What You'll Get in Your Meeting
Tax Snapshot
Portfolio Analysis
Retirement Evaluation
The Steps We'll Take In Your Assessment
Who Benefits Most
We are retirement planning specialists who do our best work with:
Age 50+
People who are over age 50 and seeking guidance on the transition from work to leisure.
$500k +
Thoughtful savers who have accumulated investments of no less than $500,000 (real estate excluded)
Ready to Partner
Those who know their time is too precious to be spent worrying about money and prefer an expert's help.
The Retirement-Ready Delegator
Whether you’re 5, 10, or 15 years from retirement, one thing is for sure – retirement is on your mind.
You’ve spent a lifetime building your wealth, now you want to ensure it can last you through retirement and you can leave a legacy.
We partner with those who have an investment portfolio of $500k+ and are in the process of planning the next big life event, retirement.
Our ideal client is one who wants to be a part of the process, but wants their advisor to be the guide in their financial life.
Questions you may have Before Our Meeting
Absolutely. We can meet virtually, in-person, or some combo thereof. We have clients throughout the country and were working virtually long before the pandemic.
We are a fee-only financial advisor, which means that our sole revenue source is the fees we charge to clients. We do not accept any commissions or third-party payments. This aligns our interests with yours, creates a transparent billing structure, and helps engender mutual trust that we hope to last for decades.
You can call or email us. We can address simple follow up questions related to the assessment without any cost to you. New financial matters, assessment updates, or things otherwise not addressed during the assessment may require us to charge you.
Your Team
Jim Stewart
Matt Bacon
Morgan Tester
Principal
Jim Stewart
Jim joined Carmichael Hill in 1993 and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER practitioner, Chief Compliance Officer and sole owner of Carmichael Hill. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. At the time, Carmichael Hill was a Registered Investment Advisor for high net worth individuals and a Third-Party Administrator for small business retirement plans. During the first few years Jim earned his stripes learning about investments, retirement planning, insurance, estate planning and the ten thousand other challenges involved in working in a small business (there were just two people then).
In the late 1990’s, Carmichael Hill spun off its retirement plan business and Jim became a partner. He went on to earn the Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS) and Registered Paraplanner (RP) designations. Under his guidance, the firm shifted to focus solely on serving individuals and businesses as a Registered Investment Advisor. In 2007, he went on to earn the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification and in 2013 became the sole owner of Carmichael Hill.
For Jim, it’s the people that make this business worthwhile. With almost thirty years of experience here, he’s worked with many clients for decades and some across generations. It’s a uniquely rewarding experience to see the harvest that comes from seeds you helped a client plant years ago.
Jim lives in Brookeville with his wife, Julie and their two sons. He serves as a Deacon of Shady Grove PCA, an Assistant Scoutmaster at Troop 264 in Olney and is a long tenured baseball coach through the Olney Boys and Girls Club. He is an avid outdoorsman and can be found running, biking, camping and spending time with his family on baseball fields all across Maryland.
Email:jims@carmichael-hill.com
Advisor
Matt Bacon
Matt joined Carmichael Hill in June of 2019. A native to Austin, TX, Matt spent several years out of the country while attending the University of Hull in the UK, where he earned a degree in Economics and Finance. He stayed in the UK working for a large multinational energy company as an economic analyst before returning to Austin in 2011 and jumping into wealth management.
He began his career at working almost exclusively in insurance industry, which was a poor fit for his skills and professional goals. He moved to a boutique wealth management firm after spending just one long and seemingly interminable year in insurance.
Matt went on to acquire several investment licenses at the new firm before obtaining the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation in 2014. This made him one of the youngest people in the nation to have earned the CFP®s marks at just 26 years old. He was responsible for running nearly all aspects of an advisory business, including business development, financial planning, investment administration, insurance, estate planning, operations, and practice management following the attainment of his credential. He likes to tell us that he knows “enough to be dangerous wherever you put me”.
The local firm was acquired by a bigger outfit, at which point he moved to the wealth management division of a local credit union. He was responsible for nearly 450 relationships while there and has some impressive time management skills as a result. In 2019 he moved to Washington, D.C. and made Carmichael Hill his home.
Matt is married and lives in Bethesda with his beautiful wife and adorable golden doodle. He is a lifelong Cowboys fan, but only because he secretly craves disappointment. You can find him watching football, playing soccer, or hitting up a dog park with Coop when he’s not in the office.
Advisor
Morgan Tester
Morgan joined the Carmichael Hill team in May of 2019. She started her career with the firm immediately after graduating from Towson University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Financial Planning.
In 2021, Morgan achieved the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation after years of long nights and rigorous tests. This puts her in an elite category – she is one of the youngest planners in the country to have earned the right to use the CFP® marks. She is meticulous and strives to give each and every client the attention they deserve when managing their portfolio and constructing their financial plan. Morgan is responsible for assisting with investment planning, building retirement plans, and trading in addition to being the office ad-hoc superhero.
Morgan grew up in the Baltimore area and now lives in Columbia. When not in the office she enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching a good movie, or rooting on her favorite football team, the Baltimore Ravens.
