Finding a financial professional you can trust is key to achieving a successful retirement.
Certified Financial Fiduciaries® (CFF) are sworn to uphold the highest moral, ethical and fiduciary standards of service when providing advice to potential or existing clients. By choosing to work with a Certified Financial Fiduciary® you can be confident that your best interests will always come first!
Jason began his career in the financial services industry in 1997 with American Express Financial Advisors after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin. Committed to his clients’ financial well-being, he ensures that they understand their options and that they are in a position to make well-informed decisions. His effectiveness as a communicator assures that his clients are constantly apprised of their financial situation. He empowers his clients by providing them with easy-to-understand information so that they no longer feel intimidated by the “financial maze” we live in today. In addition to being a fiduciary, Jason holds numerous licenses and has served as a Wealth Consultant for a wide range of individuals and entities, including but not limited to: U.S. Navy, the City of San Diego, athletes, municipalities, entertainers, local banks and large corporations.
His areas of specialty include:
Investment Management Tax Reduction Strategies
Retirement Planning Employee Education
Business Consulting 401k Plans
Stock Options Asset Protection
In addition to his career, Jason serves his community through various service activities including the Polinsky Center for Children, American Diabetes Association, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and was named Big Brother of the Year by Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego in 2010.
Ross is an independent, unbiased Certified Financial Fiduciary and CFP Professional. He provides the resources of the big firms with the personalized touch of a boutique and works in a fee based or fee only capacity with affluent families and small businesses to help them plan, invest and solve financial problems.
J. Brenton Dearing, is the Founder & President of Wealth Ambassadors, LLC an Investment Advisory Firm, headquartered in St. Louis, MO with clients around the country. Brenton is a Certified Financial Planner Professional & a Certified Fund Specialist who has been in the Financial Services industry since 1993. He has been a business owner for over 30 years. Brenton received Bachelor’s degrees in Accounting & Management from Evangel University in Springfield, MO.
Within the community, Brenton is active in coordinating training for financial classes, as well as speaking to various organizations on the principles of financial planning. He has led classes for Ron Blue, Crown Financial Ministries, Good Sense Ministries, Dave Ramsey & Family Foundations Int’l. He is the past Director of ‘Your Money Counts at Grace Church – St. Louis, a past trainer for Larry Burkett’s Christian Financial Concepts/Crown Financial and is a trained Kingdom Advisor. He received a PhD in Leadership & Personal Development from Klemmer & Associates. Brenton is a Certified Professional Leadership Coach, Certified Professional Life Coach & a Competent Toastmaster (CTM). He is currently a board member for Worldwide Inventory Network, an Assistant Scout Master at St. Charles River Church – Troop 957, active on the Greater St. Louis Area Council (BSA) – Alumni Relations & Planned Giving Committees & an Eagle Scout as well.
For the first 17 years of Brenton’s life, his father was a non-denominational pastor until he became disabled with Mitonic Muscular Dystrophy & lost the church he was pastoring. Seven years later, Brenton’s dad passed away at the age of 52 & left his mom with no income, no assets & no insurance. Brenton started in the financial business a year later with the desire to not let this happen to clients. Brenton is grateful for the profession of helping clients achieve their dreams for the past 27 years.Brenton and his wife, Cassendra live in the St. Charles County area with their teenage son.
Abe Abich is the Founder and CEO of Abich Financial Services (AFS). A native of Arlington, Virginia, Abe has been an expert in the financial services industry for 16 years working for a leading financial planning firm and training under the area’s top financial planners. While he gained experience from national companies, Abe sought to create a local, “boutique style” financial services firm and in 2008 founded Abich Financial Services. He has spent the past 10 years developing his niche in the industry; Abe firmly believes that “knowledge is power” and freely educates the community on tax-free and stress-free financial strategies.
Abe has qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) for the past 10 years. The MDRT consists of the top 1% of financial services professionals worldwide and holds the highest standards for ethics and customer service in the industry.
Abe is an active member of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, the Future Fund and McLean Bible Church. He serves on the Board of Directors with Loudoun Habitat for Humanity and volunteers with the Youth Leadership Foundation and the Autism Society of Northern Virginia.
Abe and his wife, Shelly, are proud Leesburg residents. In their spare time, they enjoy biking, visiting local wineries, traveling, and attending Redskins and Nationals games.
About Abich Financial Services
Abich Financial Services’ mission is to prepare our clients for a successful and long lasting retirement. We strive to accomplish this by empowering our clients with financial education that makes complex issues simple and allows them to make sound financial decisions.
Abich Financial Services’ vision is to create a better everyday life for everyone in our reach by eliminating financial stress and through the endless pursuit of financial freedom.
Abich Financial Services follows two main rules: Rule #1: Never Lose Any Money
Rule #2: Never Forget Rule #1
Tax-free retirement planning and retirement income planning are the two main specialties at AFS. However, all areas of protection, savings and growth are discussed including life insurance, short and long-term disability, long-term care, full retirement planning, tax planning and estate planning.
Abich Financial Services believes that we are in the midst of a "perfect storm”. Many people are looking for retirement planning with safety, guarantees, and protection, while simultaneously seeking opportunities for growth. AFS specializes in this type of planning.
Abich Financial Services was awarded the Best of Ashburn in the Financial Services category in September 2015. Abe is also a featured contributor with Fortune.com, CNN Money and Annuity 123.com. Abe and Shelly host the Retirement Key Radio Show every Saturday which is aired on WMAL 105.9 FM and AM 630 at 2:00 p.m.
Kirk Wilkerson is a Financial Consultant and Managing Director of Consilium Financial Group.
Kirk integrates financial planning, investment management, and estate and philanthropic planning into a custom-tailored financial plan that helps clients accomplish their financial goals. He is responsible for bringing together the specialized resources necessary to effectively meet his clients’ needs and for building long-term client relationships based on integrity, confidence and trust.
Prior to co-founding Consilium Financial Group, Kirk spent 17 years as a Senior Wealth Advisor with Ronald Blue & Co. Other Broker-Dealer positions, beginning in 1992, include his role as a Financial Consultant with Shearson Lehman Brothers, The Robinson Humphrey Company, and Sr. Financial Advisor with Paine Webber, Inc.
When employed in the Broker-Dealer arena, Kirk held his Series 7, 63 and 65 licenses, as well as Georgia Life Insurance and Annuity licenses and earned several professional designations including Guided Portfolio Manager, Retirement Planning Consultant and Managed Account Consultant. In 2001, he earned the designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) through the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA). In 2020 he earned his Certified Financial Fiduciary® (CFF) designation dedicating the practice to a standard of care, loyalty and best interest of the client at all times.
Tom (a/k/a Thomas) Batterman is in the business of representing the best financial interests of his clients in their financial planning and decision-making. In a career spanning more than three decades, he has never sold a single investment product and has always and only been committed to the fee-only, fiduciary approach to helping clients with their financial affairs. Tom is best suited to assist clients who do not have the time, interest or expertise to manage their financial affairs on their own, guiding them to the decisions they would make themselves if they had years of training and experience and the time and expertise to fully research and understand all of their options.
Tom is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the UW-Madison Law School. Prior to his employment in the financial industry in financial planning/advisory and trust positions, he practiced law in the Wausau, WI area in the fields of estate planning, tax, retirement planning, corporate organizations and real estate. This training and experience enables him to provide added value to clients with financial issues or concerns in these areas.
Hannah Buschbom CFP®, CDFA™, CFF is a Wealth Advisor at The AmeriFlex Group. She has over a decade of experience working in the financial services industry. Her specialty is working with people, especially women, during a significant life transition, such as retirement, sale of a business or real estate, change in marital status, or loss of a loved one.
She enjoys engaging clients cooperatively, to develop creative solutions to their often-complex scenarios together. This method, she says, leads to their preferred outcome– “My ultimate goal is to enable clients to be better educated, and in turn to make confident and informed decisions.”
In her search for connections to educate and serve her clients better, Hannah noticed a lack of a centralized way for women to establish and strengthen powerful relationships with other women business leaders in their communities. By Co-Founding The W Source, she helps female professionals tackle this challenge by providing a way for them to connect, engage, and grow their professional networks.
Hannah holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) certification – the gold standard for financial planning in the financial services industry. Also, Hannah noticed early on in her career that those grappling with the complexities of divorce settlements could benefit from the help of a specialized, trusted advisor. Wanting to fill this void, she pursued and obtained her Certified Divorce Financial Analyst Designation®. Finally, wanting to provide the highest standard of care for clients, she holds the Certified Financial Fiduciary (CFF®) designation.
As a featured speaker, Hannah frequently shares her expertise with other female professionals. She has contributed to Barron’s Magazine, Financial Advisor magazine, Investment News, Financial Planning Magazine, and Wealth Management.com.
In 2019, Hannah was named “Grassroots Champion of the Year”* by Financial Services Institute (FSI). FSI advocates for a more business-friendly regulatory environment for independent financial services firms and independent financial advisors in Washington D.C. The award is given at the discretion of FSI.
* Third-party rankings and recognitions are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation.
Loren’s passion is helping people achieve their retirement dreams. He’s been a part of the financial industry since 1998 and has helped thousands of people retire.
Through his many years in the industry, Loren has been able to unmask a lot of what goes on behind the scenes at major corporations. He experienced companies and advisers that would overcharge and oversell investment products with no intention of seeing their clients through. Because of this, he has dedicated himself to changing the industry for the better with a team of professionals driven to put the client’s needs first.
Loren is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Certified Financial Fiduciary® and has his life, health and accident Iowa insurance licenses. He also has passed the Series 6,7,24,63 securities exams. He is the host of the Retiring Today TV show and podcast. Loren resides in Johnston, Iowa, with his daughter. When he is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and being outdoors.
Chawn joined Merkle Retirement Planning in 2019. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services and public accounting industries. The CPA side of him enjoys the detailed and strategic nature of retirement planning, while the high-energy, outgoing side of him loves asking questions and getting to know the families we have the opportunity to work with. Chawn prides himself on building long-lasting relationships and simplifying the complexities that are part of retirement planning.
Chawn grew up on a dairy farm in eastern Iowa. He is the fourth of five boys, all with names that start with a 'C'. The early mornings and late nights of helping to run the family farm and manage their dairy cows has shaped his approach to hard work. One of their top family values was “put the time in and do the work first, and expect the reward later."
Chawn resides in Clive with his wife Ryan, daughter Morgan, son Tyler and their Cavapoo dog Rex. In the summer you can find Chawn on the baseball field, coaching his son Tyler. In the fall, he is in the gym cheering on his daughter Morgan at volleyball games. Chawn and Ryan enjoy working out, staying active, and tackling projects around their house together.
Chawn has been a CPA since 2000, has his MBA from the University of Iowa, is a Retirement Income Certified Professional®and a Certified Financial Fiduciary®. He has his life, health and accident Iowa insurance licenses and has passed the Series 7 and 66 securities exams.
Robert Cannon, AIFA® has more than three decades of experience working with affluent investors, businesses, and hedge funds across the United States. He places a key focus on creating lifetime income plans for retirement, and in doing so, Robert guides his clients through a very distinctive wealth management and investment process that is specifically designed for financially successful individuals, couples, and families.
He is viewed as a “Chief Financial Officer” to his clients, and in many ways acts as the “quarterback” by implementing an advisory team approach. This allows his clients to receive advice from specialists in different areas, including wealth building and preservation and taxes.
In addition to his vast experience, Robert has earned numerous licenses and industry professional designations, including the Series 7 (General Securities Representative), Series 63 (Uniform Securities Agent), Series 66 (Uniform Combined Registered Investment Advisory), and the Series 55 (Equity Trader). He also holds an accident and health insurance license and is eligible to conduct business in over 30 states.
In addition, Robert received a Certificate in Financial Management from Cornell University. He has also earned the prestigious Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst (AIFA) designation. When not working with clients, Robert enjoys spending time with family and friends. He resides in New York.
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