I'm a Sacramento, CA based financial planner and the founder of Three Oaks Wealth. After a great career at Charles Schwab, I launched the firm in 2014 to work with people more directly. Now we work with business owners to create clarity & confidence with regard to their business and personal finances. I started this blog in 2016 to write about my take on investing, the capital markets, financial planning, and entrepreneurship. In late 2019 I supplemented the blog by launching a podcast called Grow Money Business.
My wife Megan & Me
- I was born and raised in Anchorage Alaska
- I'm a baseball junkie, and an avid fan of the Seattle Mariners
- Whenever I can find free time, you'll find me noodling on a guitar, hiking, or downhill skiing
- I attended college and business school at Ithaca College in upstate New York
- After grad school I moved to Denver, CO, and worked for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. in their securities lending group
- The company relocated me to its headquarters in San Francisco in 2009
- In 2010 I met my future wife Megan, and we were married in 2013
- In 2014 we moved to Portland, OR and I opened Three Oaks Wealth
- In 2016 our first kid was born. We now have three (and are done).
- In 2017 we decided to move closer to family, and relocated to Sacramento, CA where I opened Three Oaks Wealth's second office
I was pretty sure from a young age that I wanted to start a business. My dad was an attorney, and started a successful law firm in Anchorage. My grandfather was a dentist, and then ran a dry cleaning business once he retired. Entrepreneurship is something I've always been around and drawn to.
It took me a while to narrow my focus though. After studying economics & finance throughout college and grad school, I set out for a job where I could soak in as much as I possibly could about the financial markets. After interviewing around for a month or two I was offered a great job at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. in Denver, Colorado.
Schwab put me on a tremendous team of people, where I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about financial planning, investing, and the financial system. My time there could not have been a better learning experience.
After working in the rat race for several years, I tried to reassess what I wanted to do longer term in my career and life. I realized I wanted to spend my career helping people more directly, and that the best path to deliver genuine and unbiased advice was to start an independent, fee-only firm.
So in 2014, I resigned and opened Three Oaks Wealth. The firm has grown and changed a lot over the years. We have a world-class small team and are growing rapidly. It's an incredibly fulfilling career. I have the pleasure of working with great people and great clients, and get to scratch my entrepreneurial itch managing and growing the firm.
