Welcome and thank you for visiting.
I am a financial professional living near Las Vegas in Henderson, NV. My wife and I have been married 10 years and have both lived here most our lives. We recently welcomed our third child in to our family.
I help those 50+ who have been quite successful financially manage their money in a way that reduces risk and simplifies investing so they can ultimately focus on spending their time and talents on the people and causes they care most about.
You see, I believe most people don’t want to just make as much money as possible, but want to develop enough money to support a life that allows them to focus on what is most important to them–family, charitable causes, hobbies, etc.
This blog is where I provide financial updates for both clients and anyone looking for insight. Feel free to browse around and make comments as you see fit.
If you are interested in learning how I got started in this business, continue reading…
I grew up in a middle class home. My dad was a teacher and my mom owned a small stay at home business. Money was usually tight, but we always seemed to have enough.
In early grade school, I began to take notice of some families that appeared to have “made it”, while others continued to just get by. Over the next few years my curiosity continued and led me to study numerous books on this topic and interview successful people. Learning about investing and business became a hobby.
Fast forward a few years and I found my sweetheart while working toward my undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Nevada—Las Vegas. After graduating two years later, as a new husband and soon-to-be father, I found my first internship position at a nationally recognized investment brokerage firm in Las Vegas. I was finally on the right path. Not quite!
After some time I began to identify a dilemma in this brokerage business model. Advisors were encouraged to reach out to family and friends and introduce financial products that were supposed to help people achieve their financial goals. However, I couldn’t help but feel even though some of these products helped people prudently invest, they did a better job bringing in large commissions and fees to advisors. It seemed as though many “advisors” were more interested in selling financial products with less regard to the overall long-term benefit to the client. This system bothered me immensely.
Fast forward again a few years and I had completed my MBA degree from Indiana University and was working again in Las Vegas. This time as an investment portfolio manager over approximately $300 million for retirees, large institutions, and municipalities. (It was at this point I fully embraced my nerd status and my love for Microsoft Excel) I quickly learned how many large institutions were able to invest smarter with better results, unencumbered by financial products with hefty fees.
After working in this capacity for about five years I left to co-found Ashton Strobelt, where I provided financial advice and institutional investment solutions to individual investors in my Las Vegas and St. George offices. After a few years of extensive weekly travel to Utah, I rebranded as Avalon Wealth and now focus on Southern Nevada.
Overall, I strive use my talents to help investors make better decisions, so they can focus on what’s most important to them.