Meet Our Team

Steve’s Mission As an Advisor

From managing a family’s personal wealth to helping business owners focus on their big picture, Steve finds great fulfillment in creating custom, actionable solutions for his clients’ most complex challenges. After taking the time to understand his clients and what they’re looking to accomplish, Steve handcrafts each financial plan to ensure it suits their individual needs. He works closely with his clients to help them visualize their dreams for the future, prioritize their goals, deepen their financial knowledge, and make customized strategies to propel them forward in the right direction.

He often relates his role in his clients’ lives to an architect and general contractor of their financial “house.” While the clients cast their vision for the future and focus on the bigger picture, he and his team take care of crafting and implementing the blueprint that guides them along the way.

Planning Approach

Steve’s primary goal is to meet clients where they are today, whether they’re in need of full-fledged financial planning or more targeted solutions, and help them prepare for a better tomorrow. By listening closely and taking an educated, unbiased approach, he’s able to bring organization and direction to their financial lives. As a result, his clients feel empowered to make forward-focused decisions and feel more confident in their ability to achieve their goals.

Detail-oriented and ultra-organized by nature, Steve prides himself on his ability to build highly personalized strategies that address every facet of his clients’ wealth. He believes in helping his clients understand the “why” behind the planning recommendations and always takes the time to explain complex strategies in straightforward terms. When his clients have total clarity on what’s happening in their financial lives, they’re more engaged and excited about the financial planning process.

Education and Background

With a lifelong knack for numbers, Steve earned his Bachelor's in Finance from the University of South Florida. He’s spent his whole career in financial services and now brings over 20 years of financial planning experience to helping clients achieve financial peace of mind.

Steve is held to some of the industry’s strictest standards of ethics and education as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional. He’s actively involved in several prominent industry organizations including:

• The Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)
• National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA)
• The Financial Planning Association
• The Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council

The CFP® Difference

Steve Griffin is proud to be a CFP® professional, having surpassed rigorous training, education, and testing requirements. This designation is considered to be the standard of excellence within our industry — and for good reason. CFP® professionals are held to one of the highest ethical standards of conduct and are bound to serve as fiduciaries to their clients. Our ability to share this advantage with our clients is important to us, and we believe it’s what helps us be the best partners we can be.

Personal Fulfillment

Steve lives in Sarasota, Florida with his wife, Trish. Together, they enjoy everything the area has to offer from great restaurants to world-class beaches. When he’s not in the office, Steve likes to spend his free time golfing and watching his favorite sports. He also makes it a priority to stay closely connected with his faith by volunteering at his church and reading scripture daily.

With his daughters both living close by, Steve loves spending as much time as he can with them and his grandkids, Landen and Liliana. Whether it’s going to a hockey game or a gymnastics meet, Steve and Trish are always around to cheer them on.

With his own great sense of humor, Steve likes to watch funny movies or stand-up comedy. With so much stress and brokenness in the world, he appreciates the reprieve and healing that laughter can bring.

Kelly’s Mission As An Advisor

As a financial advisor, Kelly’s goal is to help her clients truly understand the plan she’s put in place for them and have certainty regarding their financial future. Since starting her financial career nearly a decade ago, her passion has always been for building strategic plans and walking alongside clients on their own wealth journeys. Kelly’s unique ability to distill complexities into core concepts and offer new perspectives often help her clients reach “lightbulb” moments of understanding. She enjoys seeing the impact small decisions make in a client’s financial well-being and how those decisions compound to help them reach their long-term goals.

Kelly enjoys getting to know each client on a deep, personal level. Whether it’s a handwritten card in the mail or a heartfelt conversation, she always wants her clients to feel valued and appreciated.

Planning Approach

Kelly brings a wealth of experience and resources to the table and believes wholeheartedly that everyone deserves well-rounded financial advice and solutions. Whether she’s working with a business owner, successful family, or an established professional, she helps bring clarity to even the most complex situations.

When approaching planning with clients, Kelly draws from her background in education to help broaden her clients’ financial knowledge. It’s important to her that her clients understand their options fully, are engaged in the solutions presented, and know the “why” behind what Kelly and her team do. While the world of financial services and products is vast, Kelly is adept at identifying what strategy will best address each client’s specific needs. She enjoys being a partner for her clients and coordinating with their team of other professionals to ensure each piece of their financial strategy is working together.

Education & Background

After earning her MBA in 2012, Kelly taught as an adjunct professor for Business and Marketing courses at St. Leo University for nearly two years. In 2014, she stepped in as Office Manager and Para-Planner for her father’s firm which allowed her to use her knack for data analysis and numbers to support the financial planning efforts of her father’s practice. By 2016, it was clear to Kelly that she wanted to use her background in education, and her passion for helping others achieve financial success, by becoming a second-generation Financial Advisor.

In pursuit of her ongoing commitment to education and self-improvement, Kelly is currently enrolled in programs to earn her CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ and Chartered Financial Consultant^® designations.

Personal Fulfillment

Kelly, her husband, Joe, and their dog, Anchor, live in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. They take full advantage of everything the greater Sarasota area has to offer—amazing beaches, unique restaurants, and no shortage of places to explore.

Kelly is a Tampa Bay Lightning fan and enjoys attending games during hockey season. But all year round, Kelly spends her free time golfing, walking local trails with her pup, going to the beach, and reading. Her favorite book is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and her favorite quote is Henry David Thoreau’s “Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.”

Kelly enjoys being involved in several industry and community organizations. She is a member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), the Lakewood Ranch Business Association (LWRBA), the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, and the Sarasota-Manatee Human Resource Association.