Joel J. Garris, CFP®

Joel J. Garris is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nelson Financial Planning, Inc. and Nelson Investment Planning Services, Inc. Mr. Garris joined the firm on December 5, 1999. Mr. Garris 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, Mr. Garris also provides successful strategies to reduce both income and estate taxes.​

Prior to joining NIPS, Mr. Garris 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® Professional, Certified Financial Fiduciary™ 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 has served as the Treasurer of the Delaney Park Neighborhood Association and an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 24 chartered by First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. He has also 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 WFLA 93.1FM/540 AM.  The show is also available on its own YouTube channel and on a wide range of podcast platforms where it has been named one of the Top 25 financial planning podcasts on the world wide web.  Previously, Mr. Garris was the host of “Moneywise”, a financial call-in talk show on WORL 660 AM, for five years. Mr. Garris 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. Mrs. Garris 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 is a graduate from Auburn University, Ethan attends the University of Virginia, and Connor attends Northeastern University.  In his free time Joel enjoys running, fishing, traveling and boating. ​