About Index Funds Advisors

About Us

Corporate Headquarters, Irvine CA

Index Funds Advisors, Inc.

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local Phone: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048

Our corporate office is located in the Atrium Building in Irvine, CA, which is very close to Orange County's John Wayne airport.
View Directions Online
Print Version of Directions


Or contact us at any of our regional locations.

Midwest Regional Office

2918 Marketplace Drive,
Suite 111
Madison, WI 53719-5328

Toll Free: 1-877-373-9934
New York Regional Office
641 Lexington Ave, 15th Floor,
New York , NY-10022

Toll Free: 1-888-342-7026
Texas Regional Office
303 E. Lubbock St.
Brenham, Texas 77833
Pasadena/LA Regional Office
70 South Lake Ave
10th Floor
Pasadena, CA 91101
626 698-1889
Florida Regional Representative
Naples, FL
Toll Free 877 202-2933


Finding the Right Advisor

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Articles About Us:
Personal Finance (Canada) 1 2
USA Today 5/20/05
USA Today 5/17/05
USA Today 3/29/04
Web Site Accolades
CBS MarketWatch.com
IFA on Motley Fool.com
Orange County Register
London's Financial Times
Investment Coursework: See Learning Activity Two
Hebner vs Cramer or USAToday
MarketWatch: Freakoindex
Fool: Investor, Heal Thyself
Nat. Post: The Art of Indexing

Index Funds Advisors, Inc.

(IFA) is a fee-only Independent Financial Advisor (ifa), registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. IFA incorporated on March 5, 1999. Under U.S. law, investment advisors owe their clients an ongoing fiduciary duty to provide full and complete disclosure of all fees, conflicts of interest, and to exercise discretion in selecting investments with only their clients' best interests in mind. All investors should make sure they have an independent financial team to reduce conflicts of interest among the team. They should include an independent Registered Investment Advisors (like IFA), an independent Estate Planning Attorney, an independent CPA, and an independent Insurance Advisor. Never have an insurance salesperson direct you to a product that pays them. Call IFA to discuss how to assemble this team, if you don't already have one.

Index Funds Advisors provides wealth management by utilizing risk-appropriate, returns-optimized, globally diversified and tax-managed portfolios of index funds. IFA founder, Mark Hebner and the team at IFA have done extensive research as shown on this web site and the highly ranked book titled Index Funds. This research leads our clients to an optimal money management strategy, net of our advisory fees and taxes. IFA completely avoids the futile, speculative, and unnecessary cost-generating activities of stock, time, manager, and style picking. Instead, our investment strategy employs a disciplined, quantitative approach, emphasizing broad diversification and consistent exposure to the structural trends of publicly traded markets around the world, with an overweighting of small and value priced companies. In short, we invest in capitalism.

The IFA advice is based on the highly respected research indexes designed by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French and documented in their empirical and peer-reviewed publications. The two professors rank high on total downloads per paper among 34.5 million downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network. Our current and independent advice incorporates 84 years of IFA Indexes and IFA Index Portfolio risk and return data, third generation index fund designs and 30 years of refined passive trading techniques employed by Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA.) IFA does not accept payments from DFA or from any other recommended investments. IFA has a fiduciary duty to our clients and is exclusively paid by those clients for ongoing advice about the optimal wealth management of their assets. We can assist clients in establishing and evaluating relationships with estate planning attorneys, independent insurance advisors, and accountants.

IFA plays several roles in the process of providing investment advice. They may be summarized with these seven roles:

  1. The Expert: You need an advisor who can provide expertise in assessing the state of your finances and developing risk-appropriate investment strategies to help you meet your goals.

  2. The Independent and Fiduciary Voice: The global financial turmoil of the past years has demonstrated the value of an independent , objective and fiduciary voice in a world full of product pushers and salespeople, who get paid by product providers and do not have a fiduciary duty to their clients. Here are five fiduciary principles.

    • Putting the client’s best interest first.
    • Act with prudence; that is, with the skill, care, diligence and good judgment.
    • Provide conspicuous, full and fair disclosure of all important facts.
    • Avoiding conflicts of interest.
    • Fully disclose and fairly manage, in the client’s favor, unavoidable conflicts if any.

  3. The Listener: The emotions triggered by financial upheaval are real. IFA will listen to your fears, seek out the issues driving those feelings and provide practical long-term answers.

  4. The Teacher: Getting you beyond the fear-and-flight phase of investing often is just a matter of teaching you about risk and return, the power of diversification, the importance of asset allocation and the virtue of discipline. With IFA's extensive investor education program, we have a unique set of tools to be your teacher.

  5. The Architect: Once these lessons are understood, IFA becomes an architect, helping you to build a long-term wealth management strategy that caters to your own risk capacity and lifetime goals.

  6. The Coach: Even when the strategy is in place, doubts and fears will inevitably arise in your mind. At this point, IFA becomes a coach, reinforcing academic investment principles and keeping you on track.

  7. The Guardian: Beyond these roles is a long-term role as a fiduciary, a lighthouse keeper or guardian, scanning the horizon for issues that may affect you and keeping you informed.


IFA adds value through matching people with portfolios by carefully qualifying and quantifying 5 dimensions of an investor's Risk Capacity and matching it to 5 dimensions of a portfolio's Risk Exposure. This process produces investor-specific optimal returns by applying the IFA proprietary concept of 10dRisk. IFA obtains academically identified capital market rates of returns for its clients from about 16,000 public companies in the U.S. and about 43 other countries around the world. IFA then designs highly tax-managed and low cost trading strategies, maintains ongoing proper risk exposures through rebalancing, manages cash inflows and outflows, and provides monthly and inception to date detailed measurements of client performance relative to the IFA Indexes and other traditional benchmarks. This ongoing reporting on performance, gains, income and tax reporting is exclusively available at IFA and adds significant value since measurement is essential to improvement. This process positions our clients for an investment experience that optimizes the trade off between risk and return, based on more than 84 years of historical index data. By encouraging very smart behavior among our clients, we position them to be more successful at capturing the returns of the funds. As you see below the average fund investor and the do-it-yourself indexer have not been very successful at capturing the returns the market has to offer. The chart below summarizes several studies on the percentage of returns captured by various types of investors.


The IFA Investment Principles:


1. Capitalism works on average and over time. This statement might be explained by Hebner's estimate that more than 100,000 public companies over 84 years have earned an average annual profit about 10%/year. If companies or stockholders of those companies desired capital, they traded their stock certificates for cash from investors. Through this trade, stockholders gave up the stock's future return of about 10% per year (currently 9.46%). That return has been driven up over the last 84 years by the average profits of those simulated and actual S&P 500 companies. This is known as the "cost of capital" and the cost of capital is paid to the investors.
2. Risk and return have a positive correlation.
3. Free markets match prices to current levels of uncertainty, so that buyers can earn a risk-appropriate return.
4. The greater the risk, the longer the time required to obtain the expected return. Investors should capture the average return of all stocks and the average return of a sufficient number of months.
5. Passively invest, diversify to the maximum, maintain a small and value tilt and keep turnover, costs and taxes to a minimum.
6. Risk exposure must be initially matched to the investor's risk capacity, then monitored and maintained through rebalancing.
7. Avoid capital gains and dividends and realize losses in taxable accounts.

IFA manages individual and institutional accounts, including IRA,401(k), 403b, profit sharing, pensions, endowments and all other investment accounts. We also facilitate IRA rollovers from 401ks and 403bs. IFA provides investment advice to individuals, trusts, corporations, non-profits, and public and private institutions. For institutional accounts, please see our Institutional Division web site: ifa-i.com and our social responsible investment advice for Catholics.

See our SEC public disclosures HERE.

The chart below shows IFA's growth of assets under management since inception in 1999.




IFA Clients Across This Great Land

 

IFA assists clients in creating and purchasing diversified portfolios of index funds, primarily from Dimensional Fund Advisors (see The DFA Brochure -- also see Transparency in Mutual Funds), Vanguard, Fidelity and BlackRock (iShares). Dimensional Fund Advisors strives to deliver the performance of capital markets and add value through portfolio design and trading. DFA departs from the rules and rigidity of traditional index funds and avoids the cost-generating activity of stock picking and market timing. Instead DFA focuses on the dimensions of capital markets that reward investors and they deliver them as intelligently and effectively as possible. Their indexes tend to overweight small cap and value stocks, where expected returns are greater. Over 1,000 Investment Advisors rated DFA as the best overall company in the mutual fund business in several surveys. We primarily advise clients to invest in their funds to create globally diversified portfolios of index funds. DFA funds are only available to individual investors through DFA approved investment advisors. IFA is approved for the purchase of DFA funds, but receives no compensation from DFA or any other investments. For institutional investors with $100 million or more, we design diversified index manager portfolios to minimize vendor concentration risk.

You may select Charles Schwab & Company (Asset Protection), (also see this brochure A Winning Relationship) or Fidelity Investments as the custodian for your account. (see SIPC) If you already have an account with any of these firms, you can easily assign your account to our Master Account which will authorize IFA to manage your account.

We currently have 14 investment advisors; Mark Hebner, Gordon Shuler, Dave Mertz, Brendan Connelly, Denise Delaney, Becky Vasquez, Brad von Grote, Dan Solin, Venkat Yarlagadda, Patricia Solin, Cheri Franklin, Mary Brunson, Richard Neal. and Roberta Lazarz. In addition we have 26 other employees and several independent contractors. In total, about 100 people have contributed to the IFA multimedia investor education projects of books, websites, IFAradio program, podcasts, CDs, DVDs, brochures, audio recordings, painting, portraits, videos and IFA.tv webcasts. We hope that we have helped you better understand how markets work.

We also have an IFA Advisor Network program, where select financial advisors license the information and tools on our web site for their prospective clients and existing clients. These advisors have a license agreement with IFA and are approved to use the materials on this site. Advisors without such an agreement are not authorized to use any of our proprietary intellectual property, including but not limited to, the investor education and asset allocation tools. If your advisor is using these tools without authorization, please take note of their unethical practices and how they may be applied to you elsewhere in their business.

Here is a short introduction to our team:

The IFA Team




Mark T. Hebner
President and Founder

 

Passion of the Pen

Mark Hebner is the founder and President of Index Funds Advisors, Inc., author of the ifa.com and indexfunds.com web sites, and the book, Index Funds: The 12-Step Recovery Program for Active Investors. His previous book, Index Funds, was nominated as one of the three all-time greatest investment books, along with Warren Buffett and John Bogle. He provides webcasts on IFA.tv, is a frequent lecturer and has attended over thirty investment conferences and is considered the leading internet provider of information on index funds and especially information on Dimensional Funds Advisors mutual funds and portfolios of the research indexes used by DFA. He is an Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65) and has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of California at Irvine and a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico with a specialization in Nuclear Pharmacy.

Mr. Hebner was a member of the Young Presidents' Organization for over 20 years and is currently a member of the Worlds' President Organization and the Chief Executives Organization.

From 1975 to 1985, Mark was President, CEO and co-founder of Syncor International (previously a public company - SCOR). In Jan. 2003, Syncor was acquired by Cardinal Health for approximately $850 million. As a Cardinal Health division, Syncor is the world's leading provider of nuclear pharmacy services. Through his experience at Syncor, Mr. Hebner gained insight as to how public companies operate, raise capital, and promote their securities.

Mr. Hebner has been the Chairman of two Global Financial Seminars, is a respected speaker and is a frequent attendee of investment conferences so that he can keep up with the latest research for his books and web sites. He has met and learned from some of the brightest minds in the business. He has attended lectures by William Sharpe, Paul Samuelson, John Bogle, Warren Buffett, Eugene Fama, Sr. and Jr., Kenneth French, Rex Sinquefield, Roger Ibbottson, David Booth, Burton Malkiel, Jeremy Siegel, Terrance Odean, Brad Barber, Robert Arnott, Campbell Harvey, William Bernstein, Larry Swedroe, Paul Merriman, Michael Mauboussin, James Surowiecki, Daniel Solin, Sunil Wahal, James L. Davis, Weston Wellington and many more.

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612

Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local #: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048

Email: mark@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Anne Page
949-428-0438
anne@ifa.com

famafrench
Professors Eugene Fama and Kenneth French, DFA Conference 2006. See Step 2: Fama and French
Buffett
Warren Buffett - who says "the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund." - 2000
Bogle
Jack Bogle, Founder of Vanguard, at the Super Bowl of Indexing - Dec 3, 2007 (Book) See Step 2: Bogle
sharpe
Professor William Sharpe (Nobel Laureate) at Schwab Impact Conference - 2007 (Book) See Step 2: Sharpe
Markowitz
Professor Harry Markowitz
(Nobel Laureate) in La Jolla, CA - IFA is pleased to announce that Harry Markowitz is a member of IFA's Advisory Board. See Step 2: Markowitz.
Download MMM-062.mp3

Bob Pisani of CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange - May 2007

David Booth, CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) visits IFA Irvine on July 24, 2009. See Step 2: Booth
 

Dan Solin
Senior Vice President


Patricia Solin
Investment Advisor Representative

Dan and Patricia Solin work as a team to provide investors with superior investment education and service.

Dan Solin is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is the author of several best selling books, The Smartest Money Book You'll Ever Read: Everything You Need to Know About Growing, Spending, and Enjoying Your Money, The Smartest Portfolio You'll Ever Own: A Do-It-Yourself Breakthrough Strategy, The Smartest 401(k) Book You'll Ever Read, and The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read. He is also the author of Does Your Broker Owe You Money? Additionally, Dan is the financial columnist for The Huffington Post and US News and World Report.

Dan has appeared on CBS’s The Early Show, Fox Television’s The O’Reilly Factor and Fox and Friends, MSNBC’s Weekend Economic Review, CNN’s Money, and Bloomberg Television. Dan is a frequent speaker on investment-related topics and presents before large corporate audiences and topic-oriented interest groups. He has testified before a congressional subcommittee investigating the fairness of the mandatory arbitration system imposed on all investors by the securities industry.

Dan is a Senior Vice President for Index Funds Advisors (IFA). Dan is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65), and he resides in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Patricia is a graduate of California State University, Fresno. She also has Certificate of Legal Studies from U.C.L.A. Her employment history includes serving as a Manager with Price Waterhouse in San Francisco  and as President and Chief Operating officer of a manufacturer. Patricia is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative (series 65). She resides in Bonita Springs, Florida.

DailyFinance at AOL
q Dan Solin covers retirement investing for AOL's DailyFinance
q Click here to listen to Dan's Podcast Interview
q Huffington Post Blogs

Naples, Florida
Regional Representative

 Fax: 239-236-1381
Email : dan@ifa.com
Email : patricia@ifa.com

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612

Advisor Assistant:
Anne Page
949-428-0438
anne@ifa.com

 

 

 

 


Gordon Shuler

Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President

Gordon Shuler has been an investment services professional for 20 years -- the most recent 10 years with Index Funds Advisors, Inc., as a Vice President and Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65). He has completed several Dimensional Fund Advisors Conferences for Investment Advisors and is an expert in Index Funds investing.

He has presented a variety of investment topics to hundreds of seminar attendees and has periodically provided commentary and interviews on local radio stations. Previously in the computer industry for over 20 years, his experience provides a solid background for the highly technical investment methodology offered by IFA.  Gordon serves primarily high net worth investors and company 401(k) retirement plans --he enjoys educating clients through simplified explanations of complex investment concepts.

He was previously employed at large high technology firms including General Electric Co. and Hewlett-Packard, as well as several small start-up firms in the high technology area of computer-aided engineering.

He has a B.S. Degree in Production Management from California State University, Long Beach, with a specialization in Operations Research & Statistics.

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local #: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048

Email: gordon@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com


David G. Mertz

J.D., CFP®, AIF®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President

Dave is an attorney licensed in Arizona, a Certified Financial Planner - CFP®, and an Accredited Investment Fiduciary - AIF®.

He has published over fifty articles on insurance, savings, and investing. He has served on the faculty at The University of California at San Diego, Extension Education Department of Business and Management where he taught ‘Risk Management’ and ‘Managing Your Money’.

Dave also has been a designated expert witness on insurance, has consulted for the City of San Diego Retirement System and has consulted on investment advisor securities regulatory matters.

He has been offering financial advice to clients since 1983.

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local #: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048

Email: dave@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com


Brendan Connelly

CFS®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President

Brendan Connelly began with IFA in 2004 and has been a Vice President with the firm since 2009.

Providing those “aha” moments when the peace of mind from optimal investing has a chance to become a long-term reality for people is what Brendan loves most about his profession.   This holistic approach to long-term retirement income and financial planning is called Life Planning—a comprehensive means for achieving what matters most.

Now managing IFA’s Midwest regional office, Brendan’s unique perspective on the financial industry began while working on Wall Street for Dale Carnegie & Associates.  This inside view of the industry and the characters comprising it led him to seek roles in Socially Responsible Investing, including a hedge fund led by a Sir John Templeton protégé.  He was also a Vice President for NYPPe, the first secondary market for illiquid holdings including private equity and hedge fund positions.  Before seeking out and choosing IFA to continue building his investment advisory practice, he worked with Legacy Financial in estate and financial planning for high net worth investors and small business owners.

Brendan earned his undergraduate degree from Central Connecticut State University in 1987 and retains CFS® designation, the oldest certification program in the mutual fund industry.

He and his wife of 18 years live in always entertaining Madison, Wisconsin with their bag-piping son and two adopted daughters of Puerto Rican heritage.  Outside of work and family, he enjoys his lifelong hobbies of sailing, skiing and motocross to stay in shape and maintain balance.  Walking his two dogs always helps too, as does his role of serving as an officer in the Benjamin Franklin Masonic Lodge.

Midwest Regional Office

2918 Marketplace Drive,
Suite 111
Madison, WI 53719-5328


Toll Free: 1-877-373-9934
Local Phone: 608-227-6000
Fax: 608-268-7733
Cell : 608-239-6211

Email: brendan@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com


Denise Delaney

CFP®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice PresidentA gift from one of Denise's Clients. Click to enlarge.

Denise Delaney has been a Certified Financial Planner since 1992 with more than 23 years of financial services industry experience, which she applies to her work with institutions and high net worth clients.

An experienced problem solver, Denise enjoys the challenge of developing investment solutions for the often complex situations unique to her clients. Her areas of focus include personal portfolio construction, advising families on generational wealth, and assisting endowments and retirement plans while utilizing the unique tools provided by Index Funds Advisors. Denise's experience with these issues enables her to lead her clients to carefully developed investment solutions that minimize costs and taxes and maximize expected returns at given risk levels, acting as a true wealth preserver for her clients.

Denise understands that not all interested parties share the same knowledge regarding the investing process. She skillfully identifies her clients' needs and fully educates them about the benefits associated with a passive investment strategy. As a matter of course, Denise provides an empathetic ear while frequently spending time with families who are undergoing difficult transitions, particularly, widows and widowers who need advice in making portfolio adjustments. Denise understands the sensitive nature of such decisions and approaches these instances with care and patience, fully realizing the difficulty of needing to make investment decisions during times of duress.

Denise earned a degree in Business Administration from University of Phoenix. She is a proud mother to her son Evan. She enjoys the outdoors, particularly with her beautiful white standard poodle, Roxxy.


Pasadena/LA Regional Office

70 South Lake Ave
10th Floor
Pasadena, CA 91101


Direct: 626-698-1889
Cell: 626-506-6066
Fax: 949-502-0048

Email: denise@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Tina Westman
949-428-0444
tina@ifa.com



Becky Vasquez

CFP®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President

Becky has 24 years of experience in the financial services industry.  She received her Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation from University of California, Irvine.  She is also an Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65).
 
Becky specializes in advising high net worth clients.  With her expertise in asset allocation, retirement planning and tax efficiencies, she is able to assist investors in achieving their investment and retirement objectives.
 
Becky also has many years of experience in advising Investment Committees for Endowments, Foundations, and Pension Plans.  Through IFA Institutional, Becky enables trustees and fiduciaries to fulfill their responsibilities by adhering to the principles outlined in the Prudent Investor Rule.
 
Becky works with companies to construct globally diversified, low-cost 401(k) solutions for their employees.  High management costs and mutual fund fees erode employees’ returns and retirement security.  Becky strives diligently to ensure that employees are offered the best investment choices.
 
Becky lives in Huntington Beach, California with her husband and two teenage children.  She volunteers in her community, at her church, and at her children’s schools.

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local Phone: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
cell: 949-300-2267

Email: becky@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Anne Page
949-428-0438
anne@ifa.com



Brad
von Grote
Investment Advisor Representative

Brad von Grote began his career in the investment industry in 1999. He began as a stock broker, but Brad soon learned the inherent conflicts associated with commission-based fee structures. It was this realization that motivated him to shift his career to focus on delivering fee-only advice and acting as a true fiduciary to his clients. Brad joined Index Funds Advisors (IFA) in March, 2007. At IFA, Brad focuses on educating his clients about the true source of stock market returns, why every investor has the right to expect a return, and the odds of achieving their desired outcome. Brad is fully committed to assisting his clients toward maximizing their investment experiences by sharing with them the important data that is the hallmark of prudent investing. Married with two sons, Brad is active in his Huntington Beach, CA community where he enjoys kite sailing, bicycling and contributing his spare time to chair positions for "The Relay for Life" to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local Phone: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048

Email: brad@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Tina Westman
949-428-0444
tina@ifa.com



Venkat Yarlagadda

AIF®
Investment Advisor Representative

My name is Venkat Yarlagadda. I am an Investment Advisor Representative (Sereies 65) with Index Funds Advisors (ifa.com). I am a seasoned financial professional committed to delivering superior investment advice based on financial science. I proudly provide customized and personalized investment advisory services to individuals, 401(k) plans, pensions, profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations and other business entities.

My clients benefit from my unwavering commitment to the following four essential Principles:

  1. I am deeply interested in what is important to you.
  2. I will invest the necessary time to understand your unique investment needs.
  3. I am an investment professional. If your needs are outside my scope of expertise, I will refer you to knowledgeable professionals who share my high standard of care.
  4. I will always seek the most effective solution for you.

With just a few moments of your time, I can share with you the strategies for how I can help you achieve a brighter financial future of higher risk adjusted returns - the result of an education in financial science.

Manhattan, New York Office

641 Lexington Ave, 15th Floor,
New York , NY-10022

Toll Free: 1-888-342-7026
Phone: 212-380-3044 / 201-222-5463
Cell : 212-380-6419
Fax : 201-751-1677

Email: venkat@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Tina Westman
949-428-0444
tina@ifa.com



Cheri Franklin
Investment Advisor Representative

Cheri Franklin is an Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65) and is located in IFA’s Irvine, California office. With more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Cheri applies a dedicated focus to offer customized retirement planning advisory services to a small select group of clients, including company 401(k) retirement plans and affluent private investors.

“By maintaining my focus on retirement solutions for companies and select individuals, I am able to deliver a high degree of personalized service that is required for clients to enjoy a rewarding investment experience. My goal is to ensure that my financial services team and I work in sync on behalf of my clients. In doing so, I can eliminate anxiety and confusion and facilitate the proper organization of the financial futures of those who matter most -- my clients and their valued employees.” - Cheri Franklin
  
Cheri lives with her husband and two Miniature Pinschers in Laguna Hills, California.

Corporate Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local: 949-502-0050
Direct: 949-428-0434
Fax: 949-502-0048

Email: cheri@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Judy Baba
949-428-0458
judy@ifa.com



Richard N. Neal

CFP®
Investment Advisor Representative

Richard N. (Dick) Neal manages IFA’s Texas Regional Office in Brenham, Texas.  Dick advises clients on risk-appropriate investments for long-term wealth management.   Prior to joining IFA, Dick spent 28 years in banking; 17 of those years as President of various banks and 13 years as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of a privately owned petrochemical marketing company in Houston, Texas. 

Dick has a particular interest in retirement plans, individual retirement planning and the financial lives of our senior citizens.  He is devoted to learning the unique needs of each client and to providing them with an individualized investment plan to achieve their personal financial goals.

Dick is a Certified Financial Planner, a Chartered Financial Consultant and a Chartered Advisor for Senior Living.  Additionally, Dick is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA degree in Banking and Finance.  He graduated from the South Texas College of Law in Houston with a Juris Doctor Degree.  He is a graduate of the Banking School of the South at LSU and is a Certified Commercial Lender.  Dick is an Investment Advisor Representative with a Series 65 license.   

Dick and his wife, Carolyn, live in Brenham, Texas and enjoy traveling the world.  They have three children with active careers as a chemical engineer, a dentist and a teacher specializing in early childhood development.  They have seven grandchildren. 


Texas Regional Office

303 E. Lubbock St.
Brenham, Texas 77833

Mail:
P.O. Box 360
Brenham, Texas 77834-0360

Corporate Office
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612

Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local: (979) 421 -9666
Fax: (979) 421-9966
Cell: (713) 501-1488

Email: dickneal@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com



Roberta Lazarz

CFP®, MBA, MSW
Investment Advisor Representative

Roberta Lazarz is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional with more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and nonprofit organizations. As the creator and author of a nationwide personal finance education website, Roberta is an expert in investment, retirement, and charitable planning. Roberta specializes in helping investors take control of their money by learning the fundamentals of academic-based investing and partnering with them to create and maintain their personalized long-term investment plans.

In addition to earning the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ License from the College for Financial Planning, Roberta earned a Master of Business Administration degree and Master of Social Work degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Roberta has also received four national and local awards for her community service and has served in leadership positions for many nonprofit organizations.

Corporate Office/Arizona Regional  Office

19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612


Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local:480-390-2825

Email: roberta@ifa.com

Advisor Assistant:
Judy Baba
949-428-0458
judy@ifa.com

 

Advisor Assistants


Martin Ortiz

Provides assistance for Gordon Shuler, Brendan Connelly, Dave Mertz, Richard Neal, Mary Brunson, IFC, and Solicitors

Direct: 949-428-0450
Email: martin@ifa.com


Anne Page

Provides assistance for Mark Hebner, Becky Vasquez, and Dan Solin.

Direct: 949-428-0438
Email: anne@ifa.com

Tina Westman

Provides assistance for Denise Delaney, Venkat Yarlagadda, and Brad von Grote.

Direct: 949-428-0444
Email: tina@ifa.com

Judy Baba

Provides assistance for Roberta Lazarz, Cheri Franklin.and operational and 401(k) department duties.

Direct: 949-428-0444
Email: judy@ifa.com


IFA's Standards for Conducting Business


IFA President, Mark Hebner, acquired a 1937 First Edition copy of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. This is an amazing book, with an estimated 60 million copies sold since 1937. This makes Think and Grow Rich the #20 best selling book of all books (the Bible is #1) and the #1 selling business book of all time.

When he opened the cover, he found a loose piece of paper, presumed to be owned by the businessman who originally bought this book. This typewriter created document from approximately 1937, spells out a timeless code of business ethics that resonated with the standards and policies Hebner instills in all IFA employees. IFA has adopted it as a policy of conduct and wanted to share it with you.

Circa 1937


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