LEVERAGED SOLUTIONS - Key Persons

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Harold Sanes, a 46-year veteran in the insurance and estate-planning business, is Matthew's father and business partner. His grandfather, William Sanes, is now retired at 91. Matthew himself has over ten years of experience in the financial industry, and holds a bachelor's degree in management with an emphasis in finance from Florida Atlantic University. Unlike many other degreed professionals who started out at big brokerage firms, Matthew began his career working for a national wholesaler. "Instead of pushing products to meet sales quotas, I was able to learn about the investment architecture underlying various financial products. I observed how the most successful financial advisors met their clients' needs, and how less successful advisors didn't. I often tell people that my choice to work for a wholesaler instead of Wall Street took my career from 0 to 160 miles per hour in record time; I have experience that would have taken me several decades to acquire otherwise," Sanes says. He directs his two firms to use state-of-the-art financial planning tools which analyze more than historic performance when they design clients' portfolios. "We can't control returns, but we can control fees-and minimizing expenses can lead to much higher client returns in the long run," says Matthew. They pride themselves on attention to detail and delivering investment recommendations based on a universe of options not specific to one firm. He says, "We deliberately chose to be independent advisor representatives so we could give unbiased advice." Matthew is married to his college sweetheart, Jennifer Sanes, who is a CPA and works as chief financial officer for a large property and casualty insurance company. For fun, he plays and teaches tournament poker, which challenges both his math and strategy skills. "I have a passion for poker because it's like a game of chess, except you can't see the opponents' moves until the very end," he says. Ask Leveraged Solutions Principal Harold Sanes about himself and he immediately starts talking about the Sanes' three generations of financial professionals. "My father Bill Sanes, who is retired now after 50+ years in the industry, was a hard-working, disciplined man-and my role model. My son Matthew Sanes has all of our talents and skills multiplied three times over," says Harold Sanes. about himself and he immediately starts talking about the Sanes' three generations of financial professionals. "My father Bill Sanes, who is retired now after 50+ years in the industry, was a hard-working, disciplined man-and my role model. My son Matthew Sanes has all of our talents and skills multiplied three times over," says Harold Sanes. Harold has been in the financial services industry for 46 years. He originally set out to be an attorney, but instead took up his father's invitation to join his successful business in Miami-a decision he's never regretted. So rather than practicing law, Harold began his career in financial services in Florida working for his father, literally starting out in the mailroom. He learned all the technical aspects of insurance and financial planning from one of his dad's most brilliant agents. "We ran a traditional mom-and-pop insurance agency, meeting with clients over their kitchen tables at night. After a few years in the business I decided to do things differently. I think like an attorney; my talent, if you will, is the ability to digest complex concepts quickly and boil them down into plain, understandable terms. I developed specialized expertise in estate planning strategies and helped other financial professionals with this aspect of their client presentations all over the country, working out of our offices in South Florida and Chicago" said Harold Sanes. "At one point in my career, I did something else which was completely unique at the time: I became one of the leading fee-only insurance and estate planners in the country providing clients with consumer-friendly, no-load insurance products to help them achieve their financial goals," he said. What Harold focuses on now is providing clients with "sleep-well-at-night" retirement income strategies that are designed to last a lifetime. He accomplishes this by teaching people about Social Security claiming methods and the most efficient way to partner them with planning that will cover their lifestyle expenses regardless of economic conditions. He loves teaching and is the main speaker at Leveraged Solutions' popular seminars. "Whether I'm speaking to 50 or 1,000 people, I have a lot to share from my real experiences with clients. I've seen people's lives truly changed for the better through multiple generations. It has been a very gratifying career," says Harold. Harold celebrated his 35 th wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day with the love of his life, Mary. He spends a lot of time with Matthew and his wife Jennifer, and his parents, Bill and Fran, both 91, who live close by. Thanks to Mary's inspiration, he makes sure to stay fit by working out early every morning, still weighing what he did in high school. Harold says, "I love spending time with my family, but I can't imagine not working. Running the company with my son Matthew is an absolute joy. I recognize that I am a very lucky man."

Matthew Sanes is a third-generation financial professional whose personal mission dovetails perfectly with the two firms he runs. "I'm dedicated to serving underserved communities," Matthew says. "We created Wealth Innovations to help young professionals, who often aren't given adequate attention because people in their 30s and 40s are considered ‘less profitable'. Conversely, we established Leveraged Solutions to help people 50+-retirees and pre-retirees-who are often ‘sold' on high-fee investment products. Every single client, whether older or younger, wealthy or not, deserves an overarching plan delivered with our full focus, expertise and impartial advice," says Sanes.