Who We Are
Serving clients since 1975.
Dr. Gary Gibbons founded the firm over fifty years ago, building it one client at a time on the belief that advice is worth paying for directly. After a decade in various financial services roles, I joined the firm in 2013, working alongside Dr. Gibbons until his retirement in 2026.
I lead the firm today. Same name, same level of service, same fair price. Dr. Gibbons charged flat fees for many years, and the principle behind that hasn’t changed: you should always know exactly what you’re paying.
Fifty years is a long time in this industry. Most advisory firms don’t last ten.
How I got here
I grew up in Agua Prieta, a border town in northern Mexico, where my family owned a bakery. I never learned to bake. But I was fascinated by the money side of the business, and that was the beginning of my love for finance.
My own relationship with money took a long detour. Early in my career I earned a very good income and spent nearly all of it, caught in a cycle of buying things and comparing myself to other people. Then I lost everything as a real estate investor in the Great Recession, and filed for bankruptcy.
What followed was a long stretch of regret and second-guessing. For a while I wanted nothing to do with money at all. It took years of reflection to arrive at my philosophy: Money is simply a tool that allows us to live a meaningful life. Most of what makes me happy — my health, my family, time outdoors — isn’t something money buys.
That’s not a lesson I read in a book. It’s the reason I do this work, and it’s why I start with your life rather than your portfolio.
The professional side
I hold a Finance degree from the University of Arizona, an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and the Certified Financial Planner™ certification. I’ve worked in financial services for more than 20 years, across banking, lending, investments and personal finance.
I’m a member of the CFP Board®, the CFA Society of Phoenix, NAPFA, XY Planning Network, Fee-Only Network and Phoenix Fee Only.
Outside of work
I live in Phoenix with my wife Daniela and our two children, Penelope and Emilio. We travel to a new country every summer and are planning a year-long sabbatical in southeast Asia. We hike, ride bikes, do puzzles, and watch a lot of movies together.
I meditate daily and practice yoga most days. Learning to live in the present has changed how I make decisions — where I travel, what I buy, what I say yes to. It’s also what I bring to this work: the questions I ask clients come from the same place.
A few favorites: The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. Machu Picchu. Indian food, Dahl Makhani in particular. A good local IPA. And the original Rocky, which is barely about boxing.
Flat fees. No products. No commission.
Most advisors are paid a percentage of the money they manage for you. There’s a problem hiding in that: their pay rises with your balance whether or not their advice had anything to do with it, and it quietly discourages any recommendation that would move money out of the portfolio.
We charge a flat annual fee. Paying down a mortgage, funding a business, giving to causes you care about, holding more cash than a model would like — none of it changes what we earn.
One percent doesn’t stay small
On a $3 million portfolio, a 1% fee is $30,000 a year — and it rises with the market whether or not the work changed. Our fee is a flat dollar amount. It doesn’t compound with your balance.