Meet Financial Planning's 7 Rising Stars of 2024

September 24, 2024 9:00 AM

Financial Planning is excited to announce its 2024 Rising Stars. This honor is awarded every year to financial professionals who are relatively new to the field (less than 10 years of experience) and have an impressive work ethic, a passion for service and a genuine dedication to advancing the industry.

The seven Rising Star winners for this year were selected from a large pool of nominations that included financial professionals from across the country. The winners are not only planners but also writers, founders, volunteers and thought leaders. Some started their careers straight out of college, while others embarked on different paths before pursuing wealth management. All are driven by a commitment to innovation and leadership.

Below, read more about Financial Planning's 2024 Rising Stars.

And be sure to check out the winners from previous years here: 2023, 2022, 2021.

Natalie Colley

Natalie Colley, partner and senior lead advisor at New York-based Francis Financial, grew up in a family that relied on others for money. That "fueled her passion for empowering other women to take control of their finances," according to Stacy Francis, CEO and partner at Francis Financial. As a CFP and CFDA, Colley specializes in helping women who have been divorced. She leads the firm's investment committee and works pro bono with women who have high financial need.

Originally trained as a chemical engineer, Colley worked at pharmaceutical manufacturing company Perrigo for seven years before deciding to pursue financial planning. She had always had a passion for finance — at age 19, she opened a Roth IRA and successfully convinced her roommate to do the same.

"Natalie goes above and beyond to mentor her peers when it comes to divorce financial planning," said Francis. Colley hosts educational sessions for fellow advisors on how to guide clients through financial difficulties that arise from divorce. In addition to her work at Francis Financial, she is a contributor at Forbes.com, and her financial expertise has been featured in outlets such as CNBC, MarketWatch, U.S. News and World Report and Financial Planning.

Jack Heintzelman

The son of entrepreneurs, Jack Heintzelman grew up hearing about the challenges of running a business during the recessions of the early 2000s and 2008. "While we constantly heard about these challenges, [my parents] never gave up. They cared deeply about providing for their employees, their customers and, most importantly, their family," he said.

Heintzelman decided to pursue financial planning as a career so that he could help other business owners grow their wealth and maintain their businesses. "I wake up each day excited about the impact I can have," he said.

Now a financial planner at Needham, Massachusetts-based Boston Wealth Strategies, Heintzelman is committed to making the practice "the firm of the future." At his firm, he helped create empowerEd, a financial wellness and literacy program designed for 401(k) companies and their employees. Heintzelman has both CFP and CPWA certifications and was selected to attend the G2 Leadership Institute, a two-year professional development program at the Ensemble Practice, to further his skills.

Dedicated to advancing the development of young financial professionals, Heintzelman is a leader of the FPA New England NextGen committee and a member of the local leader subcommittee of NextGen National. "I'm so excited about the future of this industry and the professionals that surround us," he said. His insights have been featured in several publications including CNBC, Bloomberg, InvestmentNews and Financial Planning.

Ben Henry-Moreland

Before he used his voice to advise clients, Ben Henry-Moreland was an opera singer. He earned his bachelor's degree in vocal performance, and in his 20s he performed throughout the United States and Europe.

Though the experience was fulfilling, it also taught him how difficult it can be to make a living as a freelance musician. After about five years, he switched tracks to become a financial analyst and then advisor, eventually founding his own RIA — Freelance Financial Planning, a virtual company based in Minneapolis. His niche? Helping other freelancers build their wealth.

"I hope to make it a little easier for freelancers who make a career out of their passion," Henry-Moreland wrote on his website. "Let's face it, it's already hard enough."

More recently, Henry-Moreland made another transition: from financial advice to writing about finance. He's now a full-time "senior financial planning nerd" at Kitces.com, where he writes columns about tech, taxes and laws affecting wealth management on the site founded by advisor and entrepreneur Michael Kitces.

"Ben Henry-Moreland is the next up-and-coming industry educator, writer and speaker," Kitces said. "He is already building a following as a recognized expert whose analysis and commentary impact the entire industry … a trajectory that perfectly epitomizes what it means to be a 'rising star' in financial planning!"

Autumn Knutson

Being a financial advisor is, in a sense, a form of teaching. Maybe that's why Autumn Knutson has taken to it so easily.

Knutson began her career as an educator, teaching at elementary schools and counseling at high schools. To achieve long-term security on a teacher's salary, she worked with a financial planner. To her surprise, this advisor showed Knutson she could take her money "even farther" than she had hoped.

Inspired by this experience, Knutson decided to become a wealth manager herself. She studied for — and earned — her CFP certification, and over just a few years she rose to become the lead planner at Facet Wealth in Baltimore. This year, she took the plunge and started her own firm: Styled Wealth in Jenks, Oklahoma. As she grows her business, she's using her educator's skill set to help clients achieve their financial dreams.

"Financial planning is not so different from teaching," Knutson said. "I help others understand knowledge, how it can help them toward their goals and what choices they need to make to have the outcomes they desire."

Danny Lohrfink

Estate planning is all about the future, and Danny Lohrfink is ready for it.

Lohrfink got his start at Goldman Sachs, where he was vice president of Private Wealth Management. But it was at his next job, at the personal finance company SoFi, that he noticed a problem: Most people focus far more on building their wealth than on how they'll pass it down.

To investigate this, Lohrfink organized a 10,000-person survey, which found that advice from financial planners was the single biggest motivator for people to write their estate plans. This got him thinking: What if there were an estate planning website not for investors, but for their financial advisors? This led Lohrfink to co-found Wealth.com, a platform that helps advisors build and update estate planning documents. And under his leadership, the company has introduced Ester, an AI bot that pulls key information from scanned trusts and wills and condenses it for advisors in just seconds. By embracing the technology of the future, Lohrfink is helping advisors prepare clients for theirs.

Christopher Stroup

Christopher Stroup studied petroleum engineering and worked as an engineer for Chevron for over three years before realizing he needed a change. Unable to be his authentic self in the oil and gas industry, Stroup pivoted to wealth management. Today Stroup is founder and president of Silicon Beach Financial, based in Santa Monica, California.

Stroup is highly involved in his community, devoting his career to helping LGBTQ+ clients set up robust financial futures. He has partnered with the nonprofit StartOut, which supports LGBTQ+ startup founders, to create a financial management education series, and he has sat on their panels regarding LGBTQ+ inclusion. In his previous role as a wealth advisor at Abacus Wealth Partners, he helped spearhead its Pride Month Pro Bono Financial Services, offering free 45-minute conversations about wealth management to LGBTQ+ clients.

READ MORE:

From petroleum to portfolios: How an FP Rising Star embraced authenticity in his career

Gennadiy Todd

As a child, Gennadiy Todd immigrated to the United States, fleeing political and economic unrest in the Soviet Union, now present-day Ukraine. He eventually went to school to become a physical therapist. Later, he decided to marry his interest in helping others to his passion for finance by becoming a financial planner. Todd is currently a financial planner at Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Hunt Valley Wealth.

Outside of work, Todd is involved in several volunteer organizations. With the nonprofit Creating Assets, Savings and Hope, he works with low- to moderate-income families in Baltimore and greater Maryland, speaking to young people interested in finance at the group's annual Money Power Day fitness fair. He also volunteers with the nonprofit Savvy Ladies, providing pro bono financial planning services to women as they improve their financial literacy. Todd's goal, to quote his nomination form, is to "educate and empower them to create a secure financial future for themselves and their loved ones."