Chris is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a navy veteran. After leaving active military service, Chris spent a decade with Pepsi and Coca Cola. After earning his MBA at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Chris turned his attention to the financial services sector. After a stint at AEI Fund Management as a wholesaler, Chris spent the next 15 years at RBC Wealth Management and Ameriprise Financial Services. He earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation in 2013 and built a full-service advisory and wealth management practice in the Twin Cities. Chris sold his practice in June 2022 to assume a full-time role leading Wings for Widows into the future. As a financial advisor, Chris helped many clients put their financial house in order after the loss of a loved one. However, in 2017, working with a client of a colleague, Chris realized that many widowed persons do not have a financial advisor and struggle financially after the loss of a spouse. Chris realized he could do more, and founded Wings for Widows in 2018 to provide pro bono financial planning to newly widowed persons nationwide. Since then, Chris has authored two books. “The Legacy Planning and Conversation Guide” became an Amazon International Best-Seller in 2020. Shortly thereafter, Chris published “The Widow’s Guidebook to Financial Wellness,” used exclusively to help volunteer (CFP) financial advisors work with Wings for Widows’ clients. The second edition of this guidebook was published in early 2023. In his spare time, Chris enjoys traveling, boating, sailing, music, craft beer and fine bourbon, and time with his wife Susie, his large family, and friends.
Dan Candura, CFP BOARD EMERITUS™ is the founder of Candura Group, LLC and provides ethics training across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia through in-person courses and webinars. As President of PennyTree Advisers LLC, until September 2019, Dan provided financial planning for consumers and litigation support for attorneys. Dan taught financial planning, insurance planning and retirement planning in the Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University in Boston and was CFP® Ambassador for the Boston area.
Dan appeared as a featured expert on the PBS documentary Retirement Revolution. He has been profiled in The Journal of Financial Planning, and quoted in numerous publications. He wrote a monthly column for Investment News concerning ethical issues for advisors. Dan served on the Board of Directors of The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. and is a past Chair of the Board of Professional Review. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association and a retired member of NAPFA.
Ben is the Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management. They create detailed investment plans and manage portfolios for institutions and individuals to help them achieve their goals.
Ben has been managing institutional portfolios for his entire career. He started out with an institutional investment consulting firm developing portfolio strategies and creating investment plans for various foundations, endowments, pensions, hospitals, insurance companies and high net worth individuals. More recently, Ben was part of the portfolio management team for an investment office that managed a large endowment fund for a charitable organization.
Ben is the author of four books about saving, investing and money. In 2017, he was named to the Investment News 40 Under 40 list of top financial advisors.
Every Wednesday, you can listen to a new episode of Ben’s podcast Animal Spirits with Michael and Ben. Fortune named Animal Spirits to its list of Best Business Podcasts. Investopedia named Animal Spirits to its top 10 investing podcast list.
Mr. Faber is the CEO of Cambria Investment Management. Faber is the manager of Cambria’s ETFs and separate accounts. Mr. Faber is the host of The Meb Faber Show podcast and has authored numerous white papers and leather-bound books. He is a frequent speaker and writer on investment strategies and has been featured in Barron’s, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. Mr. Faber graduated from the University of Virginia with a double major in Engineering Science and Biology.
Michael Finke, Ph.D. is a Professor of wealth management and Frank M. Engle Distinguished Chair in Economic Security at The American College of Financial Services. He received a doctorate in consumer economics from the Ohio State University in 1998 and in finance from the University of Missouri in 2011. He leads the O. Alfred Granum Center for Financial Security at the American College, is a Research Fellow at the Retirement Income Institute, and serves as a Trustee on the Pension Reserve Trust of Puerto Rico. He is a nationally known researcher in the areas of retirement income planning, retirement spending, life satisfaction, and cognitive aging and was named one of the 25 most influential people in the field of investment advising in 2020 and 2021 by Investment Advisor Magazine.
Steven Jarvis is proudly the “least boring” CPA you’ll ever meet. He proudly has NOT committed the entire tax code to memory and instead focuses on teaching financial advisors how they can actually work with their clients to help them not get killed on taxes. Everything Steven does is focused on how to take action. Google can recite the law, Steven gives the roadmap for taking relevant tax planning strategies from an idea on a whiteboard to real clients saving real money and creating real impact over the lifetime of their wealth. Steven is a licensed CPA, has an MBA, has taught as an adjunct professor and has given tax planning presentations to audiences large and small across the country. Steven is also a sought after author having published a book on tax planning and contributing articles to renowned publications throughout the industry.
When he’s not talking taxes Steven is always in search of a new adventure and is currently focused on obstacle course racing and other endurance events and even gets the whole family involved as his wife and two kids are often along for the journey.
Dr. David Kelly is the Chief Global Strategist and Head of the Global Market Insights Strategy Team for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. With over 20 years of experience, David provides valuable insight and perspective on the economy and markets to the institutional investor and financial advisor global communities.
David’s research focuses on investment implications of an evolving economic environment. He has written extensively on all aspects of the U.S. economy and his proprietary U.S. economic forecasting model helps shape his views on both the economic landscape and prospective asset class returns. He currently sits on JP Morgan Fund’s operating committee.
Throughout his career, David has developed a unique ability to explain complex economic and market issues in a language that financial professionals can use to communicate to their clients. He is a keynote speaker at many national investment conferences and a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and other financial media outlets.
Prior to joining J.P. Morgan Asset Management, David served as Economic Advisor to Putnam Investments. He has also served as a senior strategist/economist at SPP Investment Management, Primark Decision Economics, Lehman Brothers and DRI/McGraw-Hill. David is a CFA® charterholder. He also has a Ph.D and M.A. in Economics from Michigan State University and a B.A. in Economics from University College Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.
Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP®, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, CASL is the Chief Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning and helping to make financial advisors better and more successful. In addition, he is the Head of Planning Strategy at Focus Partners Wealth, the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, New Planner Recruiting, fpPathfinder, and FA BeanCounters, the
former Practitioner Editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, the host of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, and the publisher of the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View. In 2010, Michael was recognized with one of the FPA’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication and work in advancing the profession.