As an author and financial motivator, I provide action-based financial advice that cuts through “financial fog”—the complex jargon and wishy-washy advice that can make it hard for the average person to understand and implement positive financial planning.

Over the years, I have helped clients from all economic backgrounds. My firm, Pacifica Wealth Advisors, is dedicated to serving the affluent, but I also have a personal passion to also help those with less as a result of growing up with an abundance of love but very little financially. My parents separated when I was very young, which put significant financial pressure on the family. Consequently, I have vivid memories of what it is like to be poor. I saw first-hand how a single event can turn one’s world upside down in the span of mere weeks.

Now, years later, I work closely with individuals and families to prevent such financial disasters from occurring and to help his clients prepare financially for the best and the worst. My mission is to help those of all means develop and follow a sound, long-term, and all-encompassing financial plan so they can reach their goals.

The Six-Day Financial Makeover was my first personal finance book was released by St. Martin’s Press in October 2006. I quickly discovered that writing the book is the easy part (okay, the easier part) and that marketing the book is when the real work begins. Fortunately, I have a great literary agent and publicity team at St. Martin’s Press. After nearly a 100 radio interviews and months of press later, my book was the #1 bestselling personal finance and investing book at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. It also cracked the top 10 across all genres.

My previous professional experience includes a tenure at a Los Angeles based wealth management firm that maintained a focus on serving clients with investments between $5 million and $100 million, co-founding a web-centered investment bank, and as a branch manager of a Beverly Hills-based financial services firm, for which I oversaw the development, deployment and marketing of one of the first Internet investment trading websites in the world.

In addition to my Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) designation, I hold a master’s degree in financial services (MSFS)—an advanced financial degree obtained by only a few thousand professionals worldwide. I have also earned the distinguished personal financial planner designation from UCLA and his B.S. in psychology from Washington State University.

When I’m not working, I love going on family outings with my wife and my daughter Alexandra “Bean,” watching movies, working out, reading, and studying Spanish. I am a proud Christian and was honored to serve the Lord as a deacon at Bel Air Presbyterian church in Los Angeles until his move to Orange County in 2006. I now attend Saddleback Church in Lake Forest.