Category: Peer-To-Peer

We have all come to know that financial services is an ever-evolving industry. Epitomizing that is the practice of Preferred Financial Group in Fort Wayne, Ind. Started by Kelly Jones in 1982 as a tax and accounting firm, the business itself has grown to include insurance planning and finances, a second office in South Bend, Ind., and four partners having varying backgrounds, with a fifth coming on shortly. They recognize that investors cannot afford to make a mistake when it comes to their hard earned money; that’s why they work together, standing by Preferred Financial Group’s commitment to clients to “remain successful in today’s market” and “prepare for life challenges.” How? By recognizing that personality and relationship building are at the center of that success

At ease with a broad range of topics, American Portfolios (AP) affiliated financial advisor Donna LaScala speaks of farm-to-table dining and Long Island’s Revolutionary War history as she walks through Baxter Pond Park, skirting along the edges of Port Washington’s town dock. LaScala’s passion for local history and the place she calls home give proof she is an old soul, just as passionate about the past as she is about the present and the future that lies ahead.

Informal is the name of the game with Jeff Hartman and his associates at iTP Partners, LLC, in Jacksonville, Fla. While conducting an interview in his office, it was suddenly brought to a pause. “We’ve got to go somewhere else,” Hartman says, standing. “I can’t stand sitting across the desk from you like this. I literally think I’ve had only one client in this office. It’s too stuffy and formal.” Just like that, we’re sitting comfortably at the nearby Starbucks, discussing not only business, but Hartman’s family, his connection to the city he chose as home and how he came to be the No. 7 manager for American Portfolios (AP) in 2019.

American Portfolios (AP)-affiliated financial advisor Diana Curbelo is among a group of women representing just 14 percent of the total investment professional population. She will soon be among 25 percent of women holding their Certified Financial Planning (CFP) designations. Yet, after 13 years in the business and a thriving practice with over 500 clients and close to $90 million in assets under management to show for it, Curbelo is just beginning.

There’s a certain underlying moral code that Lancastrians have,” Collier relays. “I think we are both very much products of where we grew up, which makes us a good fit here. Unlike, say the big wirehouses, we have a finger on the pulse of the slightly more conservative—that’s conservative with a small ‘c’—mindset in Lancaster. We take in more refugees per capita than anywhere else in the United States.”