Introducing Our Newest Financial Advisor Contributor Panel

We're excited to welcome a refreshed lineup of voices to the Trust & Will Financial Advisor Contributor Program for the second half of 2026. Since we launched this initiative, our panel has given readers a direct line into the client conversations happening every day in advisors' offices across the country, the questions families are asking, the moments that change a plan, and the insight that only comes from doing this work firsthand.

This cohort builds on that foundation. Four advisors are joining the panel for the first time, bringing new perspectives on estate planning within specific communities and life stages. Four familiar contributors are continuing their work with us, deepening the conversations they've already started.

Why This Program Matters

Estate planning conversations look different depending on who's sitting across the table. A newly married couple, a small business owner, an aging parent, a family navigating a life transition, each comes with a different starting point and a different set of questions. Our Contributor Panel exists to reflect that range. Every advisor on this panel works directly with clients, and every insight they share comes from real conversations, not theory.

Meet Our New Contributors

Julie Gawarecki brings over two decades of experience in estate, retirement, and legacy planning to Prestige Wealth Advisors in Brandon, South Dakota, where she personally walks clients through the Trust & Will platform during consultations and notarizes their final documents herself. She also hosts in-person estate planning education events in her community, giving neighbors a low-pressure way to start the conversation together. Julie recently married a fellow longtime motorcyclist she met on a group ride, blending their families in the process. Between the two of them, they now have five kids and two grandchildren, and after years of riding Harleys together (Julie's been to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 15 times), they've since traded the bikes in for a side-by-side.

Matthew Veland is a financial planner at Prudential in the Washington, DC area, where he's spent six and a half years building a practice focused on the Asian American community, with a particular concentration of physicians and small business owners. Matthew's mother immigrated from the Philippines in the late 1980s, and that background shapes how he approaches estate planning with clients who may be navigating unfamiliar territory. Many of his clients grew up with very different rules around inheritance than the ones that apply in the U.S.: concepts like forced heirship, which limits a parent's ability to disinherit a child, are common across parts of Asia but don't work the same way here, and Matthew regularly walks families through that gap.

Cost is often the biggest barrier Matthew sees to getting a plan in place, especially for first- and second-generation clients who came to the U.S. with little and learned to prioritize accordingly. He's watched clients delay for years over attorney fees that ran into the thousands, only to finally get it done once a more accessible path existed, sometimes prompting a sibling to do the same soon after. Matthew serves as the Immediate Past President of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Metro DC, was named a "Top 40 Under 40" honoree, and co-founded the nonprofit FilExcellence. He lives in the DC area with his wife, their young son, and their dog.

Lisa White Burns is the founder of Her Path, LLC, based outside Philadelphia, where she provides financial wellness and estate planning support for women navigating life transitions and financial uncertainty. Blending her own personal journey with more than 25 years of professional experience, Lisa helps women gain clarity, confidence, and control around their finances through simple, practical guidance.

David Wright Jr. is the founder and managing principal of WrightWay Legacy Services in Mobile, Alabama, where he's redefining how individuals and families engage with estate planning. Through an education-first approach, David simplifies complex planning concepts for his clients, with a particular focus on millennials and families building generational wealth. Outside the office, David is a martial artist who has trained in Muay Thai with some of Thailand's top practitioners.

Continuing the Conversation

Ryan Goldschmitt, founder, wealth advisor, and managing director of Geminus Wealth Partners, brings 17+ years of experience and a technology-first, systems-oriented approach to his practice. Ryan often uses Trust & Will as a bridge to engage his clients' adult children, extending the planning conversation across generations. Outside the office, Ryan has been vegan for nine years, and what started as a personal choice has turned into a genuine obsession with plant-based cooking. He says if wealth advising weren't his calling, he'd be running the ultimate vegan restaurant.

Suthipong "Bob" Chitrathorn, co-founder of Simplified Wealth Management, has spent over 20 years guiding clients through retirement, tax, insurance, and estate planning strategies in Southern California. Bob's parents immigrated from Thailand with almost nothing, and his passion for this work grew out of helping them navigate financial decisions of their own. He's since contributed to Success Manifesto alongside Brian Tracy, and lives with his wife, Brittany, and their rescue dog, Mazy.

Chitra Patel, founder and CEO of WealthWorth in Atlanta, Georgia, specializes in collaborative financial planning. A Certified Private Wealth Advisor®, she combines technical expertise with a passion for helping families achieve their financial aspirations, an approach that's become especially personal since her own parents recently moved into her neighborhood, putting her multigenerational planning philosophy into practice at home.

Al Faber, founder of DIWY Financial Planning, offers advice-only, hourly financial planning built on a "Do-It-With-You" philosophy. With over two decades of experience, Al focuses on making financial planning accessible to the mass-affluent market, an approach that mirrors the mission behind this panel itself. True to a practice built on flexibility, Al splits his time across four states, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Central Florida, and New York City, meeting clients wherever they are.

What's Ahead

Over the next six months, this panel will share the client stories, frameworks, and insights that don't always make it into a typical planning conversation, the kind that show up when an advisor is willing to ask the harder question, sit in the pause after it, and follow wherever the answer leads.

Estate planning works best when it reflects the person doing it. With eight advisors representing different communities, life stages, and approaches to the work, this panel is built to do exactly that.

Interested in partnering with Trust & Will to enhance your own clients' estate planning needs? Learn more about how you can join over 20,000 financial advisors and firms who are delivering peace of mind to their clients by offering a comprehensive estate planning solution. Sign up for your free advisor account today.

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