Phillip F. Saunders
Associate Advisor, CFP®
MEET PHILLIP
“The best way to make money is by letting your money work for you.”
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Phillip joined the Joss Brown team in June of 2021. He graduated Suma Cum Laude from Virginia Tech, where he studied Financial Planning with a minor in Spanish Language. It was there that Phillip chose this profession. Being analytical in nature, Phillip desired a career where he could challenge his mind and serve others. He took an interest in the fee-only financial planning sector, after hearing an invited class speaker in his introductory Finance class sophomore year. Phillip was drawn to the purposeful work of fiduciary financial advisors as he realized that finances affect every aspect of an individual’s life.
Phillip enjoys every part of the financial planning process: from discovering the big picture of a client’s life to the small details of an investment portfolio analysis. He knows that it is these details that cause a client to succeed or fail in their endeavors. Phillip is great at understanding clients and discovering what makes them tick. However, he is at his best when he is communicating with clients through teaching financial concepts. He envisions financial plans as complex puzzles which must be examined from every angle to determine how each piece must fit to complete the whole. He believes that truly, one must understand their financial plan for it to be viable. He is drawn to the Life Planning concept, a program started by George Kinder, and hopes to become a Registered Life Planner in the future. Phillip has successfully passed both the Series 65 and the CFP® exam and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.
“A financial plan doesn’t consist of any one piece of a client’s life. Rather, it is an integral process by which many parts must assemble.”
Phillip hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Nelson County. He grew up on a peach and apple orchard, where he learned the value of hard work from an early age. After high school, he took a gap year to serve the Future Farmers of America in Virginia as a state representative before studying Finance at Virginia Tech. At his alma mater, Phillip was involved in the Christian fellowship Chi Alpha as well as the Financial Planning Association of Virginia Tech. When Phillip is not serving clients in the office, he enjoys fishing and hunting as well as adventure sports.