My Story

How did a Dentist become a Financial Planner??
For almost 20 years, I practiced Dentistry. It was a great career in a thriving practice and I miss many aspects of it. In 1999, life threw me a curveball in the form of ruptured disks in my neck that ended my ability to practice dentistry. This could have been catastrophic, but instead it has turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Without intending to, I’d been preparing for this career change for a long time. Dentists are the target of all sorts of “financial advisors.” It seemed like every stock broker and insurance agent was trying to sell me something. As I did the research, more often than not, the products were inappropriate. Sometimes, they were downright awful. The more that I was offered poor advice, the more I learned how the financial industry operated, and the more I studied financial and investment planning in order to do it myself. Eventually, friends and family were coming to me for financial advice. Even investment/financial professionals were questioning me. For fun, I decided to take the CFP course. As I was finishing up 2 years of study and was about to sit for the two-day CFP board exam, the ruptured disks reared their ugly head and I could no longer practice Dentistry.

The good news was that I had done great planning for myself; my disability insurance meant I didn’t need to work. The bad news is that sitting at home was no fun. So rather than consult/manage dental offices, work for a dental insurance company, or teach in a dental school, I went to work as a financial planner. First I worked for a Goldman Sachs subsidiary (Ayco). Now I'm with with Robert Hockett, Carleton Moten, and Neil Mahoney at Cambridge Southern Financial Advisors. Robert, who was formerly my private banker, and was one of the few financial industry people to give me decent advise (Cambridge Southern Financial Advisors).

I was born in The Bronx, NY and raised Lakewood, NJ. I've been a resident of Metro Atlanta since attending Emory University in 1973. I'm proud to say that I've been married for over 25 years to the former Beverley Szeftel. Beverley, an Emory grad, was a CPA but is now a Real Estate Broker. Our son, Adam, is a senior at the University of Arizona (Tucson). Joelle, our lovely daughter, is a freshman at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill).

If you're interested in my formal qualificatons, checkout my profile at Cambridge Southern Financial Advisors.