mind, so my experience serves just as well early in your journey to financial independence. I started my own firm because I saw an increasing need to reconnect families and their finances. Grandparents are providing child care, children are providing elderly care, and everyone is chipping in to pay for education. As much as ever families need each other, and our program is specifically designed to be prepared when they do.

Michael Grinnell is a Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Since joining the firm in 2015, he has brought a problem-solving approach influenced by his background in Mechanical Engineering, earned from Santa Clara University. Michael concentrates on business development, marketing, and engaging with the next generation of clients. His areas of expertise include education planning, family wealth management strategies, legacy planning, liquidity management, personal retirement planning, portfolio management services, and small business strategies. He holds several professional designations, including Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), and Personal Investment Advisor (PIA). Outside of work, Michael enjoys a range of outdoor activities such as fishing, golfing, hiking, hunting, music, rock climbing, running, skiing, surfing, and tennis. He is actively involved in the community through organizations like St. Anthony Organization and The Covenant House California.