I specifically worked with Amie…read more 15/10 recommendation. The first time we spoke, around a year and a half ago, Amie (gently) turned me away and shared her free PDF as a resource to get a better handle on my finances before I paid for her services. I feel like most places would have taken my money and not have put my best interest first so that was really surprising and honestly, solidified my interest in working with her. She has a really good character! A couple of months ago, we met for the second time and I had paid off all of my debt and had an emergency savings, so we agreed to move forward with the final call & financial plan! I feel a lot more confident about retirement and that I'm making the right choices with my money. Amie is very kind and straightforward, and also happy to answer any questions! I am 25 so I had a lot of questions haha. My only regret is that I did not know about a financial planner when I was younger. Had I had seen Amie at age 20 or 21 I feel like I would be in an even better financial situation. Again, I highly recommend Amie and can only imagine that the others who work at Lulafinancial are just as great!

I've known Amie for years as a performer, and after discovering they were also a professional…read morefinancial adviser, I jumped at the chance to meet with them. I've worked the last 15 years as a professional freelance musician and teaching artist, and had never met with a financial adviser, so I came in quite nervous, though eager to learn. Within minutes of our first session, she laid out some excellent core tenets for me to follow, assessed my financial situation, was realistic and transparent, suggested several easy steps for me to start. She did all this while being supportive and encouraging - allowing me space to drop any guilt or shame for having "started late" on things like building retirement savings and investments. She was professional, knowledgeable, kind, and followed up immediately with a write-up with action items for me. Needless to say, I feel infinitely more confident and clear on next steps, and I'm excited to continue working with her. Do yourself a favor and hire Amie for a financial planning meeting! It's one of the most important steps I took in adulthood and you won't be sorry.

Akram & John have done a great job for us every year. They are organized and make the process…read moreeasy. We highly recommend them.

We committed to working together, I felt they were unresponsive once we started uploading docs…read moreetc., and they then suddenly told us they'll no longer work with us with no explanation and didn't respond to any follow-up questions. We're now left with very little time to find a replacement and we'll probably lose a lot of money as a result of this surprise from them. Facts: we agreed to work together at the start of this year. They shared a portal for us to upload docs into. It took us a few weeks to get started uploading those docs but we're still within their purported time-frame in mid-February. We had some access issues that, for myself, they fixed; that was not fixed for my wife and we had to bug them several times in the last week before our scheduled tax prep meeting. They then reached out to me, saying that they can no longer work with us and that they'll delete all the files I uploaded to their vault. When I asked them why, they did not respond.

Fast, efficient, and reliable management of customers by volume. Per usual, Schwab customers are…read morehands on and come so young as teenagers all the way to the wise and well seasoned. Staff is friendly, well trained, team oriented, and pragmatic while always professional. It speaks volumes when they can impress my young teenage son as well as my mother-in-law during the high volume seasons.

4.0 million gone and schwab did nothing but screw two handicapped guys…read more My father trusted Schwab with his life savings for decades. He loved his Schwab account. He developed dementia later in life, and I, his autistic son, went to Schwab to ask for help after noticing something was very wrong. Instead of helping, Schwab pretended to assist us -- dragging things out for nine months, answering slowly, all while running out the statute of limitations. When time expired, they told us they would do nothing to recover the money. Over $4 million dollars was stolen from his Schwab trust account. 140 checks were written from an account that should never have had checks written from it. My father NEVER wrote checks on his Schwab account -- he only used his Wells Fargo account to cover bills, protecting the principal at Schwab so it could generate income ($120k-$150k a year). Schwab never warned us, never protected him, and let criminals bleed the account dry. Because of Schwab's failure: My father died penniless in a public institution. I, his dependent son, ended up homeless. We were forced to pay $318,000 in taxes to the IRS and Franchise Tax Board -- for money that had been stolen. Schwab ran the clock out rather than helping a loyal client and his disabled son. They showed no ethics, no urgency, and no human decency. Trust Schwab if you want to risk your family's entire future.

We scheduled a zoom call with Gary for some advice and to determine if we should use his services…read more He answered all our questions open and honestly, guiding us in the right direction. If the need arises to use a CPA in the future, I wouldn't hesitate to call Gary again. Thank you for your advice, Gary!

Gary was very professional and very helpful. Went over and beyond my expectations…read more Gave really great advice and took his time to explain it well. Would recommend!

I have been a client for about 16 years. Last week I had my annual portfolio review along with an…read moreextremely detailed financial view of what my family's future looks like. I have always been extremely grateful to Samantha and Sandy for their guidance but this week I have reflected even more on what a gift they have been to my family. My husband and I are both 57 with one child in high school. Slow and steady we built a secure financial future. We simply could not have done it without her exemplary advice and encouragement. Not only is Samantha uniquely talented in the realm of full scope financial planning and investment strategies, she is also a wonderful person. By becoming her client you will have an ethical, compassionate, and extremely talented ally that will help you reach your financial goals. You can build a future for yourself and your children that is bright, hopeful, and full of freedom. As the years go by and you watch the outcome of Samantha's guidance you will be overcome with the gratefulness that I feel right now. For a middle class family to build wealth takes discipline and patience, but it can be done. If I can do it you can too.

Samantha has been managing my family's portfolio since 2018. This has been one of the best…read moredecisions we have made. In 7 years, she has doubled our assets. In addition to advising us on our financial portfolios, where she has guided us on salary contributions to different pots (retirement accounts, college savings accounts for our kids, and stocks), she advises us on life insurance and linked us with colleagues to help with our taxes and living will. We couldn't be happier with our decision to work with Samantha and hope this can be a life-long partnership - she is very talented and astute with markets and really has our back with every decision.

I highly recommend Sean Burgess' financial planning services. I chose Sean because of his…read moreaffordable, one-hour consultation session offering. I wasn't looking to spend thousands of dollars to have a financial advisor provide ongoing money management services. I really just wanted an expert to look at my situation in detail and provide advice that I could execute on myself. That's exactly what I got, and it was an incredibly valuable hour for me. Going into our session, I felt overwhelmed and without a plan for achieving my short and long term financial goals. Sean examined my situation (via a detailed questionnaire he had me complete in advance of our meeting) and provided, in a kind and straight-forward manner, both high-level perspective and clear guidance on specific actions to take. The greatest benefit of my meeting with Sean was that I came away with a much-increased clarity of my financial picture, which improved my sense of control and reduced my stress. I wouldn't hesitate to consult him again in the future when the need arises.

It has been several years since I went to see Sean so please keep that in mind but I just came…read moreacross his Yelp profile and realized I should add a review as meeting with him has stuck with me since then. I went to see him originally as I was searching for a financial planner that would really dig into my specific situation and help me "tune" my finances. At that time I had a general idea of finances, more than most people but less than some. I had read up on compound interest, opportunity costs... blah blah... and I had been saving about 50% of my paycheck and maxing out my 401k for decades. I've also tracked my spending in Quicken for about 20 years so I have an amazingly detailed view on exactly where all my money goes. With all this data, I was looking for a partner to put things over the finish line as I wrapped up my last few years of working. So now was the time that I needed another set of eyes on my finances to put an exit plan together and double check my math. It turns out that Sean isn't the person for this type of work. Although a SUPER nice guy with a passion for helping others, his advice from our one meeting was just the very basic fundamentals of financial planning. For example, for retirement he recommended that a person have X percentage of their current salary saved for a certain number of years. This is a common boiler plate idea that is a good starting point for thinking about finances. Unfortunately, this didn't fit my goal of seeing him as I wanted to "tune" my finances, not just keep sacking away as much as possible and use an off the shelf formula to determine success. I was willing to pay for personal advice but what he offered wasn't helpful or tailored to me in any way. I pointed out that this calculation doesn't apply to me because half of my salary as well as my max 401k match shouldn't be calculated into what I need to save for retirement. Will I keep saving 50% of my income during retirement? Of course not. When I pressed him on this, he didn't seem to have an answer. There were many more examples like this where he used a very basic spreadsheet to determine net retirement needed, current savings rates... which, for the right client, would be a great place to start. I do see that some people will get real value from working with Sean because they might not understand these concepts. What I am thankful to Sean for is that he inspired me to take matters into my own hands and dig deep into this project myself so I was able to retire at 50. This wouldn't have happened if I stuck with Sean. All of the resources that Sean brings to the discussion can easily be found for free on most any 101 planning website. But, if you want someone to walk you through these new concepts, Sean is easy to talk to and pleasant to be around. I would also plan on moving on from him fairly quickly as you will be doing yourself a disservice to stick with the basics that he provides for very long. Lastly, I would echo Daniel F's review almost verbatim.

Just interviewing different financial firms. I''m finding Fischer to be very pushy. Not asking…read morewhat your goals are which they brag about putting the client first. It's more like are we taking over all your accounts? What is your net worth? If you roll over your 401k into an IRA, we could manage your retirement also. Bad sales tactics. A real turn off in my book! They just want a bigger commission the more net value your portfolio is. I want to see how they handle one first before turning over my entire estate. Made me very uncomfortable, and that was with an area manager. Still searching for someone compatible.

Do not give these people your contact information!…read more I know what you're thinking....."what's the harm in just talking?" Sure, see what they offer, and just ask questions.....Right? These people have called me twice asking nosy questions and wasting my time. They are just screeners for the brokers. They don't call them financial advisors, they call them brokers. Real investment firms don't operate like this. Fisher uses flyers, popup ads online, and fake surveys on Facebook. If Fisher gets your phone number, practice saying "no thank you."

I have met with Christine Teh three times now. As a math teacher and professional, I have always…read morefelt a bit of shame and embarrassment about not being able to get a handle on taxes and finances. Christine was so encouraging. She took the mystery out of all the mess and gave me the confidence to take ownership of my finances. I always felt safe to ask any question, and she always answered in a way I could understand. This coaching experience has been life-changing! I cannot speak highly enough of Christine Teh and the invaluable financial guidance she has provided.

Christine is unlike anyone I've ever worked with. I'm 71…read moreyears old and have worked with many financial professionals throughout my life--including tax professionals, advisors, and planners--but Christine is truly in a league of her own. Her level of knowledge is unmatched, but what stands out even more is the heart she brings into every interaction. You can feel her care. She's not just doing a job--she's devoted. Devoted to your clarity, your security, your peace of mind. With Christine, I feel both grounded and supported. She holds a rare blend of precision, presence, and genuine dedication to your well-being. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone seeking more than just financial expertise. With Christine, you're not just hiring a professional--you're inviting in someone who truly cares about you. Thank you, Christine, for always showing up with such love, compassion, and integrity.

I met with Benjamin because I had a specific tax planning question and was exploring the idea of…read moreworking with an advisor. He took the time to ask questions and understand my situation and my needs He basically said "you don't need me, but go talk to my accountant." No sales pitch, just straightforward advice. None of that gut feeling you get when someone is trying to sell you something that you don't understand or don't think you need but you go along with anyway because they're the "expert." Benjamin will be my first call whenever I do need a financial planner.

Seriously, it is time to fire your financial advisor if they are charging a percentage of your…read moreassets. You deserve a fiduciary who is focused on your needs, not their ongoing cut. I started working with Benjamin after a major life setback and felt completely lost. He grabbed my hand and helped me take the financial steps I needed to regain control of my future. He is kind, compassionate, and truly encouraging. He helped me make important adjustments to my finances that I should have made years ago. What I appreciate most is that he does not overcomplicate things to make you feel dependent on him. His goal is to educate his clients so they can take the reins themselves.

Faruk was a pleasure to work with! As we wanted to plan further for our future, our goal was to…read moreidentify areas where we are doing well and can improve upon. From the start, Faruk was personable and clear in communicating his services along with having a genuine interest in what our expectations were from this exercise. Fast forward a month, we have gained invaluable clarity and actionable next steps for our finances. Today, we still reference learnings and information shared by Faruk to help influence any financial decisions we may or will make. 100% would recommend Faruk to any family looking to understand their finances.

Faruk is a fantastic guy. I feel very fortunate to have crossed paths with him. He has been great…read moreat setting up our investments to be positioned well, even when the market is volatile. He has consistently grown my investments since working with him (not by single digit percentages either). He is very attentive and always takes the time to explain goals/positions clearly. Faruk is also very friendly, approachable, and genuinely cares about my financial goals. I trust his judgment and appreciate his proactive approach. I highly recommend him!