I have always enjoyed helping people. I started my business career in New York City where I worked for a large international accounting firm and then two large financial services companies. It involved long hours of challenging, technical and financially oriented work with major companies where I obtained a great deal of valuable experience. I found the work to be rewarding, but something was missing. I just did not get the feeling that I was helping people.

In 1993, I moved to Florida with my husband and sons to be closer to family. My husband and I decided to found our own small Investment Advisory Firm, Worley and Worley, and set to work. Having always worked for large firms, starting our own business was interesting and challenging. My husband was offered a great position by one of our New York contacts, and left our small firm.

I quickly learned growth as a solo practitioner was even slower and harder than I expected. So I took part time weekend and evening work with a local CPA firm, Divine Blalock Martin and Sellari PA, to generate additional income and experience doing tax-preparation work. It was a remarkable change from working with major companies to working with individuals. I saw many clients that needed investment and financial planning guidance, and realized that this was not an area where most tax CPA’s felt comfortable giving guidance. I saw an opportunity to really help people with my financial experience. I convinced Gary Sellari, CPA, the Tax Partner of Divine, Blalock, Martin and Sellari PA, to become my partner in a new Registered Investment Advisory Firm in 1997, which we named P.F.S. Advisors LC, since both Gary and I had earned the PFS (Personal Financial Specialist) designation from the AICPA.

I have always worked, and when my three kids were younger I learned how hard it was to juggle the work/family balance. Many of my early clients were women, who wanted to be taught how to take care of themselves and their families financially but had limited free time. We understood their concerns and issues first hand. Our firm tag line is now “Fortify Your Family’s Future,” which I feel reflects our firm mission. As our client list grew, and their needs grew, we added financial planning to our services. We then added managing the investments of our clients’ foundations, defined benefit plans, trusts and estates to our services. Our goal was to be the first call when a financial question came up. To take good care of our clients, by educating them if they wanted to learn, or referring them to others when needed. We learned about charitable-giving issues, special-needs trusts for disabled children, college planning, and the elder-care issues that arose for our clients and their parents. We learned about the tax-planning issues of our small business owners and physician clients. We learned to understand and support the specific needs and issues of our LGBT clients. We understand the need for our retired clients to know that they have a plan in place that makes them feel secure, and we help them to monitor it.

In 2006, we changed the firm name to Castle Wealth Management, to have the firm name reflect more of what we did for our clients. Gary Sellari is still a minority investor in our firm, and he sits on our weekly investment committee. His CPA firm, Divine Blalock Martin and Sellari LC, is an active referral partner. We now have many clients from other CPA firms. We have grown through client referrals, and now have eleven employees.

I attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a BS in Economics when I was 19 years old. Wharton was founded by Benjamin Franklin. I regularly quote his precept “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail” to my clients to help start them on their process of setting their goals and planning their legacies. We now take care of approximately 100 families. We help our clients by developing plans that take into account the legacies they wish for their families. We coach them to achieve their legacies with a successful work/life balance.

I have found it emotionally rewarding to volunteer my talents in our community. I serve as a gubernatorial appointee to the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County (appointed by the last three governors), and as vice chair of the PBC Early Learning Cabinet. I have emphasized continuing education and volunteering in our community to our employees, and I now believe it to be entrenched in our firm’s core values. I am happy to lead a team that gets to help people every single day.