Brad Goldfarb

Brad was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Levittown, New York. His dad was a County worker, and his family lived paycheck to paycheck. They were also on welfare for a very short time. He held many jobs during his youth (starting at 12 years old) and throughout college. During his senior year of high school, he worked for Sears in Hicksville, Long Island as a janitor where, among his responsibilities, he cleaned the toilets nightly. Aside from Government aid and scholarships to help pay for college costs, he worked nights as a graphic artist for the yellow pages and during the day (when not in classes) he worked in the work-study program at the college. He graduated at the top of his class with a major in graphic arts & printing and earned multiple awards for outstanding scholastic achievements. His passion has always been music and is a huge Beatles fan. While in college, he was the music editor for the school newspaper. He worked with the press & artists relations department of some of the major record companies in New York City (where he went to school) to review and write about their recording artists. During his time at college, he amassed a few thousand record albums, went to countless concerts and backstage parties, and got to interview many of the musicians he grew up listening to and admired. He was also published in two national music magazines. Within months of graduating, he took a $3000 personal loan and opened a print shop with a close friend. For years, he worked in the printing and graphic arts industry, which he truly loved. Always looking to challenge himself, he earned his private pilot’s license in 1979. He also worked weekends as a snow ski instructor, which was how he met his wife, while maintaining his full-time job in graphic arts. He married in 1983, and by late 1984, he noticed major changes happening in the printing industry and knew he had to make a career change. While maintaining his full-time job in the printing industry, he went back to school at night to study for the various securities licenses needed to become a financial advisor. In early 1984 he was a volunteer for the Glen Oaks Volunteer Ambulance Corps in Queens New York, and studied at night to obtain certification as a New York State Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for the ambulance corps he volunteered for. He started his career in financial services in 1985 in Cedarhurst, New York, with one of the leading financial services firms in the United States. After relocating to South Florida in 1993, he moved to another major financial services firm in Boca Raton and, within a few years, earned the title of senior vice president. In 1996, he earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation through the Investments and Wealth Institute (previously known as the Investment Management Consultants Association or IMCA) and taught in conjunction with then prestigious Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania. Brad cold called four nights a week, did seminars, and wrote articles - anything to meet people that could become clients. It was through his dedication, hard work, perseverance, and tenacity that he built a million-dollar practice on his own. An early adopter of utilizing money managers on a fee-basis (1989), he became a qualified portfolio manager in 2009, overseeing five model portfolios he created and managed using ETF’s. During his career, Brad received awards for consulting services and has also been published numerous times. An advocate for professional money management, he has appeared a guest on radio and television many times during his career. During the financial meltdown and chaos of 2000-2002, he did work as an extra in movies and television filmed in the Miami area while maintaining his role as a financial advisor. He appeared very briefly as an extra in two movies: Fast and the Furious 2 and Bad Boys 2. In 2005, Brad was awarded a United States Trademark for his investment management process, Multidimensional Asset Planning (MAP), and in 2018, he became certified as a nonpublic arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA); a nonpublic arbitrator is an individual who works or has worked in the financial industry or who provided services to financial industry clients and is part of a selected panel to help resolve problems and disputes through the arbitration process. After 35 years as a successful financial advisor and mentor to many new advisors, Brad retired March 1, 2020, from his firm as a senior vice president and portfolio manager. He is an avid golfer (single digit handicap), enjoys tennis, pickle ball, and snow skiing (a former PSIA registered ski instructor), holds a private pilot’s license (inactive) and enjoys travel, nature and photography. He has been married since 1983 and has three children. Brad’s favorite saying is “Never forget who you were before you became who you are.”