Matthew Pierce

Benjamin Doernberg is a financial advisor at First Step Financial in Boston, MA, holding a Series 65 designation with one year of industry experience. Prior to founding First Step Financial, he worked with Never Again Action and Escape the Room Boston. First Step Financial provides financial planning and advisory services to individual and high-net-worth clients through one-off plans, ad-hoc hourly engagements, and an ongoing subscription option, focusing on modern portfolio theory and broad index mutual funds and ETFs. The firm does not custody or trade client accounts and uses a pricing model based on subscription and hourly fees rather than asset-based charges.

I began my career in the financial services industry nearly ten years ago. Prior to founding Dreamfield Planning Group, I served as an associate wealth management advisor at Sconset Wealth Management—an advisory practice nested in the downtown Boston office of Northwestern Mutual—where I developed financial plans and managed investment assets. In a preceding role in the same office, I led an internal business unit providing investment consulting services to multiple financial advisors representing more than $200 million of assets under management (AUM). Previous to that, I served as an associate financial advisor at a Foxborough, Massachusetts financial planning practice and as a research analyst at a Cambridge, Massachusetts public policy research firm. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in History from Hendrix College and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University. I am both a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a CFA Charterholder. I have lived for many years in Milton, Massachusetts with my wife Allie and our son Ben. In my spare time, I enjoy travel, reading, playing guitar, and taking long walks with the family dog, Louie.

Adam Apt is a CFA® charterholder and holds a Series 65 license, with 18 years of industry experience. He has been the principal of Peabody River Asset Management, LLC since 2007. Additionally, he serves as Vice President of Investment Analytics at LTSAVE, Inc., where he designs and oversees an automated investment advice system for defined contribution retirement plans. Peabody River Asset Management is a fee-only registered investment adviser providing portfolio management, financial planning, and consulting services to individuals, families, and institutional clients, including charitable organizations. The firm employs a top-down, four-stage portfolio construction process with a focus on ETFs, bonds, and a mostly buy-and-hold approach, supplementing fundamental analysis with quantitative risk models.

Charles Levin is the sole advisor at Levin Financial Planning in Wayland, MA, holding a Series 65 license with 20 years of industry experience. He has led his independent firm since 2004, providing fee-only, hourly financial planning and investment advice. Levin Financial Planning serves individuals, families, small businesses, and retirement or profit-sharing plans using a fundamental, long-term buy-and-hold investment approach primarily with low-cost index funds and ETFs. The firm is notable for advising pension or profit-sharing plan clients despite being a solo, hourly-planning practice and is currently winding down operations and not accepting new clients.

Robert Lang is the sole advisor at Aztec Capital LLC in Arlington, MA, holding a Series 65 credential with 12 years of industry experience. He has been involved with TheStreet.com and RealMoneyPro.com since 2012 and operates Explosiveoptions.net, an educational service for option traders that includes a chat room and spread trading service. Aztec Capital serves individual clients, small businesses, institutions, and charitable organizations through discretionary portfolio management and tailored investment strategies. The firm’s approach focuses on equity options and related derivatives, employing techniques such as premium selling, calls and puts buying, and hedging, with frequent use of technical analysis and active account monitoring.

Joel Roberts is a CFP® and Series 65-licensed financial advisor with over 16 years of industry experience. He is currently the sole advisor at Brescor Wealth Advisory, where he has worked since 2024. His prior experience includes roles at Aurora Management Services LLC and J.P. Marvel Wealth Management. Brescor Wealth Advisory is an investment management firm serving pooled investment vehicles, institutional clients, individuals, trusts, foundations, and family offices. The firm offers discretionary asset management with a long-term focus, supplemented by financial planning, personal finance coaching, and public financial education seminars.