Jason Richert, ChFC®, CRPC®, CPFA®, AIF®

I spent the first part of my career in technology, including a decade at Microsoft and several years with consulting firms. Then I made a very different career decision: I left the workforce to become a stay-at-home dad.

That choice was possible because my wife and I had done the financial planning to make it work. Years later, when I was ready to return to work, I found myself wanting to be on the other side of that conversation—to help other people understand their options, make informed decisions, and use their money to support the life they want to build.

Today, I bring the analytical mindset and systems thinking I developed in technology to financial planning. I believe complex financial questions rarely have simple answers, but they can usually be made understandable with the right analysis, context, and conversation. My work is roughly divided between client and 401(k) participant conversations, financial planning and tax analysis, technology research, and working with the businesses whose retirement plans we advise.

What I find most meaningful is helping people bridge the gap between what we're taught about numbers and what we actually need to understand about our money. Those are two very different things. Personal finance isn't a subject most people get much practical education in, and there I bring no judgment on that. My goal is to meet people where they are, help make the complicated understandable, and give them greater confidence in the decisions ahead.

Outside of work, my wife Becky, our daughter Emily, and I have been exploring Europe in the summers and finding more reasons to make it a regular part of our lives. We work from home often enough that our two Bengal cats have become recurring—and occasionally distracting—features of Zoom calls. I grew up in Reno/Tahoe and have called the Seattle area home since 1997.

I'm also a self-described nerd who tends to go deep on the things I care about. Earlier in life, that included becoming a certified scuba diving instructor and deep rebreather wreck diver, skydiving and spending a summer as a static-line instructor, paragliding, and earning my private pilot's license. These days, you'll more likely find me smoking cheese or Texas-style brisket, working on a golf game that is perpetually better in my imagination, or wondering whether this will finally be the year I learn to play guitar.

Community involvement has always been important to me. I'm active with the Bellevue Eastside Rotary Club and involved at the district level. Through Rotary, I've helped build tiny homes for people experiencing homelessness, supported the Renewal Food Bank in Bellevue, and participated in an adoption celebration for foster children. I've also volunteered with the King County Red Cross Communications Team, Angel Flight West, and taught classes through Junior Achievement.

• Investment Advisor Representative, Cetera Wealth Services LLC and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC
• CA Insurance License #0M16932
• Additional training: Social Security claiming strategies, Special Needs planning