My uncle managed funds for a living, and I spent a good portion of my childhood watching him work and wondering how it all fit together. The markets made sense to me in a way I could not articulate yet, only that I wanted to be closer to them. That instinct got filed away for a while, because baseball had other plans.
I was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds out of college and spent six seasons in professional baseball before transitioning into financial services. People sometimes ask how those two things connect, and the honest answer is that they connect completely. Professional athletics is a daily negotiation between preparation and performance, and the margin for cutting corners is zero. I brought that same standard into this career and have never found a reason to lower it.
My first chapter in the industry was at Mass Mutual, where I worked as a pension specialist in the Tampa office. That experience gave me a ground-level education in corporate retirement plans that most advisors simply do not have, and it remains a meaningful part of what I offer clients today. I hold Series 7, 6, and 66 licenses along with Life, Health, and Variable Annuity credentials, earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® designation, and hold a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of South Florida.
Seventeen years in, the moment that still gets me is a simple one. I pull out the first financial plan a client and I ever built together and put it next to where they are today. The look on someone's face when they fully register how far they have come, that is what this work is actually about. No market update or quarterly report comes close to that.
I have lived in South Tampa since 2006 and have no plans to leave. The water, the energy, and the outdoor life here suit me well. When I am not working, I am usually training, doing hot yoga, planning a ski trip, or watching college football with the kind of focus I probably reserve for too few other things.