About Joel Garris, CEO

The entire contents of this series were personally written solely by Joel J. Garris, J.D., CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and President and CEO of Nelson Financial Planning.

Started in 1984 by Jack Nelson as Nelson Investment Planning Services, today we remain a fully independent and family owned and operated firm. We only recommend actively managed investments that we own personally. Our retirement income and investment approach is based on our over 30 years of experience with what really works overtime.

Joel specializes in bringing all the various parts of an individual’s finances into focus. His areas of expertise include retirement income planning, cash flow planning, retirement planning, tax planning and estate planning. He recommends effective solutions for efficiently managing cash to meet all needs and develops plans to properly provide retirement income. In addition, Joel also provides successful strategies to reduce both income and estate taxes.

Prior to joining Nelson Financial Planning, Joel was a securities law attorney at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, a large multi-practiced firm with more than 400 attorneys in Washington, DC. He specialized in initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and debt financing for a wide array of corporate clients, including Fortune 500 companies. Prior to becoming an attorney, he worked as an engineer at Central Maine Power Company.

Joel is a Certified Financial Planner™ and a member of the Massachusetts and Washington, DC bar. He holds various securities licenses including, Series 7 – General Securities Representative, Series 24 – General Securities Principal, Series 27/28 – Financial and Operations Principal and Series 51 – Municipal Fund Securities Principal.

Joel is the Treasurer of the Delaney Park Neighborhood Association and serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 24 chartered by First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. He has served as a youth sports coach on numerous occasions for Delaney Park Little League, Association of Christian Youth Sports, YMCA and Upward. He is also a member of various organizations, including Mensa, and has been a volunteer for Literacy Volunteers of America and the Veterans’ Administration.

Joel is the current host of Central Florida’s longest running radio show, which was started in 1984 by Jack Nelson. “Dollars and Sense” is heard live from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM every Sunday on Newsradio 102.5 WFLA and 540 AM. Previously, Joel was the host of “Moneywise”, a financial call-in talk show on WORL 660 AM, for five years. Joel also taught a personal enrichment class entitled “Analyzing and

Solving Life’s Financial Matters” through Orange County Public Schools.

Joel married Stephanie Nelson on February 13, 1999. Stephanie is the Executive Director of Grace Medical Home and previously served as the Executive Director of the Orlando Metro Area for the American Cancer Society. She is also a past President of the Junior League of Greater Orlando. They have three sons: Nelson, Ethan and Connor Garris who attend Boone High School and The Christ School in downtown Orlando.

Where indicated, market data and performance represents past performance which is no guarantee of future results. Individual results may vary and values do fluctuate in any investment. This booklet contains our most current understanding of the Florida Retirement System and U.S. tax laws as of October, 2016. This booklet is intended to detail complicated retirement topics but is not a complete discussion as each individual’s situation is different and various exceptions exist. Nelson Financial Planning offers securities through Nelson Ivest Brokerage Services, Inc., a member of FINRA/SIPC. Please note that the information provided in this document has not been approved or endorsed by the State of Florida or the Florida Retirement System.