Life & Wealth Advisors

What Life & Wealth Advisors does

Life&Wealth® Advisors, Inc. is a privately held, fee-based financial advisory firm headquartered at 1399 Ygnacio Valley Blvd, Suite 29, Walnut Creek, California. Founded in 1994 by Gary P. Gardner, the firm serves independent professionals and family business leaders, offering integrated financial planning across business, retirement, and estate planning. Its core advisory methodology is delivered through three branded service tracks — The One Plan™ for Business Planning, The One Plan™ for Retirement Planning, and The One Plan™ for Estate Planning — each initiated through a free, no-obligation one-hour consultation that produces a one-page plan identifying key issues, obstacles, and next steps. The firm's intellectual property is anchored by the LEAP™ (Life Event Assessment Process) methodology and the Life Event Prioritizer™ tool, both of which systematize planning for major life transitions such as sale of a business, retirement, or death of a loved one.

The firm operates with a team of three — President Gary P. Gardner (CFP® and Certified Financial Transitionist CeFT™), Janice Kelso as Director of Client Operations, and Casey Blair as Financial Planner (Columbia-trained, 30+ years of options-trading experience). Gardner functions as an Investment Adviser Representative of OneAscent Financial Services, LLC, providing the regulatory and custodial platform through which the firm delivers investment advisory services. Client account access is provided through an Orion Advisor client portal integration; no proprietary technology platform, AI/ML capability, or mobile application is disclosed.

The business model is professional services revenue generated through fee-based advisory engagements sourced primarily via direct, relationship-led outreach. The go-to-market emphasizes concierge-level client experience, fiduciary ethics, and multi-year client retention. Marketing is supported by educational blog content and a library of third-party financial calculators (provided via calcxml and FINRA). The firm is regionally focused on California, with no disclosed international operations, institutional or enterprise clients, partnership network beyond the OneAscent RIA affiliation, or external funding.

Name

Life & Wealth Advisors

Legal name

Life&Wealth® Advisors, Inc.

Website

https://lwadvice.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Life&Wealth® Advisors is a Walnut Creek, California-based, fee-only financial advisory firm founded in 1994 that provides integrated business, retirement, and estate planning for independent professionals and family business leaders using its proprietary LEAP™ and The One Plan™ methodologies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Advisory Services

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities (523991)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Business Owner & Executive Financial Planning (FSAEAAAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Financial Planning–Led RIAs (FSAAACAB), Estate & Legacy Planning Advisory (FSAEAAAG), Retirement & Pension Wealth (401(k)/IRA/SIPP/Superannuation Retail) (FSAAAAAJ)

Keywords

• Financial planning services
• Wealth advisory
• Retirement planning
• Estate planning
• Business planning advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Walnut Creek

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Financial Advisory Services: Fee-based financial planning and wealth management services for independent professionals and family business leaders. Services include business planning, retirement planning, and estate planning through The One Plan methodology and ongoing advisory relationship.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Life & Wealth Advisors provides fee-based financial planning and wealth management advisory services to independent professionals and family business leaders. Its core offering is The One Plan™, a one-page planning methodology delivered through three specialized tracks: business planning, retirement planning, and estate planning, paired with the proprietary LEAP™ (Life Event Assessment Process) for navigating life transitions. The firm operates as a registered investment adviser under OneAscent Financial Services, LLC and uses the Orion Advisor platform for ongoing client account management.

Product overview

Life & Wealth Advisors offers a suite of financial advisory services centered around their proprietary methodology. The core offering is The One Plan™ — a unified advisory framework delivered through three specialized tracks: Business Planning, Retirement Planning, and Estate Planning. This is supported by their LEAP™ (Life Event Assessment Process™) methodology and Life Event Prioritizer™ tool, which help clients systematically plan for and navigate life transitions. The firm also provides a library of financial calculators as supplementary tools. The ecosystem integrates with Orion Advisor for client account management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The One Plan™: A one-hour planning session that provides a no-obligation one-page plan identifying key issues, obstacles, and next steps for clients.
• LEAP™ (Life Event Assessment Process™)
• Life Event Prioritizer™

Products and services

• The One Plan™ for Business Planning A business planning service that delivers a one-page plan identifying key issues, obstacles, and next steps through a free one-hour consultation with Gary Gardner, targeted at independent professionals and family business leaders.
• The One Plan™ for Retirement Planning A retirement planning service that helps clients identify goals and obstacles through a free one-hour consultation, producing actionable next steps toward retirement readiness.
• The One Plan™ for Estate Planning An estate planning service using a ten-minute sprint approach to focus clients on key questions and produce actionable estate planning next steps.
• LEAP™ (Life Event Assessment Process™) A proprietary systematic methodology that helps clients discover requirements for success and plan for life events—both anticipated and unexpected—through a structured life-event planning process.
• Life Event Prioritizer™ A trademarked tool that helps clients distinguish between planning and preparing for life events by determining each event's importance across timing, impact, and repercussions.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OneAscent Financial Services, LLCcoreOthersGary P. Gardner is an Investment Adviser Representative of OneAscent Financial Services, LLC. This is a regulatory/employment relationship where Gary operates as a registered investment adviser under the OneAscent platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• OneAscent Financial Services: The RIA platform under which Gary Gardner operates as an Investment Adviser Representative; provides compliance, custody, and back-office support to independent advisor practices serving similar financial planning and wealth management clientele.
• Aspiriant: Independent, fee-only RIA built around comprehensive financial planning for high-net-worth individuals, families, and business owners — similar planning-led, fiduciary boutique with comparable target clientele.
• Halbert Hargrove: Long-standing, privately-held California-based RIA that serves business owners, executives, and families with comprehensive financial planning and wealth management — a directly comparable boutique fiduciary practice with similar persona focus and high-touch service model.
• The Colony Group: Wealth management and financial advisory firm focused on business owners, executives, and multi-generational families, offering integrated business, retirement, and estate planning — closely aligned with Life&Wealth's persona and service mix.
• Plancorp: Boutique RIA providing comprehensive financial planning and investment management primarily to business owners and entrepreneurs; directly comparable in scale, persona focus, and holistic planning-led service model.

Broad incumbents

• Edelman Financial Engines: Largest independent RIA in the U.S., providing financial planning and investment management to individuals and corporate employees; serves overlapping financial-planning needs but at much greater scale and with broader, technology-enabled delivery.
• Carson Group: National RIA partnership platform supporting independent financial advisors with compliance, technology, and investment resources; overlaps with Life&Wealth's planning-led model but operates at vastly greater scale and partnership scope.
• Buckingham Strategic Wealth: National fee-only RIA combining financial planning, investment management, and tax services for individuals and business owners; broader scale and platform than Life&Wealth but overlapping planning-led, fiduciary model.
• Focus Financial Partners: Wealth management partnership platform aggregating fiduciary RIAs that serve high-net-worth individuals and business owners; comparable at the customer and service-model level though operating as a multi-firm platform rather than a single boutique practice.
• Creative Planning: Large, nationally-scaled fee-only RIA offering comprehensive financial planning, investment, tax, and estate services to business owners and high-net-worth individuals; broader portfolio and footprint but serves the same core persona.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Life & Wealth Advisors