I graduated from the United States Naval Academy and entered the Navy’s Nuclear Power Program before serving aboard submarines. The experience taught me discipline, persistence, and the importance of preparing carefully for what lies ahead.
After leaving the Navy, I pursued a long-standing interest in financial markets. I began my financial career with a French bank as an energy commodity trader, helping clients manage price risk. I later traded natural gas and derivatives, managed an energy trading desk, and moved to St. Louis to establish Ameren’s electricity trading operation.
When changes in the energy markets led me in a new direction, I became a business owner and real estate investor. Over the next 15 years, I built and managed a successful portfolio of self-storage properties throughout the St. Louis area. I also served as President of the Missouri Self Storage Owners Association.
Eventually, it was time to sell the business and determine what came next. That transition gave me firsthand experience with the financial questions many people face as they approach retirement:
- How can I turn accumulated assets into dependable retirement income?
- How much market risk should I continue to take?
- How can I protect what I have built?
- How should taxes, inflation, longevity, and future healthcare costs affect my plan?
- How can I create income that I cannot outlive?
- What options am I overlooking?
Those questions led me to study a wider range of retirement-income strategies, including annuities and other tools designed to provide protection, predictability, and long-term financial confidence.
Today, I help individuals, families, professionals, and business owners evaluate their retirement options and create strategies aligned with their needs, priorities, and goals.
How I’m Different
I do not believe every client needs the same product or that an annuity is automatically the right answer.
My role is to help you understand your choices, evaluate the tradeoffs, and determine which strategies may be appropriate for your situation. That may include fixed annuities, fixed indexed annuities, lifetime-income solutions, legacy planning, tax-efficient strategies, or a combination of approaches.
The goal is not simply to accumulate more money. It is to create a thoughtful plan for using your assets to support the life you want throughout retirement.
I bring the perspective of someone who has managed financial risk, owned and sold a business, invested in real estate, and personally navigated the transition from building wealth to planning how that wealth will provide income.
I believe retirement planning should be:
- Clear and understandable
- Built around your goals
- Designed for both income and protection
- Flexible enough to adapt as life changes
- Based on education—not pressure
You have worked hard to reach this stage of life. The next step is making sure your money is positioned to work just as hard for you.
Where Do We Start?
We begin with a complimentary 30-minute introductory conversation.
This is an opportunity to discuss your goals, concerns, current retirement strategy, and the questions that matter most to you. There is no obligation and no pressure, just a straightforward conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and which options may help you get there.
