“Can you please take a look at my finances? I’m so frustrated with my financial advisor. I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere.”
That’s the request our founder, Jim Stoddard got one day from his neighbor, Carl.** As a first responder, Carl had solid benefits and already began his financial journey with various investments and policies with an eye toward retirement and a strong financial future for him and his family. Carl worked with a financial professional but not one who was a fee-only financial advisor like Jim.
A few questions and one look at Carl’s documents told the tale – he was being taken for a ride. The financial professional was triple charging him: a flat fee per year just to sit with her on a quarterly basis, an annual percentage fee for all his assets under management, and to top it off, she had commissionable products being sold to him in the asset-based account.
Even worse, the performance on the accounts was subpar at best. She steered Carl toward some products and services that may have earned that “professional” high commissions but were not necessarily the best fit to help Carl and his family achieve their financial goals. Jim, who as a professional financial advisor does not offer products and services only objective fee-only advice, told Carl what he saw and gave him some options on what he might consider doing to help him move toward his goals.
Shortly after their conversation, Carl told Jim, “That was hands-down the best advice I ever got.” He had made some changes and was now in a better financial position with products and services that better fit his needs.
See Jim's Bio
Founder & CEO
Jim is Founder of Financial Advisor On Call™, a company he started to make professional and objective financial advisory services and advice more accessible to individuals and families through technology – all at a fraction of the cost of traditional firms. A financial services professional since 1993, Jim has worked in many different capacities but developed a niche in managing new business ventures. He has created and led several successful organizations, including two money management firms, a life insurance agency, an international reinsurance company, and a Chinese insurance agency.
Jim is proud of his “blue collar” background and values the many life lessons he learned growing up in a single-parent family. He secured his first job at age 14 as a dishwasher to buy his first guitar and gained a strong sense of accomplishment and pride as a result. The experience taught him that through hard work and focus, one can achieve personal goals and dreams. At age 17, Jim left home with less than $100 in his pocket and worked his way through college eventually earning several degrees and professional certifications including an undergraduate degree in Finance and an MBA.
After years of unfulfilled “corporate life”, experiencing the lack
of commitment to the middle-class cause, and continually fighting
resistance to change by the established financial services
industry, Jim determined the best way to facilitate disruptive
change was to become an entrepreneur and form business entities
dedicated to educating and serving the public on financial issues.
As an extension of this mission, he serves as an adjunct professor
at the University of South Florida teaching classes in Insurance,
Management and Entrepreneurship.
A native of Tampa Bay, Florida, Jim strives for life balance and is
passionate about guitars, music, baseball, outdoor activities and
learning. His highest priority in life is his family – wife Laura,
his children and grandchildren.
Jim was happy to help. After all, in addition to his clients, Jim’s conversation with Carl was like Groundhog’s Day – one he had countless times during his more than 30 years as a financial advisor with family, friends, and acquaintances complaining of the same challenges and mired in the same frustration and confusion. He found most people were like Carl, they had serious questions about their financial lives but they didn’t have easy access to an unbiased personal financial advisor to help them consider their options
Jim’s passion for helping clients move toward more solid financial futures coupled with the need of so many people for personalized, unbiased financial advice and tools inspired Jim to think of a solution. He wanted to make it easy for people at any stage of life to access personalized financial advice online for them and their lives from a professional fee-only financial advisor* and the tools to keep their financial lives at their fingertips from anywhere, anytime.
