About

My Story

I didn't set out to start my own firm. I set out to do things the right way. The firm came later.

Before founding Pinkston Wealth, I spent five years inside the corporate retirement world, advising employers on institutional 401(k) structures and helping individual employees map out their financial futures. Over that time I built individualized retirement plans for hundreds of people. It was meaningful work, and I was good at it. But the longer I spent inside the broader financial industry, the harder it became to ignore how it's built.

Commissions make it easy to put the sale ahead of the client. Not always, and not everyone, but the incentive sits there in the room whether anyone names it or not. I didn't want to spend a career arguing with my own compensation. I wanted to build something where that tension doesn't exist in the first place.

Pinkston Wealth is that something. As a fully independent, fee-only fiduciary, I answer to no broker-dealer, no corporation, and no quota. Every recommendation I make starts and ends with one question. What is actually right for this person? For some families, it's making savings last through a long retirement. For others, it's preparing for a senior mission without financial regret.

Earning the CFP® certification was part of that same commitment. For me it wasn't about adding letters to a business card. It was a personal obligation to master every dimension of the craft. As a CFP® professional and an independent fiduciary, I'm held to a standard that puts your interests first by rule, not just by intention.