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!
I am a native to the Philadelphia western suburbs known as the Mainline. Growing up in Wayne Pennsylvania and never leaving the area I have roots far reaching into the local area both in business and personally.
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL FIDUCIARY
Recently I have become a Certified Financial Fiduciary which is something that I am proud to have accomplished. If you don’t know what a fiduciary is, it is someone who gives advice for a fee who puts his clients interests before his own. Although I am licensed with a series 65 Investment Advisory license and Life Insurance license I felt the obligation to my clients to become educated to a higher standard of Due Care, Loyalty and Good Faith.
BUSINESS
I have been in business for over 30 years and have business knowledge both from a formal education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and the school of hard knocks. I have experience with small micro business to manufacturing with over 50 employees. I am able to share this knowledge with clients because I usually know where practical experience is a priceless asset. I help you find money in places where you never looked or if you have looked I can help by looking with deeper knowledge and partner affiliations.
WORKING WITH CPAS
I used to be a traditional financial advisor but eventually I got burned out of the status quo. Unfortunately there was a lot of deceit and self-serving advice being given. And it didn't make me feel comfortable because that is not who I am. I didn't get into the financial services industry to just make sales. So I took a step back and thought about my options. What I realized was that the best way for me to truly help most people would be to focus on business owners. By helping business owners reduce their expenses, become more efficient, and make better decisions, I could help them create jobs and shape the future of the economy.
However as I began working with business owners I realized that in order to help them, I would ultimately need their CPA's help as well.
I was initially surprised how many CPA's were unwilling to spend a little more time to significantly help their clients. Slowly I realized the issue was that were just way too busy. So now I focus on helping CPA's in a team based approach with their clients not as a referral source but a true partnership with them.
Melissa L George & Associates is a Holistic Advisory & Financial Planning Firm located in the Metro Atlanta area. (MLG) Making Lives Grow is the brand promise of Melissa L. George and Associates, a proactive custodian of planning for life’s transitions. Having a collaborative partner and leader changes the ride of life’s peaks and valleys to a smooth journey. Making Lives Grow is about a special recipe - education, experience, and expansion!
As a 20+ year financial services professional with corporate and independent practice experience, Melissa is the personification of Making Lives Grow...credentialed, creative and caring. Clients, regardless of the size of their portfolio or assets, don't feel intimidated or overwhelmed; they feel enlightened and engaged! Her firm’s approach is a methodical discipline to build, protect, spend, and distribute assets in a way that the client’s life grows.
Our MISSION is to cultivate solid, long-term client relationships,
to equip our clients with sufficient information to make informed decisions,
to develop customized solutions based on sound financial principals,
to provide top-rated products to support the attainment of those goals,
to monitor progress at regular intervals and adjust where and when needed and
to help our clients to live abundantly.
Melissa received her BBA from Georgia State University and holds several licenses in multiple states. She is minority certified and has won several contracts with city and county governments. Her current professional and civic affiliations include the National Association of Women Owned Small Businesses, the United Way VIP Alumni Association and the National Association of Certified Financial Fiduciaries. Melissa is also a proud and active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Melissa and her husband Derrick reside in East Point, GA.
Gary Silcox has an extensive career as an Insurance Agent, Business Consultant and prior 3rd Party Administrator who partners with clients to grow their personal and professional future. After spending decades working in insurance sales, consulting and marketing both nationally and internationally, Gary knows what is truly necessary for anyone or business to succeed.—It’s how well you connect with the heart-beating people you’re trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them while always putting their well being first.
Gary has consulted to the Fortune 500, Directed National Associations, founded multiple Insurance Agencies, and an International Re-Insurance Company.Gary is a trained business consultant, owner of multiple small businesses, Certified in Section 105, Licensed Insurance Agent, Certified Financial Fiduciary® and holds authorization to represent MLCDs offered by the world’s largest banks.
Gary is married enjoying a large family.Educated at Ohio State University and Wright State University 1966-71,
Michael is a Certified Retirement Financial Advisor (CRFA), Chartered Federal Employee Benefits Consultant (ChFEBC) and Chartered Senior Financial Planner and he holds a Life and Health License, a Long- Term Care Certification and a California Partnership Long-Term Care Certification. Michael's professional memberships include the Better Business Bureau, Business Consumer Alliance and the National Ethics Association.
Over the last 19 years, Michael has assisted over 2,000 California teachers, school administrators, and public school employees on retirement planning through his seminars, videos and personal consultations.
Michael educates his clients on how to achieve financial success in retirement. He takes his clients through a step-by-step comprehensive retirement planning process that includes providing information on how to lower taxes in retirement planning process that includes providing information on how to lower taxes in retirement, how to maximize Social Security income and retirement plan distribution options, Estate planning, and assessing insurance needs in retirement.
Michael has been honored with many professional awards and he has lectured widely on estate planning and financial topics throughout southern California. Michael has written several articles on the importance of wealth preservation and long-term care that have been published in leading outlets.
Michael lives in Thousand Oaks, California with his wife Jeanne of 20 years and their two sons. Michael's wife, his grown daughter, and son-in-law are also Financial Advisors and his business partners. When not working, Michael enjoys spending time with his family which now includes two young grandsons.
After beginning his career as a multiline agency owner, Carson quickly realized his real passion is in the financial services profession. Instead of walking away from the thousands of client relationships he had built up to that point Carson decided to instead focus on bringing more value to his clients by helping them with their financial advisory needs as well. To date he has invested huge amounts back into his agency in the form of new team members. The CP Insurance team is stacked with the top licensed agents in their area. Each agent specializes in just a few disciplines. Even though CPI is still a multiline agency, they set themselves apart from the competition by having dedicated agents who are focused on directed markets. The old saying “jack of all trades, master of none” is widely used to describe the multiline world; however, Carson and his team have distanced themselves from other agencies by becoming a team of leading authorities on every service they offer.
Carson has made Financial Services his own personal specialty within his agency. He has achieved incredible standards with the companies he represents and has earned many of their Top Agent awards year after year. When asked what sets him apart from others in his particular field Carson stated, “Too many times in our field we do an incredible job of making ourselves seem important and all knowledgeable and too poor a job of actually responding to the clients wants and needs. The reason we do more business than most is because we refer more business than most. Look, if it’s not a good fit then I don’t want to put you there even if it means losing a sale. I trust that if I take extra ordinarily good care of your needs, then down the road you will bump into someone you believe I can be of service to and you’ll send them my way. This is why it has become paramount to my success to work with other like minded professionals who specialize in areas where I do not. By working together, with the clients BEST interest in mind, we create a more productive, powerful, and effective team and thereby impact our collective clients lives in a much more positive way then we could all on our own. In creating this power team of ethical professionals I have guaranteed that my clients never lose and guaranteed that I will always win over my competitors. Maybe I am old fashioned, but I just believe if you treat people right, and make sound advisements regardless of how they affect my bottom line, then my clients will always take care of me and my family’s needs.”
John Hart has been Insurance licensed since 2006, in Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. A Million Dollar Round Table Member in 2014 and in 2015, he completed a program called Master Mentor with Circle of Wealth; very few advisors have this program across the country.
He was born and raised in Shelbyville, TN, and is proud to have lived there his entire life. John and Marilyn are members of the Church of Christ, and have been married for 33 years. They both love to travel, and have visited Israel and Hawaii many times.
John holds a Series 65 securities license and is registered as an Investment Adviser Representative through Horter Investment Management, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Bruce was born and raised in Baltimore, MD.He grew up with three loves: reading, sports, and everything related to the water.Whether he was swimming in the ocean or fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, he was right at home.Bruce embraced the Orioles and crabs in the summer, as well as football and oysters in the winter.
Bruce matriculated at the University of Maryland, and then proceeded to do additional post-graduate work at the University of Baltimore.From there, he went on to a string of successes in sales and management positions.
Bruce relocated to South Florida in the Spring of 2000 to take over as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for The Original Big Tomato Franchise Co., Inc, a multiple award-winning franchise that he helped create offering gourmet tomato pies, salads and wraps.
After selling and opening several franchises in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, Bruce turned his attentions to working with the franchisees to market and build their businesses.His success became their success, as they followed his example and grew their businesses.
It was during this time that Bruce decided to earn some additional income during evenings and weekends, and so signed on as an agent of The Hartford.After winning The Hartford's prestigious Launch Award, he went on to become one of their top agents nationwide, with his production consistently putting him in the Top 5 in his division.
Bruce says: "It was here that everything changed...I was getting paid to really help people in a significant way.The gratification and emotional satisfaction level was off the chart.I truly fell in love with this business."The next step was more difficult; leaving a business (and the equity) that he had helped build at The Original Big Tomato.
He also decided to open his advisory, SecuRetirement, Inc."Though The Hartford was a good company, my clients had many needs that they could not serve" says Bruce, "so I decided to open an independent agency to have access to other carriers with a full range of products.This way I could find the optimum solution at the best price point for my clients".
In the Spring of 2007 Bruce received the news that no one wants to hear: he was diagnosed with cancer.He endured numerous surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation, often quoting the old adage: "that which does not kill us, only serves to make us stronger", and “If they can’t kill you with kindness, they’ll try to do it with radiation.”
After treatment ended, Bruce returned to the career he loved, and was recruited by SeemanHoltz, a Boca Raton based advisory providing comprehensive services to the post retirement community.“It was an outstanding experience”, says Bruce, “they have a great team there, and I was able to advance my professional skills to the next level.Frankly, it was five of the best years of my life”.
Bruce was recruited as a Managing Associate with MassMutual.“I had grown as much as I could at my previous firm, and MassMutual represented an opportunity to grow with a great company in our industry…how could I say no?” quipped Bruce.
Finally, Bruce was selected as a Financial Educator for AFEA (American Financial Education Alliance, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit). “Now is the time for me to really give back as an educator” says Bruce.“In order for me to devote as much time to this as possible, I re-opened the doors to SecuRetirement to allow for additional scheduling flexibility…it’s truly a dream come true for me.”
Today, Bruce is considered one of Florida's pre-eminent tax, income and retirement planners.He has penned reports and studies on retirement and income planning, as well as being a contributor to the Wall Street Journal. His fellow advisors refer to him as "The Professor" for his encyclopedic knowledge of retirement and Medicaid planning, advanced income strategies and product intricacies.
Bruce currently resides in Hollywood, FL with his beautiful wife Maria, their lovely daughter Karol, and gorgeous granddaughters Sofia and Lucia.
Jason got his start in the financial industry straight out of college in 2001 with Northwestern Mutual, working as a financial advisor. During his time at Northwestern he was one of their top producing first year agents. He completed the necessary requirements to become Series 6 and 63 licensed, so I that could further assist clients with their investment accounts.
As Jason’s career progressed, he pursued other professional training in the area of Sales and Management with larger corporate organizations such as Enterprise Rent A Car, Republic Bank, and Advent Financial. All the while Jason was continuing his education and training as it relates to the financial industry. These experiences opened the door to him becoming a prop trader for a private equity firm out of NY.
Jason later went on to develop his own proprietary day trading strategy that allowed him to trade multiple accounts each day in full automation. However, after more than 5 years of professionally day trading in volatile market conditions, he grew to appreciate the boring and consistent returns of insurance products. And, had a much greater appreciation for products that were tax efficient.
Ultimately this is how Lightpath Wealth Advisors was born. Jason loves to spend time with people educating them on the many benefits of using insurance products to grow and accumulate wealth in some of the most tax efficient vehicles in existence. His goal is to provide my clients with education and empower them to make informed decisions about where they save and invest their money.
Lisa grew up on the beautiful island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. She graduated with Honors from the University of D.C with a degree in Computer Information & Systems Science.
If you ask Lisa how long she’s been in financial services, she will tell you “most of my life!”.Her father started in the industry in the late 1960’s.With her father being a successful advisor and income tax professional, she was consistently exposed to various financial concepts starting at a very young age, giving her the ideal foundation for her current career. With her down to earth style, her expertise is making financial concepts easier to understand.Lisa is passionate about empowering women through education so they can effectively take control of their financial future.
Lisa is a Series 65 Registered Investment Advisor Representative, a Certified Financial Fiduciary® (CFF) , and a licensed insurance producer.
Lisa is currently enrolled in a Certified Financial Planner Program at Old Dominion University.She is a proud mother of three sons and one daughter.Lisa is a life- long learner who loves to read, laugh and spend time with family and friends.
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