Steven Smailes is President of Monarch Wealth & Retirement Strategies.  Over 25 years of professional sales and business management experience have helped Steve become extremely well rounded in the four domains of Financial Advice mastery – competency, empathy, management and service to help our clients.  Steve understands how to listen, create, plan and execute on our clients’ vision for their desired future.

Before Steve joined Monarch Wealth he had been a trusted advisor, executive and entrepreneur in a variety of industries, including technology, insurance, investment and lending.  Each of those roles has helped Steve develop a deep holistic view of finances. That deep view, along with the skills learned in those roles helps Steve ask clients the right questions as they look forward to successfully managing the integration of their personal and financial goals.

Steve currently holds a BFA™, Behavioral Finance Advisor certification as well as a Certified Financial Fiduciary®, as well as his Securities licenses Series 7, 66, and life and long term care insurance licenses in multiple states. 

His informal education includes being mentored by one of the co-founders of FedEx, several highly successful technology and retail entrepreneurs and one of the nation’s most successful financial services entrepreneurs.  Through these lessons, Steve has learned that financial advice is unique to you and based on your values and beliefs, and can be organized and multiplied for the betterment of family.

Steve has been married to his beautiful wife Carol for 24 years and has four wonderful children, ranging in ages from 16 to 23.  In his spare time Steve is an avid reader, works out regularly through SEALFIT and Spartan obstacle courses and enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Steve is a parishioner at St. Maximilian Kolbe in Westlake Village where he is actively involved in the High School Youth Group program, helping to prepare students for Confirmation.  He is also a member of the St. Paschal Baylon Men’s Club.              

Steven Smailes is the President at Monarch Wealth & Retirement Strategies. As an executive and trusted advisor for over 25 years Steve has raised capital, successfully managed several P&L’s for companies and led several projects that have created over $100M in direct investment or increases in revenue and valuation of those companies. Steve has learned the skills necessary to help clients ask the right questions as they look forward to successfully managing the integration of their personal and financial goals.

Steve’s education includes being a graduate of the Southern California Entrepreneurship Academy and the Santa Clara MyOwnBusiness initiative as well as being mentored by one of the founders of FedEx and one of the nation’s most successful financial services entrepreneurs. Steve currently holds a BFA™, Behavioral Finance Advisor certification, as well as his Securities licenses Series 7, 66, and life and long term care insurance licenses in multiple states. 

I have been a financial advisor for over twenty years.  I also have an accounting background prior to that.  My specialty includes working with retired individuals who are interested in setting up a pension for themselves using various methods that fit their needs.  I also help clients with their retirement goals and home buying goals.  I enjoy teaching my clients the fundamentals of investing and helping them reach their ambitions.  Most of all I do enjoy helping my fellow clients in all their financial matters.

Sabina L. Pan is the founder and principal of Bay CPA Plus, dedicated advisor to investors, entrepreneurs and small businesse owners. She holds an Master’s degree in Business Administration from INSEAD along with a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Golden Gate University. She is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Financial Fiduciary®, and Certifed Financial Planner® candidate.

She has professional experiences in public accounting firms, multi-national companies and non-for-profit organizations. And she is the author of two finance books:

“What Intelligent Business Owners Know – 10 Tried and True Ways to Save Your Business Thousands of Dollars” and

“What Intelligent Investors Know - Top 10 Expensive Tax Mistakes To Avoid”.

This varied professional background gives her a unique perspective in advising clients how to grow their businesses and build personal wealth. She is also business coach for start-ups and non-for-profits.

Outside of her work, Sabina is a wine connoisseur and trained pastry chef from Le Cordon Bleu Paris.

Chad Willardson, CFF, CRPC®, AWMA®, is the President of Pacific Capital, a fiduciary wealth advisory firm he founded in 2011 that serves entrepreneurs and families. He is the bestselling author of two books: Stress Free Money & Smart Not Spoiled, which have been featured in Forbes's "21 Books To Read In 2021" and on NBC News and Yahoo! Finance. In addition to serving the family office clients of Pacific Capital, Chad also manages the $375 million investment portfolio as the elected City Treasurer in his community. Chad is recognized as one of the top wealth management experts in the country and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc., U.S. News & World Report, InvestmentNews, Entrepreneur, and Financial Advisor Magazine. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Amber, and their five children.

Brent Anderson is into his fifth decade of providing excellent financial advice, having moved straight into this field after graduation from UCSB in 1970.  The breadth of his expertise extends from life and health insurance, Medicare and Social Security planning, to long term care strategies, and investment strategies for both accumulating wealth and for the distribution of wealth after retirement, to satisfy lifestyle needs and desires, as well as legacy plans.

All the many changes in the equity markets, the bear markets as well as the bull markets, have added to the wisdom gained over the experience of so many years in the business.

His creative and expert uses of life insurance have already created millions of dollars for policy beneficiaries, with hundreds of millions currently in force for future generations.  One unique area of expertise is in creating tax-free retirement income for healthy, younger professionals.

He’s served in an executive capacity for several industry organizations, is currently on the board of the Santa Barbara Estate Planning Council, and has served as president of that organization in the past, as well as the past president of the local chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.  He’s served as a board or advisory member of many local charities, and is the past president of the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara and is currently the President of the local Barbershop Harmony chapter.  In that last capacity he is well known as a barbershop quartet performer and entertainer.

He has been the featured speaker at local, regional, and even world-wide industry meetings, being twice featured as a keynote speaker at South Africa’s National Financial Industry convention.

His educational degrees, in addition to a BS in Environmental Biology from UCSB, includes the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) degrees from The American College, and also in 2020, the Certified Financial Fiduciary (CFF) designation.

His office is located in downtown Santa Barbara and he is happy to personally, and safely, meet clients there, or anywhere, usiing digital technology.  He can be reached at 805-569-7666 or by email brent@andersonfs.com

Nguyen Tran has worked in financial services since 2004. To better service his clients, he started Win Wealth Solutions in 2016 as an independent financial planning firm that partnered up with some of the best firms and solutions providers across multiple industries.

Backstory: Nguyen and his family fled Vietnam when he was a baby. His family spent 2 years in a Philippine refugee camp before making their way to America. Like most immigrants, Nguyen's parents hoped for a better life for their children. His father was an orphan at around 12 years old after witnessing the violent death of his mother, while his father died 10 years before; due to an illness. Perhaps, with better health care, they would still be alive. As a first-generation immigrant, he hopes to hear your story, hopes and dreams. His purpose is to help find a better solution to your situation. Life can change on a dime; he will provide that ear to listen, and help you show off your resiliency to adapt to those changes. His willingness to utilize technological innovations will help deliver a unique blend of expertise and care to you, your family, and your community. He will seek out learning, so he can provide you with a more effective solution.

Nguyen was raised in Modesto, California with his three brothers and one sister. Growing up with an autistic brother taught him patience, fortitude, and perseverance. He attended Calpoly Pomona, majoring in Finance and Marketing. He lived in Newport Beach after college until getting engaged and moving to Los Angeles in 2018. He now resides in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles with his wife and 2 kids. He values having an active lifestyle, running, biking, and beach flag football leagues. He has ran marathons and completed several bike races. He enjoys tinkering with the latest computer & AV tech, power tools, and gardening.

 I understood the value and importance of financial planning early in life after experiencing the loss of my father at age 8. We lived in an affluent community, and I watched idly as my family quickly deteriorated after this sudden loss. He was not only a loved one but the family's primary source of income. Although my father was extremely skilled in his field, there was a lack of financial planning coupled with no life insurance.

In the years following, my mother was desperate to stabilize the family and partnered with an investment advisor. He promised her excessively high returns knowing she was a widow in an unsteady position. She refinanced the estate and invested with him. We ultimately lost 1.7 million and learned he was leading a $61 million dollar Ponzi scheme.

I was abruptly thrown into the role of an adult, charged with repairing these financial hardships.
This crisis cultivated a desire in me to not only correct my family's situation but to ensure that I would never be in such a vulnerable state again.

I launched my professional career over 7 years ago, when I had the opportunity to gain mentorship from multiple knowledgeable Financial Advisors. I was able to gain knowledge under the counsel and direction of a well-respected and successful guides in the industry.

Eventually through years of experience and knowledge, I founded Essential Trust Financial which is a  company aligned with my goals of serving my community with not only trust  and integrity but with the savvy required to provide distinguished financial services. We believe in long-lasting relationships and the key component of trust. We understand the importance and value trust as we feel it is the baseline to a strong long-lasting relationship

Areas of Expertise include the following:

✔Traditional & SEP IRA
✔ Roth IRA
✔ Tax-Free Retirement Income Strategies
✔ Defined Benefits & 401(K) Profit-Sharing Plans
✔ Life Insurance -- Temporary & Cash Value
✔ Premium Finance & Kai-Zen
✔ 401(K) 403(b) & TSA Rollovers
✔ Defined Contribution Plans
✔ Corporate Level Pension Design & Administration
✔ Buy-Sell Agreements between partners
✔ Advanced Retirement Planning (Individual & Corporate)
✔ Estate Planning
✔ IRA Legacy Planning
✔ Charitable Giving
✔ Annuities
✔ College Funding
✔ Asset Protection
✔ Disability Insurance
✔ Long Term Care
✔ Investments

*As a Certified Financial Fiduciary, we ensure our clients are well-informed and fully understand the lifecycle of their investments.

Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM) Chamber of Commerce
Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce

Edward Malekan, Founder, and CEO of Eternity Financial Alliance brings over 15 years of

combined executive leadership, financial advising and team-building experience to his role

as leader of this industry-changing company.

His path to leadership is marked by his lifelong mission to be a trusted financial resource

responsible for helping individuals, families, and businesses understand and plan for their

financial futures.

Edward’s love of numbers, interest in business and understanding that financial decisions

should be holistic, started at a young age. Following in the footsteps of his parents,

business owners themselves, he embraced the concept of ethical business practices. He

saw how his parents were able to build a business based on trust, with word of mouth as

their primary advertising vehicle. It was also through his parents’ experience with financial

advising that he saw first hand how destructive “one size fits all” advice could be to families.

He vowed to change how business is done in the financial industry by making lifelong

learning, integrity, and honesty his core values.

As a Certified Financial Fiduciary he is held to the utmost standards when working with

clients. His commitment to ethical business practices has served Edward well throughout

his career. In his early professional life, he earned the position of Senior Director in his firm

with responsibility for recruiting and building teams. He was the youngest individual to

successfully open up new offices.

As a keen observer of his business environment, he determined the only way to do

business in a way that benefited the people he wanted to serve would be to open his own

firm. Once he set his mind on the goal, with dedication and determination, he created an

action plan and executed purposefully.

Today, Edward has changed the status quo of the financial and insurance services industry

by providing unprecedented value to his clients, almost acting like their CFO. Edward

believes that the relationship between him and his clients are sacrosanct and the quality of

those relationships matter.

To Edward, honesty is just as important for his team as it is for clients – he does not sell his

team on pipe dreams. “Success has a price and you won’t get it easily,” he’ll tell his team.

For financial professionals who join his team, Edward provides support and a pathway to

self-determination. He considers his team as family on a collective journey of success.

Edward can best be described as bold, fearless and focused. As a passionate, powerful,

and motivated force in the financial industry, Edward creates impenetrable alliances with

like-minded professionals within finance and across industries – bringing his dream full

circle.

Power Alliances

Our clients come first – always. We understand that many individuals, families and

businesses we serve are in need of assistance in completing extensive planning. Needing

attention in areas such as: assets under management, tax-planning, estate planning, real

estate lending and asset protection.

For that, we have our “Power Alliances” that are committed to working together,

collaborating when needed. “You’re only as strong as your missing link” and at time, your

plan is missing that link. Due to that matter, we look to solidify the plan by providing our

proven and trusted professionals in the areas needed for our valued clients, if and when

needed by our client’s request.

We are keen in collaborating with like-minded professionals who share the same beliefs and

principles as we do while still providing the most prestigious, competitive and “white glove”

service to our valued clientele.

We’re here guiding you through every turn of your financial plan towards prosperity. With

Eternity Financial Alliance, you’re not just a client – you’re one of us.

Ryan is an experienced Financial Advisor with AJT Wealth Consultants. Driven by an intense need for knowledge, he takes pride in providing the best advice possible. As a Certified Financial Fiduciary®, his goal is to equip his clients, friends, and family with the tools and knowledge necessary to become financially secure. He is an Eagle Scout, Rotarian, and Toastmaster, who believes we should all leave the world a little bit better than when we arrived.

For fun, Ryan can either be found 100 feet under the ocean or with his nose stuck in a book. He has his Bachelor of Arts degree from Whittier College, holds his Series 7 & 66 Securities Registrations, and is a registered life insurance agent with the state of California.

Lillian Meyers is both the founder and president of Meyers Financial Services, Inc. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and has a keen focus on matters of taxation, and business taxation. Ms. Meyers is a graduate of the College for Financial Planning and has often spoken at Sonoma Valley company meetings, student workshops, Women in Business seminars, seniors' organizations, church groups, and more. In addition, she has appeared for interviews with newspapers, radio, and magazines, sharing her insight as a financial planning specialist.

Ms. Meyers has earned the following titles and certifications:

• CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional
• Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™
• Enrolled Agent
• Pension consultant
• Licensed insurance agent
• Registered Investment Advisor

Ms. Meyers also is a proud member of the following associations and organizations:

• The Financial Planning Association
• California Society of Enrolled Agents
• National Association of Enrolled Agents
• DAR Daughters of the American Revolution
• Soroptimist International of Sonoma Valley
• Soroptimist International of the Americas
• IMPAC100 Sonoma