John J. Kim is a senior advisor and managing partner of Giving Tree Wealth Advisors; an independent, fee-based Financial Advisory firm located in San Ramon, California.

 

He has over thirty years of experience as a specialist in Personal Finance and Management.  John is a graduate of University of California at Santa Barbara and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Biomolecular Science and a minor in Economics. Before co-founding Giving Tree, he founded one of the first independent, fee-based Financial Advisory firms in the Bay Area.

 

John began his early career in the Financial Advisory profession at Lehman Brothers and soon after graduating, he worked with major financial service companies Lincoln Financial, The Advisors Group, and finally with a partnership at California Financial Advisors before starting his own firm, Kim Financial Advisors, based on his two core beliefs that 1) clients should have an independent advisor relationship free of corporate “sales motives” that creates conflicts of interests and 2) advisor should be fee-based (vs. commission) to align clients and advisors together to focus on long term planning and strategies.

 

John is a local East Bay native and his family’s passions are world adventure travel and also golfing with his friends. Based on his belief that charity is one of three elements to finding happiness, he has served on many local charities, including The Korean Center, Moreau Catholic High School, Markie Foundation and he has made a personal pledge to donate 10% of his earnings to local charities.

 

His principal and perspectives about wealth management and client relationship are strongly based on redefining human needs and how wealth can provide a more meaningful experience through life by defining purpose and happiness.  He believes once you define and determine these variables, one can quantify these experiences and hence plan for them financially and accordingly.

 

With offices in both Northern and Southern California, the firm specializes in financial consulting for middle income to upper income individuals, families, and Estates who believe strongly in aligning real wealth with life’s purpose.