Top financial advisors working with young professionals in Kentucky

Julie Smith is a financial advisor with Edward Jones in Prestonsburg, KY, holding a Series 66 designation and one year of industry experience. Prior to joining Edward Jones, she worked at Community Trust Bank and held various roles in healthcare and therapy organizations. Edward Jones is a full-service wealth management firm serving over four million individual and institutional clients, offering a wide range of advisory programs and investment strategies supported by a large nationwide network of financial advisors and branch offices.

Jordan Pruden is a Series 66-licensed financial advisor with Morgan Stanley in Bowling Green, KY, and has eight years of industry experience. He has worked at Morgan Stanley since 2019, including time at Morgan Stanley Private Bank, N.A., and previously spent two years at Merrill and one year at Service One Credit Union. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an SEC-registered investment adviser and broker-dealer serving individuals and institutional clients with a wide range of advisory programs, including tailored financial and estate planning. The firm manages approximately $2.74 trillion in client assets and employs structured planning tools and models to support its advisory services.

Tyler Peter is a financial advisor at Fidelity with nine years of industry experience. He holds the Series 66 designation and has worked across several Fidelity divisions, including Personal and Workplace Advisors, Brokerage Services LLC, and Institutional Operations. Fidelity’s Strategic Advisers LLC provides investment management and advisory services to retail and institutional clients, employing a blend of proprietary fundamental research, quantitative analysis, and algorithmic portfolio construction to develop model portfolios from a range of mutual funds, ETFs, and ETPs.

Marcia Lewis is a CFP® professional with 25 years of experience in financial services. She is currently with Avantax Planning Partners, Inc. and has held roles at Blue & Co., LLC and CSSC Brokerage Services, Inc. She is a Director Emeritus at Blue & Co., a regional CPA firm, where she provides tax, consulting, and business valuation services. Avantax Planning Partners provides investment advice and planning primarily to individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, and businesses, utilizing model-based style allocation strategies and discretionary portfolio management within a larger corporate group structure.

Michael Dawahare is a financial advisor at Dupree Financial Group, LLC in Lexington, KY, holding a Series 65 designation with two years of industry experience. Prior to joining Dupree Financial Group, he spent ten years as a senior consultant. Dupree Financial Group provides discretionary portfolio management and asset-management services primarily to individuals, including high-net-worth clients, and institutional accounts, focusing on retirees and those planning for retirement. The firm employs a modified value-focused, bottom-up investment approach combining individual securities and ETFs, emphasizing valuation metrics and dividend history for long-term holdings.

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 financial advisor with Curi Capital, LLC in Raleigh, NC, holding CFP® and Series 65 credentials and bringing 11 years of industry experience. Her prior experience includes roles at Park Ridge Asset Management and Curi RMB Capital LLC. Outside of her advisory work, she is involved in her community as a nursery room leader at Peace Church and serves as a varsity girls soccer coach at Wilson Christian Academy. Curi Capital is an SEC-registered investment adviser managing approximately $11.6 billion in assets and serving individuals, retirement plans, institutions, and family offices. The firm employs a long-term, fundamental investment approach using proprietary and third-party strategies across equity and fixed income, and offers a range of services including wealth management and specialized offerings for medical professionals.

Jill Raderstorf is a financial advisor at Aptus Financial, LLC with two years of industry experience. She holds a Series 65 designation and previously worked at Hamilton Capital, LLC and Fifth Third Bank. Outside of her advisory role, she serves as an unpaid advisor to Accelerating Angels, a venture investment firm focused on high-growth, women-owned businesses, where she assists with building due diligence processes. Aptus Financial provides flat-fee financial planning and advisory services to individuals, trusts, charitable organizations, and employer-sponsored defined-contribution plans. The firm emphasizes financial planning over discretionary portfolio management, supporting clients with passive, long-term indexing strategies, structured educational programs, and subscription-based ongoing support.

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.