Why I Started Integritas

And What I Believe About Money

I didn't start out thinking I'd build a financial planning firm. I started out thinking I'd find the right firm to work for, one that gave advice the way I believed advice should be given, to clients who deserved more than what most of the industry was offering them.

That firm didn't exist in the way I was looking, so I decided to build it.

This is the story of why.

What I saw inside the industry

Financial services has a structure problem in my opinion. Most advisors are paid when you buy something (an investment product, an insurance policy, an annuity, a financial plan). The advice is technically free and the product is where the money is. When the money is in the product, the advice tends to drift in that direction, even when the advisor isn't consciously aware of it.

I saw this clearly early in my career. I watched people receive recommendations that were good for the person making them and fine, not great, not best-in-class, just fine for the person receiving them. I watched clients pay fees they didn't understand for products they didn't need because nobody was sitting across the table from them with a legal obligation to put their interests first.

I believed then and I believe now that most people deserve better than that. Not because the people in this industry are bad (most of them aren't) but because the structure creates misaligned incentives, and misaligned incentives produce predictably mediocre outcomes.

The fiduciary difference

I built Integritas as a fiduciary one stop shop firm

I want to be compensated directly by my clients as often as possible through a flat fee, a retainer, or a percentage of assets under management. I don't desire to earn commissions, but they occasionally occur from insurance or tax preparations. I don't want receive payments from fund companies or insurance carriers. When I recommend something, the only financial incentive I want to have is that it's actually the right thing for you, because you're the only one I want paying me.

Fiduciary means I'm legally required to act in your best interest, not just recommend something "suitable." The suitability standard that governs most commissioned advisors is a low bar it means the product has to be appropriate for your general situation, not necessarily the best option available. The fiduciary standard is higher: your interests come first, full stop, and I have to be able to document that every recommendation meets that standard.

These aren't just marketing words. They're structural commitments that change the nature of every conversation I have with a client.

What faith has to do with it

I'm a person of faith, and I won't pretend that doesn't shape how I think about money.

I believe money is a tool. Not a goal, not a measure of worth, not a source of security in itself, a tool. How we use it reflects what we actually value, whether we intend it to or not. I've seen enough people arrive at retirement with more money than they expected and less peace than they hoped for to know that accumulation alone isn't the answer.

I consecrated Integritas Wealth Strategies to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I'm a member of the Catholic Financial Planning Network. I'm not shy about that but I also want to be clear about what it means in practice: it means I approach every client relationship with a genuine concern for their whole life, not just their balance sheet. It means I ask questions that go beyond the numbers. It means I believe stewardship (how we hold and use what we've been given) matters as much as accumulation.

I work with clients of all faith backgrounds and no faith background all the same. What I'm looking for is people who want an advisor they can trust completely. Someone who will tell them the truth, who doesn't have a product to sell them, and who cares about where they end up, not just what their portfolio returns.

What Integritas is built to do

Integritas means integrity in Latin. I chose that name deliberately.

This firm exists to give people in the Charleston area access to the kind of advice that used to require a family office or a very large portfolio: integrated financial planning and tax strategy under one roof, from an advisor who holds both the CFP® and Enrolled Agent credentials, who charges a transparent fee, and who is a fiduciary every day.

If you've been looking for that or if you've felt like something was missing from the advice you've been getting, or if you've never had a real plan and you'd like one, then I'd genuinely love to talk.