Professional Focus and Services
My practice focuses on serving individuals, families and charitable institutions. Families engage me for a full range of financial advice, including household budgeting and home purchase, planning and investing for retirement or education, retirement account rollovers, and estate planning. I work with charities to formalize their investment policies and manage their assets, either directly or by assisting in the recruitment, evaluation and selection of investment managers. I manage bond portfolios for all classes of clients.

How I Do Business
I take care to understand your needs and your values thoroughly. My process begins with a frank discussion of what you want, what you expect to achieve, and what you expect of me. We begin substantive work only when we agree to the scope of the work and the fees. I do not charge for initial meetings.

I apply education, experience and connections to your goals. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, I completed a course of education and continuously update it, passed a comprehensive examination, subscribe to a rigorous code of conduct, and have practiced in the field under supervision. I have been in private practice as a representative of First Affirmative Financial Network since 1998, following a career in finance that dates to 1971. FAFN gives me access to the best minds and products in socially responsible investing.

I take pay only from my clients, so my advice is never biased by pressure to sell. As a fee-only planner, I do not sell any investment or insurance products. I help you buy what you need, but I do not get paid for that. This frees me to make recommendations based solely on our best judgment of what is appropriate for you. I work for fees based on the value of assets under management, or on an hourly basis, typically for planning, working with charities or with smaller accounts.

I believe that how we spend and invest money makes a difference in our world, and I can help you act on your social investment goals. Owning stock is the same as having a business partner. I try to do business only with people and companies that I trust and respect and I encourage my clients to do the same. Socially responsible investing is including your values and ethics in your decision making.

• Social investors partner with companies that make useful goods and services in constructive ways.
• They avoid companies whose products and/or processes are negative or destructive.
  Through FAFN, I have access to comprehensive social research and make it available to my clients.
• They engage actively with their business partners around issues of public policy and ethics.
  I can alert you to news, proxy votes, political actions, and other ways to engage.
• They invest in communities that can’t raise capital in traditional markets.
  Through FAFN and the Social Investment Forum, I can help you make high-impact investments.

There is no single ideology behind social investing. We do not have to agree on everything to do social investing together.

Investment Methods and Philosophy
My investment approach is disciplined and methodical. The first step is working with the client to organize goals, constraints, policy preferences and other issues into an investment policy statement. We use that statement as the foundation on which to build the portfolio.

I believe in allocating assets among cash, stocks and bonds in proportions appropriate to the investment policy. Within classes, I diversify by industry sector, size of company, and country. I have no preference between “growth” and “value” as stock selection criteria. I favor gradual portfolio changes over rapid turnover, using techniques to manage risk such as dollar- cost averaging and “laddering” bond maturities.

Professional Affiliations
I am an active member of the Financial Planning Association and the Social Investment Forum, and a past director of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts. Back to Top

Education and Experience
Financial planning is a logical outgrowth of my career, a change in focus from institutional to personal finance. I followed my Bachelor’s degree from New York University, with a Masters of Public Administration from the same institution. I attended the Public Finance Institute at the University of Michigan and received my CFP™ certificate through Boston University.

I worked in finance with the City of New York, as a municipal bond analyst with Paine Webber, an underwriter with AMBAC Indemnity, and as a portfolio manager with Liberty Mutual Insurance. I came to social investing to bring harmony between my livelihood and my personal beliefs.

I have been active in civil rights, peace, conservation and the environment, charity and interfaith affairs since my teens. I have managed my family’s socially screened portfolio since 1992, acting on my belief that good values make good business.Back to Top

Community Involvement
I serve on the investment and nominating committees of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Locally, I am a director and Clerk of the Kids Clothes Club, a youth baseball coach, and a school volunteer. I am a past president of a chapter of Trout Unlimited and was an officer of two cooperative housing corporations. Back to Top

Disclaimer
Investment Advisory Representative of First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC
First Affirmative is an independent Registered Investment Advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Back to Top

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