D/B/A Financial Awareness Institute

Financial Awareness Institute primarily serves employers and their employees by delivering workplace financial wellness programs, and it also offers individual one‑on‑one counseling and portfolio management for individual clients. Services described in the brochure include streaming video and narrated slide presentations, Excel-based tracking spreadsheets, PDF checklists, live half‑ and full‑day seminars, online package modules (401(k)/403(b) mini‑lessons and financial planning mini‑lessons), and a Tax Adviser Network.

The firm’s approach stresses financial education and behavioral finance, using multiple, personality‑tailored money‑management processes and decision‑making frameworks instead of one‑size‑fits‑all rules of thumb. Its advisory relationships are largely non‑discretionary—providing tools, guidance and employer‑facing usage reports (tracking, scam alerts, and incentive reporting) while leaving final investment decisions with clients—an arrangement that is uncommon among independent advisers.

Distinctive aspects include an explicit employer focus with detailed usage tracking and reporting for employee programs, semi‑monthly scam alerts, and the Tax Adviser Network available in the Chicago metro area as of March 2016, all of which position the firm more as a workplace financial wellness provider than a traditional discretionary asset manager. As a solo adviser with a small client base, the firm emphasizes programized educational content (workbooks, narrated modules, and reporting) over a high‑volume investment management model typical of many peers.