Author: Melissa Dolber-Grappone

Lessons learned in childhood shape the character of the adults we become. The struggle to overcome economic challenges with matters made worse by a crushing life crisis seem overwhelming and unfixable; but, with perseverance and an unflinching determination to “do the right thing” for his family and his clients, affiliated advisor Alan D. Kahn has come out on top.

In no particular order of importance, affiliated colleague and AP Advisor Council Member Joe Rooyakkers is a financial services professional, outdoorsman, guitarist and singer/ song writer. His life and livelihood are bound in the small-town mountain resort community of Grand County—a population of a little more than 14,000—high up in the Colorado Rockies and just west of the Great Continental Divide. This pristine expanse of meadows, river valleys and mountains are appreciated by many who visit, but they are loved and respected by those who sustain it and live there year-round. Rooyakkers, as you will learn, is no exception to that rule.

Many estimates for renewal energy growth were made prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse in oil prices. Worries are building that with cheaper oil and a sustained disruption in global supply chains, renewable energy may lose momentum.

The Green Mountains of Vermont are old and wise, bearing witness for centuries to the tears and joys of those who call it home. In winter, hidden sorrows whisper faintly through raw pine and maple, yet are kindly muted by fresh, fallen snow. And in summer a verdant lushness covers the scars of devastation with prolific, dense renewal, changing shortly thereafter to glorious harvest hues. It is one of many places where life unfolds. “Wherever you are, there you are,” ponders AP affiliated colleague Mark Huntley, and it is the Green Mountain State where his life and work firmly remain.

Born and raised in New York’s southernmost borough, APFS advisor Douglas Schiffmiller of Retirement Help Group lives and breathes Brooklyn. He champions independence with a quiet determination to not only succeed, but thrive in the community that’s afforded him so much joy. As one of the premier, independent financial planners in the area, he continues to build his practice on the streets he walked as a child. For Schiffmiller, there really is no place like home.