Dave Alison jumped headfirst into the financial planning world in 2006 ahead of one of the worst financial crises in recorded history.
The founder and CEO of California-based Alison Wealth Management recalls it being an interesting time, “but a blessing in disguise, because it probably taught me more lessons during those couple of years than I learned in the four-year degree studying finance in college,” he said.
Alison became a financial advisor because of his love for math and the ability to educate. “Bringing the two of those together provides an opportunity to really simplify something that is very complex for people," Alison noted.
He's also a firm believer that money is just a means to achieve the most rewarding things in clients’ lives.
“So often, money creates so much stress for people so a lot of the time, when we're able to get money out of the way, you really see them flourish in life,” he said.
That's why he’s helping other advisors get the same rewarding feeling. As president and founder of another organization, C2P, he helps to educate, train, grow, and support holistic financial advisors so families can achieve prosperity.
Last year, he was asked to create a virtual course for The American College of Financial Services’ Knowledge Hub+ for their Professional Recertification Program, which reaches over 24 thousand advisors.
These are just a few reasons Alison is being recognized as an InvestmentNews Awards 2024 Excellence Awardee, with the winners announced on June 20 at 583 Park Avenue, New York City in a glitzy, red carpet ceremony. Click here to register to attend.
One of the grandest accomplishments Alison has achieved to date, he says, is being able to provide a clear definition that he and his team can help other advisors continue to bring more of a holistic wealth management approach together for their clients.
“The financial services industry has traditionally been very siloed,” he explains. “A financial advisor is selling investments, an insurance agent is selling insurance, a tax professional is telling tax services, an attorney is selling legal documents. Nobody's really brought all of this together.”
That’s why he says his passion is bringing these five pillars of holistic wealth management together.
“I think that that message has really resonated with the industry. We're seeing so many advisors that are attending our trainings and webinars and they're constantly sharing amazing testimonials of how they're taking these processes and these tools that we're packaging, and they're able to help their clients in a really meaningful way,” he added.
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