There’s a kind of financial relationship I think everyone deserves.
One where someone knows your full picture. Not just your account balances, but your goals, your fears, your family, and what keeps you up at night. Someone who shows up for the big decisions and the everyday questions. Who has walked through enough of life with you to give advice that’s actually relevant to you, not just technically correct.
When you have a real partner in your financial life, decisions that used to feel overwhelming start to feel like choices. Clarity replaces confusion. Confidence replaces anxiety. That’s what this work is really about — and honestly, it’s why I love getting to do it every single day.
That relationship has real value. And I think it’s okay to say that out loud.
I also think most people have no idea how hard it can be to find it. So let me share some things I wish were more widely understood — not as a pitch, but because you deserve to know them whether you ever work with me or not.
A note on technology first.
Technology has made financial information more accessible than ever, and that’s genuinely wonderful. But information is not advice. An algorithm can calculate. It can optimize. It can automate. What it cannot do is sit across from you when your life changes unexpectedly and help you figure out what that means for your future. It cannot know that you just lost a parent, that your marriage is ending, that your business is struggling, or that you finally got the promotion you’ve been working toward for a decade. It cannot hold the full, complicated, deeply human context of your financial life — and respond to it with wisdom, not just data.
A real financial relationship is built on knowing you. That’s not something that can be automated.
Here’s what keeps me up at night about this industry.
“Financial advisor” is not a protected title. Almost anyone can use it. There is no universal standard behind those two words, and the gap between what people assume and what’s actually true is enormous.
It genuinely breaks my heart.
Someone who passed a basic licensing exam and primarily sells commissioned products can call themselves a financial advisor just as freely as someone with decades of experience, rigorous credentials, and a legal obligation to put their clients first. The consumer has no easy way to tell the difference, and in reality, not many advisors are rushing to explain it.
There’s a whole category of advisors — some of them with many years of experience and familiar, trustworthy-sounding names behind them — who are captive to their company. They can only offer what their firm approves. They are incentivized, sometimes heavily, to recommend specific products. Their loyalty, whether they’d say it out loud or not, is divided.
Most advisors got into this work because they genuinely wanted to help people. The problem isn’t usually intention — it’s structure. And most consumers never know that going in.
The wrong advisor, even a well-meaning one, can cost you far more than their fee.
So what should you actually look for?
Two things: fiduciary standards and real credentials.
An advisor with fiduciary standards is legally required to act in your best interest. Always. Not most of the time. Not when it’s convenient. Always. No hidden incentives. No products that pay a better commission quietly tucked into the recommendation. Just someone who is genuinely, legally obligated to put you first.
A CFP® — CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® — takes that even further. It requires rigorous education, a comprehensive board exam, thousands of hours of real client experience, and ongoing continuing education and ethical standards. It’s one of the most respected credentials in financial planning because this work deserves to be taken seriously.
Ask for both. Don’t settle for less.
Let’s talk about how advisors actually get paid.
This part matters more than most people realize, because how an advisor gets paid shapes everything about the advice they give. Sometimes in ways they’d never say out loud.
Some advisors earn commissions on the products they recommend — insurance policies, annuities, mutual funds. That’s not automatically wrong. But it does create an incentive that has nothing to do with whether that product is the right fit for you. And when an advisor isn’t required to put your interests first, that conflict can quietly drive the conversation without you ever knowing it.
Some advisors charge a percentage of the assets they manage for you, called an AUM fee (AUM stands for assets under management.) This is the primary model I work within, and the thinking behind it makes sense: when your portfolio grows, so does my fee. When it doesn’t, neither does my income. We’re pointing in the same direction.
There’s a third compensation model worth understanding called direct business. In this structure, an advisor charges a large upfront percentage — sometimes four or five percent of your assets — at the time of the transaction. The sale is made. The commission is earned. And after that? There is no ongoing obligation. No requirement to check in. No accountability for whether your investments remain appropriate as your life changes over time. No commitment to you beyond the initial transaction.
This is a legal structure. It exists. And most people have no idea it’s possible to pay someone a significant sum for financial guidance and walk away with no ongoing relationship and no one watching out for you going forward.
This is not an indictment of everyone who operates this way — some people genuinely only need a one-time transaction. But you deserve to know what kind of relationship you’re entering before you enter it. And you deserve to ask.
A true fiduciary will always tell you how they get paid, clearly, before you sign anything.
A note on transparency.
I earn a commission when I help clients with insurance — and I want you to know that clearly.
Here’s the context: insurance only enters our conversation when we’ve uncovered a genuine gap in your financial picture together. I shop multiple carriers based on your actual needs. You are never obligated to buy from me. But if you do need coverage, someone is going to earn a commission on that policy. I’d rather it be someone who already knows your full financial life and is legally required to act in your best interest.
I’m telling you this because a true fiduciary always discloses how they get paid — clearly, completely, and before you sign anything. This is what that looks like.
Here’s how I built Oak & Co. — and why.
I don’t know exactly how this industry’s fee structures came to be. But I made a deliberate choice about how to operate inside of them.
I designed my fees to be fair at every level — whether you’re just getting started or well into your wealth-building journey. No one should feel like they’re being taken advantage of for where they are right now, and no one should feel penalized for how far they’ve come. That’s the whole idea.
I wanted financial planning to be woven into the relationship, not sold separately. And I put a cap on my fee because at a certain point, a percentage simply stops being fair — and I think you deserve an advisor who will say that out loud.
I’m not the cheapest option out there. I’m also not the most expensive. What I am is transparent about every dollar, every structure, and every reason behind it. Because you deserve to understand exactly what you’re paying for and why.
Who I answer to.
I’m a CFP® professional and I’ve been one since 2018. I’m a fiduciary. I have nearly two decades of experience in financial services.
And I am completely independent.
I don’t answer to a parent company. I’m not captive to a product shelf. I have no quota to hit and no firm telling me what to recommend. The only people I am incentivized by, accountable to, and working for are my clients.
That’s not something every advisor can say. I think it’s worth knowing.
Here’s the part I don’t say enough.
I became a financial advisor because I didn’t have one. Not in theory — at a real point in my life when I genuinely needed a guide, I didn’t have one. I didn’t have someone who knew my full picture, asked the right questions, and helped me make confident decisions when it mattered most.
I knew what that felt like. And I knew I wanted to be that person for someone else.
This work is a calling. I am genuinely, deeply grateful to get to do it. There is nothing quite like watching someone move from financial anxiety to financial confidence — from feeling behind to feeling in control. From going it alone to having a true partner in their corner. That transformation is real, it happens, and being part of it is the greatest professional privilege I can imagine.
That’s still why I do this. Every single day.
No matter where you’re starting — from nothing to something to everything — there’s a place for you here.
If you already have an advisor who has fiduciary standards, is a credentialed CFP®, and is truly independent — that’s worth celebrating. Sincerely. Hold onto them, tell your friends about them, and trust that relationship.
And if you don’t have that yet? Don’t panic. You’re not behind. You’re just not there yet.
Go find your person.
And if that person might be me, I’d love that conversation.