Fiduciary Advisor, and the owner of BrightTree Financial Group. I am known by my clients as the “Go to” when it comes to achieving objectives.
Current Life
I have lived on Oahu for almost 30 years with my wife Shigemi. We have two adult children, Alex and Shiori, both born and raised on Oahu. Alex graduated MIT and is currently pursuing a PHD in Medical Physics while working for Massachusetts General Hospital in the Medical Physics Department. Shiori is graduating from Syracuse University’s School of Architecture this May and will attend UC Berkeley for her Master of City Planning degree this fall.
Background
My education includes graduating from the Naval Air Training Center as a FAA Air Traffic Controller, as well as holding designations from The American College. I currently hold the CLU® (Chartered Life Underwriter) and CAP® (Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy) designations along with the Series 65 & 63. I do not hold a formal degree from a college or university.
From my time as an Air Traffic Controller, I learned what it truly meant to have people’s lives in my hands and to see the bigger picture of how things must fit together with precision to get them safely to their destination.
My primary objective is to use the principles and disciplined learned in Air Traffic Control to develop systems to drive alpha in my client’s investment portfolios. The strategy used is the Rapid Retire® Financial Planning & Investment system, created in 2017 and registered in 2019 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The strategy is based on a combination of the Flooring Technique, Bucket Strategy, and sector rotation strategies. Rapid Retire® consist of three components; Cash Flow Management, Cash Reserve Systems, & Income Generation (investment growth liquidation). Each individual client receives a risk assessment and goals evaluation prior to implementing the strategy.
Our investments include (but are not limited to) stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and REITS. Risks are reduced using the fiduciary approach to investing as part of the Rapid Retire® Financial Planning Process.
Flooring Technique
Flooring is classifying expenses as essential or discretionary. Low-risk investments or annuity guarantees are used to fund essential expenses. A mix of medium and high-risk investments are selected to fund discretionary expenses. Income is drawn from the respective pools to cover essential and discretionary expenses. By annuitizing a portion of the portfolio to pay for everyday expenses, a fixed income is created to simulate a defined-benefit pension plan.
Bucket Strategy
The Bucket Strategy consists of setting up separate pools of investments with lowest-risk investments in the short-term bucket, higher-risk investments in the intermediate bucket, and the riskiest portfolio (highest reward) in the long-term bucket. Income is drawn from the short-term bucket, and when those assets are depleted, they are replaced with funds from the long-term and intermediate buckets creating the cascade effect.
Time periods and return objectives are as follows:
Short-Term: 1-5 Years w/5% return objective
Intermediate: 6-10 Years w/10% return objective
Long Term: 11-20 Years w/15% return objective
This strategy was successful in weathering the market disruption of 2020 caused by the Coronavirus and is currently working well to limit downside losses in the first quarter of 2022. Each individual client is unique in nature and the strategy can be tailored to fit any specific goals or objectives.
Forward Vision
In an ever-changing environment, consistency and mindfulness are the premier qualities needed to deliver. It is my primary objective to provide the best results possible to every client indiscriminately to help them Dream – Plan – Accomplish!™