Member, NAPFA and Fee-Only Network

Chris is a Certified Financial Planner™ and academic leader with a passion for teaching and research. Chris’s interest in financial planning grew from a desire to understand the challenges retirees face as they transition from saving to generating income. Through extensive research and listening to hundreds of financial planning podcasts, he recognized the pitfalls of relying on generic advice and the critical need for tailored guidance, especially during the pre-retirement and retirement years.

Chris earned his PhD in Finance from Oklahoma State University and has spent over 30 years teaching courses such as Retirement Planning, Financial Markets and Institutions, Commercial Bank Management, Principles of Real Estate, Investment Theory, and Principles of Finance. Over the years, he has taught numerous students who now serve as financial advisors across the country.

Currently, he serves as a Professor of Finance and Page Endowed Fellow at Western Kentucky University’s AACSB-accredited Gordon Ford College of Business, where he previously chaired the Department of Finance. His research has been featured in numerous journals and conferences, including “Leaping Black Swans” co-authored with Dr. Indudeep Chhachhi and Dr. William J. Trainor, Jr. In The Journal of Investing (February 2019) – which resulted in an ETF with the ticker SWAN that now trades that uses the same strategy that was presented in the paper.

Chris is a member of the Financial Management Association (FMA), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA).

Get to Know Chris:

1. When someone asks what you do at a party, how do you explain your role?

At heart, I’m an educator. That’s where my career began, and it’s the lens I bring to everything I do as a financial advisor. I genuinely enjoy helping people understand something new – and I think that’s what good advising really is. My clients shouldn’t just trust the plan we build together; they should understand it. When people know why we’re doing what we’re doing, they make better decisions and feel more confident along the way.

2. In what ways has your upbringing shaped your views on money and planning?

I grew up in a single-parent household. My mother rarely talked about money, but I could see that it was tight, and I could see what she gave up so that her kids had what we needed. I’ve made those same kinds of sacrifices for my own children – but I’ve also done something different: I’ve talked with them about money openly. As a result, they have a healthy understanding of the role it should play in their lives. Money is a means to an end. The goal isn’t to accumulate the most of it; the goal is to live a full life without having to worry about how to finance it.

3. Did you have any interesting jobs or careers before becoming a financial advisor?

I started out as the Public Relations director for a hospital, then became a Savings and Loan examiner during the S&L crisis of the 1980’s – a front-row seat to what happens when financial institutions stray from sound principles. From there, I spent the next 30 years in academia as a college professor, and over the past four years I’ve added work as a financial advisor. Each chapter has shaped how I think about communicating clearly, recognizing risk, and helping people navigate complex financial systems.

4. You emphasize being a university educator in finance. How does that bring a unique perspective to your clients?

Our advice is grounded in what decades of financial research have actually proven to work – not in market predictions or trends. For years, we’ve taught students the principles of evidence-based investing, and that same rigor shapes the guidance we give our clients. Teaching has also sharpened something else: the ability to take what’s complex and make it understandable. Our clients benefit not only from disciplined, research-driven planning, but from an advisor who knows how to explain it in a way that genuinely sticks.

5. How do you stay involved and give back to your community?

I serve on my church’s Budget and Finance committee, where I’m able to put my professional skills to work in service of a community that matters to me. It’s a small but meaningful way to use what I’ve learned over the course of my career to support an institution that supports so many others.