Robert Stowe

Most STEM professionals and educators approaching retirement do not need someone to manage their money for a percentage every year. They need a clear plan for turning decades of saving into reliable retirement income, a professional to pressure-test it, and the ability to keep full control of their own accounts.

My credentials include the Series 65 (the Uniform Investment Adviser Law qualification behind registered investment advisers) and the Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS®) designation from the College for Financial Planning, with coursework across investments, insurance, tax, retirement, and estate planning. I bring that training to a single task, helping you build a plan you understand and can run yourself. You keep custody of every account. I provide the analysis and the teaching.

SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

My work in fintech engineering spans more than fifteen years as a software architect and engineering leader building the platforms that move institutional money, systems used by many of the largest financial and insurance firms in North America for payment settlement, liquidity forecasting, and fraud detection across terabytes of transactions. That world runs on SOC 2 Type II controls, the same controls-and-evidence discipline the financial industry uses to prove it can be trusted, and I bring it to your plan with thorough research upfront, an adaptable design, iterative improvements that do not break what already works, and rigorous validation at every step. Evidence over intuition. You should be able to see the reasoning behind every recommendation and trace exactly how it fits your situation.

UNCONFLICTED, ADVICE-ONLY STRUCTURE

Foxholm Financial operates under a strict fiduciary standard, advice-only and commission-free. I do not sell products, I do not take custody of your assets, and I am not paid a percentage of what you have saved. On a $1.5 million portfolio, a typical 1% management fee costs $15,000 every year. You pay once for the plan and keep your assets. Removing that conflict leaves me with one role: a loyal educator and technical resource focused entirely on your outcomes.

SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE

I focus on STEM professionals and educators in the years right before and after retirement, the stretch where the decisions get harder and the cost of a mistake grows. These are the engagements I take on most often.

Retirement Income and Distribution Planning: Building a withdrawal roadmap that coordinates Roth conversion sequencing, Social Security timing, and the income thresholds that trigger Medicare surcharges (IRMAA), so your savings last and your tax bill stays predictable.

Educator and Public-Sector Planning: Helping teachers and professors escape high-fee 403(b) and 457(b) annuities, weigh pension elections, and plan Social Security after the 2025 repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset.

Validation and Peer Review: Flexible, hourly consulting for analytical do-it-yourself investors who want a technical second opinion before they act, not someone to take over.

Portfolio Diagnostics: Reviewing asset allocations for redundancy, expense drag, and hidden volatility, including the constrained fund menus inside 401(k), 403(b), and 529 accounts.

Rules-Based Strategy: Authoring Investment Policy Statements that put your asset allocation and withdrawal rules in writing, so decisions are made by design rather than in the moment.

Concentrated Equity Compensation: For those carrying employer stock into retirement, modeling the tax consequences of restricted stock units and incentive stock options to clarify the trade-off between holding and diversifying.

EDUCATION AND INVESTOR GROWTH

My formal training combines technology and education, a Bachelor's in Information Technology and a Master's in Educational Technology focused on how adults and professionals learn, not classroom teaching. That pairing shapes how I work. I break complex financial concepts into structured, digestible steps and explain the reasoning behind each recommendation. The goal is not to make you dependent on an advisor. It is to leave you able to make informed decisions on your own, long after our work together is done.

My mission is to help hardworking Americans manage their earnings, investments, and retirement so they can focus on enjoying their lives. I bring unconflicted guidance packaged for the average working investor who wants professional insight without the overhead of traditional wealth management.

My first office job was at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web application division in 2007. Within a year of getting my first cubicle, the Great Recession hit. I saw firsthand how fragile the American retirement system is for working-class Americans. Colleagues who had planned to retire found themselves staying on for years longer than expected. Layoffs hit in waves. People who had done everything right, who had shown up and worked hard for decades, suddenly faced uncertainty they never anticipated.

That experience set the tone for my lifelong education in investment and financial management. I started learning how money actually works, how portfolios are best managed, and how to select investments that align with specific risk tolerances.

In fintech engineering, as both an individual contributor and a manager, I've seen stock-based compensation from every angle, from my own grants to helping others navigate theirs, and I've watched grants tumble during lockout periods when selling wasn't allowed. I also watched capable colleagues reach the end of long careers unsure how to turn what they had saved into income that would last. These experiences showed me how much a single financial decision can shape a life, how quickly circumstances change, and how alone most people are left to navigate it.

All of this brought me into the world of finance and investment. My firm is focused on the STEM community, my community. My goal is to help rather than direct, to provide the analysis and education my clients need to make their own informed decisions.