Karen Altfest
Dr. Karen Caplan Altfest Ph.D., CFP®, is a Principal Advisor and Executive Vice-President at Altfest Personal Wealth Management and a longtime contributor to Rethinking65. She helps many of the firm’s clients with a variety of investment and financial planning issues and specializes in helping women clients and widows. Karen’s Financially Savvy Woman programs, including the Women’s Financial $pa,TM are popular with clients. Her focus is to educate and empower women.
She was named a Best-In-State Wealth Advisor by Forbes several years in a row, among her many well-earned accolades. Karen is a contributor to the book Care of the Older Person. Connect with Dr. Altfest through LinkedIn.
Christopher Baccella
Christopher Baccella, CFA®, is a wealth advisor with Mariner Wealth Advisors. He develops personalized wealth management solutions to help wealth management clients achieve their goals and grow and protect their wealth. He also provides investment management services to institutional clients. Chris has over 16 years of experience in the wealth management industry.
He can be reached at chris.baccella@marinerwealthadvisors.com. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.
Seth Bier
Seth Bier and his wife, Leann, run Bier Law, an estate planning law firm in Los Angeles’ South Bay. Their goal is to educate and empower individuals to make informed decisions about their future, providing them with the peace of mind that comes with being prepared and free to live their lives without worry. Seth works collaboratively with his clients to create personalized financial and healthcare plans with the goal of avoiding probate court. He and his wife are members of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.
Seth can be reached at info@bier-law.com or (323) 999-1230. Connect with Seth on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
David Buck
David Buck is the author of the book The Time-Optimized Life and co-author of the book The Retirement Collective. He also owns Kairos (Time) Management Solutions, LLC, a firm that helps companies and individuals develop optimal time, leadership, sales, and lifestyle management practices. He also founded the Infinity Lifestyle Design program, which helps senior business professionals create a lifestyle plan for greater personal freedom and contentment, of which wealth management is a part.
As a certified professional retirement coach (CPRC), David works with financial services providers and financial advisors to help their clients create a post-career lifestyle strategy. Connect with David on LinkedIn.
Cary Carbonaro
Cary Carbonaro, CFP, is a long-time contributor to Rethinking65. She’s a managing wealth advisor and the Women and Wealth ambassador at Ashton Thomas Private Wealth. She advocates for women in the financial industry, which she has been part of for more than 25 years. Cary is also an ambassador of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.
Her first book, The Money Queen’s Guide: For Women Who Want to Build Wealth and Banish Fear is available through major book retailers. Connect with Cary on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Kristin Carleton
Kristin Carleton, CEO of All Needs Planning, provides special needs planning by addressing the funding supports, legal strategies, and clinical supports necessary for every member of the family. Her son Eli was born with a congenital brain disorder, which ignited her passion for planning for her son and daughter. Kristin’s life mission is to provide special needs planning to all who need and want it.
She can be reached at 919-433-7713 or kristin@allneedsplanning.com. You can also connect with Kristin on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Monica Dwyer
Monica Dwyer, CFP®, CDFA®, is an advisor with Harvest Financial Advisors in the Cincinnati/West Chester, Ohio, area. She brings more than 20 years of experience to the financial advisor and wealth management industry. Monica has a passion for educating and planning for widows, divorcees, and those planning for college or retirement.
She also contributes to the Global Financial Planning Institute. Locally, she is a Five Star Professional award-winner in the Cincinnati area. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Beverly Flaxington
Beverly Flaxington, MBA, an investment industry veteran with over 30 years of experience, runs The Collaborative, a training, coaching, and consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry. The firm founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy and won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Beverly is also an adjunct professor at Suffolk University, teaching graduate students about leadership, managerial skills and team leading. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA). Connect with Beverly on LinkedIn.
Kimberly Foss
Kimberly Foss, CFP®, CPWA, is a longtime contributor to Rethinking65 and a senior wealth advisor with Mercer Advisors, practicing in the Sacramento Valley area. She is the author of the book Wealthy by Design: A 5-Step Plan for Financial Security.
Ms. Foss has shared her expertise with many national media outlets, including Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Fox Business, MSN Money, and Investor’s Business Daily, as a thought leader in the wealth management industry. You can connect with her on various social media, including LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter).
Paula Green
Paula L. Green is a New York City-based freelance journalist with more than three decades of reporting and editing experience that spans coverage of international business and finance issues to murders and politics at the Jersey Shore to presidential press conferences in Argentina and Mexico. She has written for Global Finance magazine and Institutional Investor Magazine.
She can be contacted by plgreen12004@gmail.com. Connect with Paula on LinkedIn.
DJ Hunt
DJ Hunt, CFP®, is a fee-only financial advisor with Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo, LLC, in Melbourne, Florida. His wealth management clients include working professionals, business owners, and retirees, and he has been in the industry since 2001.
DJ is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Annalee Kruger
Annalee Kruger, president of Care Right Inc and co-founder of Plan4LifeNow, helps family caregivers and their aging loved ones across the globe develop customized aging plans which include facilitating family meetings, understanding aging, caregiving issues, aging at home considerations, long-term care communities that can accommodate seniors through end-of-life, providing care advocacy, dementia education, and support families through end-of-life.
While Annalee’s goal is to reach families proactively, the reality is, 92% of families seek Care Right when the family is in crisis mode and needing to make big decisions quickly. Connect with Annalee on Facebook and LinkedIn.
David Leo
David Leo, a longtime contributor to Rethinking65, is founder of Street Smart Research Group LLC. He is an author, speaker, coach, consultant, and trainer to financial professionals. David has worked in the financial services industry for decades, originally as a consultant with IBM and then with UBS/Paine Webber before starting his own firm. He is the author of The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual: How to Structure and Grow Your Financial Services Practice.
If you would like more information about his services, contact him at David@CoachDavidLeo.com or visit www.CoachDavidLeo.com. Connect with David on LinkedIn.
Eleanor O’Sullivan
A long-time contributor to Rethinking65, Eleanor O’Sullivan has reviewed many books on best practices for financial advisors in her four-decade journalism career, has written for Financial Advisor and the USA Today network, and was movie critic for the Asbury Park Press. Connect with Eleanor through email.
Ed Prince
In a four-decade career in journalism, Ed Prince has served as an editor for many of New Jersey’s leading newspapers, including the Star-Ledger, Asbury Park Press, and Home News Tribune. You can reach him through email at edcprince@yahoo.com or connect with Ed on LinkedIn.
Michelle Rand
Michelle Rand founded Cascade Investment Advisors, Inc. in 1997 after working for other firms. She currently serves as Cascade’s president and owner in Oregon City, Oregon. She has broad experience investing funds for individuals in a wealth management career that spans over 40 years. She is also a board member at Lewis and Clark Bank in Oregon.
Michelle received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1985 and has been at the forefront of holistic financial advising ever since. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Beth V. Walker
Beth V. Walker, Certified College Planning Specialist (CCPS), is a wealth advisor with Carson Wealth Management. She is also the founder of Center for College Solutions, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, helping families find better ways to pay for college using the M.A.G.I.C. Method® as part of holistic financial advising.
Beth has been a financial planner and wealth manager since 1999. As a CCPS, she is trained to in the complex strategies designed to save families 25 to 50 percent on the cost of college. She is the author of three books, An Employee’s Guide to Stock Options, Never Pay Retail for College, and Buying College Better. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Bryce Sanders
Bryce Sanders is a longtime contributor to Rethinking65. He is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc, providing HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His expertise has been helping and mentoring financial advisors and wealth managers since 2001.
His book, Captivating the Wealthy Investor, is available on Amazon. He teaches wealth managers how to identify prospects, meet them where they are, and transform wealth friends into clients. Connect with Bryce on LinkedIn.
Bonnie Sewell
Bonnie A. Sewell, CFP, AIF, CEPA, CDFA, is a longtime contributor to Rethinking65. She’s a managing director and senior wealth advisor at Dakota Wealth Management. Her specialty is helping her clients maintain or grow their wealth through life’s transitions.
Bonnie is the author of the book Love-Jacked!: Divorce Your Spouse Not Your Dollars and she is a public speaker. Connect with Bonnie on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Mallon FitzPatrick
Mallon FitzPatrick, CFP, is a longtime contributor to Rethinking65. He is a principal and managing director at Robertson Stephens, and heads the firm’s financial planning center. Mallon’s focus is digital wealth management services for family offices and HNW/UHNW families.
He is an award-winning wealth manager, receiving a Wealthie award for Rising Star in 2022. Connect with Mallon on LinkedIn.