Meet Dr. Christopher St. John | Carolina Wealth Advisors | Financial Planner Nearby

Christopher St. John, PhD

Christopher St. John, PhD

Christopher
St. John, PhD

CFP®, ChFC©, CASL™, CLU®, RICP®, CDFA™, EA, CFE, AEP®, CAP®, ABFP℠

Christopher St. John began his career in the financial services industry in 1999. Chris graduated with his Bachelor's degree in both Accounting and Finance, as well as his MBA from Coastal Carolina University. Chris also earned his Master of Science in Financial Services and his Doctor of Philosophy in Financial and Retirement Planning from The American College. Chris holds several professional certifications, including: CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Chartered Financial Consultant®, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™, Chartered Advisor for Senior Living™, Chartered Life Underwriter®, Certified Fraud Examiner, Accredited Estate Planner®, Chartered Advisor of Philanthropy, Retirement Income Certified Professional®, Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional℠, and, he is an Enrolled Agent.

Christopher's passion for helping people and his thirst for knowledge have allowed him to bring forth additional dimensions of value to his clients. In conjunction to working intimately with clients, he continuously strives to promote and maintain the integrity of the financial services industry through various manners. He also contributes to his community in several ways, such as his volunteer work as a financial expert on various local news stations, and he has provided key input to state legislators in hopes of providing potential economic alternatives relating to Social Security reform. Additionally, he is a former professor at Horry Georgetown Technical College and previously served on the Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc.'s Strategic Advisory Council. Currently, Christopher serves on the finance committee of his church and is also actively involved with Coastal Carolina University serving on several boards, including: Vice Chair of The Coastal Education Foundation, The Wall College Board of Visitors, and the Chair of Chanticleer Athletic Foundation. Christopher also enjoys spending time with his family, playing basketball, golf, and the guitar, and going fishing. He has four children: Rachel, Patrick, Connor, and Morgan, and he is married to his long-time sweetheart, Heather.

The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, (CFP®) mark identifies individuals who are devoted to a high level of professionalism in providing financial planning advice. Much more then an educational designation, the CFP® certification is a professional certification that helps to set apart those serious about a career in financial planning. Certification requirements include initial and ongoing education, examination, experience, and ethics components. Mr. St. John pursued this professional designation because of the importance of offering his clients the highest level of knowledge and professionalism that someone in the financial industry can provide. The rigorous standards surrounding the CFP certification exemplify Chris’s level of dedication and passion for his profession.

The Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) program focuses on the complete financial planning process as an organized way to collect and analyze information on a client’s total financial situation. ChFCs can identify and establish specific financial goals and then formulate, implement and monitor a comprehensive plan to achieve those goals. Individuals who earn a ChFC® can provide expert advice on a broad range of financial topics including financial planning, wealth accumulation and estate planning, income taxation, life and health insurance, business taxation and planning, investments and retirement planning.

A Chartered Advisor for Senior Living™ (CASL™) is a financial services professional who is qualified to work with mature clients in preparing for retirement specializing in areas of pension funds such as 401k’s, 403b’s, IRA’s, Social Security, planning for long-term healthcare needs, developing estate planning strategies, and helping with life course transitional phases including family relationships and living arrangements.

The Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) when earned demonstrates the financial professional’s expertise in areas of life insurance and estate planning. Individuals who earn a CLU® can provide expert advice on a broad range of financial topics including protection of family current and future income, determine appropriate levels of risk to assume, and can help better manage personal, corporate, and estate taxes.

The Retirement Income Certified Professional® (RICP®) program provides financial professionals with the knowledge to become experts in today's growing retirement planning market seeking to specialize in the retirement income planning field. The accredited RICP® designation empowers individuals with skills needed to build sustainable, holistic retirement plans, delivering unbeatable value for their clients and becoming a sought-after counselor with valuable, and valued, expertise. Those who earn the RICP® designation can provide insight on a vast range of specialties, including estate planning techniques, portfolio assessment, personal finance best practices, health expense budget creation, home equity strategies, and more.

As a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ (CDFA™) Chris can help clients along with their attorneys to better understand how financial decisions made today can impact the clients’ financial future by addressing topics such as: properties, debts, retirement assets, tax issues, businesses, insurance, and income and expenses by completing a thorough analysis of both the short-term and long-term financial effects.

An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a person who has earned the privilege of preparing and filing of tax documents, representing taxpayers before the IRS and communicating with the IRS.

Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) have the ability to: Examine data and records to detect and trace fraudulent transactions; interview suspects to obtain information and confessions; write investigation reports, advise clients as to their findings and testify at trial; be well-versed in the law as it relates to fraud and fraud investigations; and understand the underlying factors that motivate individuals to commit fraud.

The Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) designation is a graduate level specialization in estate planning, obtained in addition to already recognized professional credentials within the various disciplines of estate planning. The AEP® designation is available to attorneys (JD), Chartered Life Underwriters® (CLU®), Certified Public Accountants (CPA), Certified Financial Planners™ (CFP®), Chartered Financial Consultants® (ChFC®), and Certified Trust and Financial Advisors (CTFA). It is awarded by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC) to recognize estate planning professionals who meet stringent requirements of experience, knowledge, education, professional reputation, and character. An AEP® designation holder must embrace the team concept of estate planning and adhere to the NAEPC Code of Ethics.

The Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) provides you with the knowledge and tools you need to help clients articulate and advance their highest aspirations for self, family, and society. CAP® holders become members of a growing network of top planners who are working to make our towns and cities better places to live for generations to come. Courses provide an insight into the process of philanthropic planning, including, but not limited to, tax, tools and techniques.

The Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional℠ (ABFP℠) certification program is a unique graduate-level program for advanced financial planners. Blending classic foundational theory with academic experiments and real-life situations, students will learn to recognize and mitigate client financial behaviors. The ABFP℠ program explores the field of behavioral finance: the study of psychological explanations for economic behavior exhibited by individuals, institutions, and nations. Behavioral science is an interdisciplinary body of knowledge with strong ties to the social sciences - psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science. The role of the scientific method in understanding and applying knowledge regarding topic areas provide the foundation for further exploration. This course is devoted to understanding the nature and role of psychological biases, heuristics, and emotions in influencing financial decision-making under uncertainty. Areas of decision-making behavior that will be thoroughly explored include economic theory, psychological perspectives, and applications to investments or lifetime retirement planning cash flows. This course provides financial advisors and investment professionals with the foundational knowledge of behavioral finance history, definitions, trends, and portfolio construction principles, and best practices for integrating behavioral finance theories into real-life situations.