John Seitzer (CFA, CFP®, CPA, MBA)

John Seitzer focuses in the
following client markets or areas of practice:

Alternative or Private Investments

Charitable Giving

High Net Worth Client Needs

Investment Advice with Ongoing Management

Retirement Planning & Distribution Rules

Tax Planning

Planning Specialties

Trust is the foundation for a successful financial advisory relationship and John believes trust will only be awarded to advisors that demonstrate both strength of character and competency, as demonstrated by education, experience, and credentials. Proficiency, Objectivity, and Integrity are key tenets of our firm.

After seeing the need for independent advisors with extensive investment experience, John founded Everest Wealth Management to pursue his passion of helping individuals achieve their financial goals. John has worked in the financial industry since 1989, including over 11 years as Vice President and Portfolio Manager for a leading mutual fund company. Prior to this, he was Senior Tax Specialist with a large, international accounting firm.

John graduated magna cum laude from Kansas State University with a dual major in finance and accounting. Additionally, he obtained his MBA from Indiana University with an emphasis in finance and investments; he graduated in the top 10% of his class.

In addition to extensive experience and education, John has achieved the following designations:

Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
Certified Public Accountant (CPA; allowed license to expire)

John has been recognized in a wide range of publications, including Money Magazine, Newsweek, Kiplinger's, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal. John lives in Leawood, Kansas with his wife and four children. He enjoys weightlifting, coaching youth sports and reading and is actively involved at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church.

Additional Information

Most clients hire us for our investment management services, but over time many realize significant value from other wealth management services that are covered by the investment management fee. Examples of other services include tax planning, estate planning, retirement planning, tax-effective charitable giving, etc. We also interface with our clients’ other advisors including tax professionals and estate attorneys for a team-based approach.

We believe our investment management approach is fairly unique in the advisory world. We believe in more active asset allocation and do not simply hit a rebalance button periodically to return to 60% stocks and 40% bonds. We apply a contrarian/value approach when managing clients’ portfolios, which is probably best articulated by Warren Buffet, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” As contrarians, we are effectively going against the herd. This approach makes perfect sense to most rational people, but most are not able to execute the strategy in the heat of the moment, when emotions take over. It’s lonely outside the herd, but applying a disciplined contrarian approach is more rewarding over time.

Some advisors profess that buy-and-hold is the most rational approach to dealing with fear and greed; a better approach for sure than chasing performance, but not one that optimizes one’s portfolio from a risk and reward standpoint. In other words, when stock prices are high and therefore more risky, the buy-and-hold portfolio’s exposure is the same to them as when stock prices are low and less risky.

Our approach, consistent with the Buffet quote earlier, is to take advantage of collective market human emotions driving stock prices way above fair value and way below fair value. Buy when others are fearful and sell when others are greedy.