Serving the Fort Worth, Dallas Area For More Than 40 Years

Financial Planning

Our traditional, comprehensive process for financial planning is designed to review every major aspect of your financial life, including how your finances impact other areas of your life, such as your long-term goals or charitable desires.

Aspects of the Planning Process

We are a fee-only financial planning and investment planning firm. What this means is that we receive no commissions, kickbacks, or other hidden advantages from recommending any product or service to you. We receive a flat fee for the planning process, and any investment services you may choose to engage us in after your planning is complete would be on a flat percentage rate on the assets invested with us.

Additionally, you are under no obligation to continue with us as an ongoing financial planning or asset management client, though many of our clients do choose to continue working with us.

How the Planning Process Works

After an initial introductory meeting, in which you are able to determine if we meet your needs, we move on to the planning stages. Because our services are comprehensive, covering all of your financial planning areas is typically a multi-meeting process that takes place over the course of several weeks (as your schedule allows; this can be stretched or condensed as much as you desire).

During the planning process, we cover several standard areas of financial planning, as well as any needs that are unique to you, such as education planning for a child or grandchild or small business planning.

Our Typical Meetings Cover:

  • Insurance assessment and analysis of appropriate coverage.
  • Income tax review and suggestions for beneficial tax strategies.
  • Analysis of investment assets and a proposed balanced and risk-adjusted portfolio plan.
  • Review of current estate structure and suggestions for any improvements in line with your assets and desires for your estate.
  • Review of current retirement assets and projections of the income your portfolio will be able to produce based on conservative, moderate, or aggressive risk tolerances over your retirement years.

At the end of the planning process, you will be provided with a thorough financial plan book that contains reviews of all of our meetings, as well as a list of our recommended “action plan” items. From that point, you can move on to our implementation process, in which we handle all action plan items for you, or you can handle these items yourself. Either way, we would be thrilled to continue serving you as an ongoing financial planning client.

Sample Planning Meeting Schedule

All meetings can be modified to suit your needs, but a sample schedule follows:

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about this process. We would be happy to answer them.

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Financial Planning Illustration
Meggan Jamison

Meggan Jamison

Compliance Associate

Meggan M. Jamison is a Compliance Associate and works with the Chief Compliance Officer in overseeing the firm’s compliance policies and procedures. She holds a BBA degree in finance from Texas Christian University and an MBA from Oklahoma City University. Meggan joined Diesslin Group, Inc. in February 2010. Prior to joining the firm, she spent 10 years in the banking industry.

Natalie Georgen

Natalie Georgen

Financial Planning Associate

Natalie M. Georgen is a Financial Planning Associate at Diesslin Group, Inc. She received her BBA in risk, insurance, and financial services from the University of North Texas and plans to sit for the CFP. She joined Diesslin Group, Inc. in 2022.

Edie C. Peplinski

Senior Executive Assistant

Edie C. Peplinski is the Senior Executive Assistant to David Diesslin. Her responsibilities include time management and scheduling, arranging travel, coordinating and scheduling meetings, overseeing event planning, and assisting with office and administrative responsibilities at the firm.

Edie has over 40 years of experience in executive-level administrative and personal assistant positions and previously worked for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association. Edie attended Tarrant County College and has worked at Diesslin Group, Inc. since 2003.

Stephanie Dacanay

Stephanie A. Dacanay

Client Services Associate

Stephanie A. Dacanay is a Client Services Associate at Diesslin Group, Inc. She has many responsibilities, including scheduling meetings, corresponding with clients, providing administrative assistance, and planning team events. She joined Diesslin Group, Inc. in 2021.

Tristyn Williams

Tristyn L. Williams

Asset Management Associate

Tristyn L. Williams is an Asset Management Associate at Diesslin Group, Inc. Tristyn received a BS in Agricultural economics from Texas A&M University and planned to sit for the CFP exam in November 2022. He joined Diesslin Group, Inc. in 2021.

Luke Hockett

Luke Hockett, MBA

Portfolio Manager

Luke Hockett is a Portfolio Manager at Diesslin Group, Inc. He conducts investment and risk-return analysis, performance measurement, diagnostic procedures, and asset allocation for client portfolios.

Luke received his BBA in entrepreneurial management from Texas Christian University in 2014 and his MBA in finance from Dallas Baptist University in 2020. He previously worked at Diesslin Group, Inc. from 2014 to 2019 and left to join the Hedge Fund Operations team at IQEQ before rejoining Diesslin Group, Inc. in 2022.

Olivia Partin

Olivia F. Partin, CFP®

Financial Planner

Olivia F. Partin is a Financial Planner at Diesslin Group, Inc. and assists with various client and firm projects. Olivia received her BS in Interdisciplinary Studies from Texas A&M University. She also holds her AAMS® and FPQP certifications and CFP certifications. She joined the firm in 2021.

Angela Woodson

Angela L. Woodson

Client Services Associate

Angela L. Woodson is a Client Services Associate at Diesslin Group, Inc. She assists with servicing client requests and ongoing account administration. Angela received a BS in counseling education from the University of North Texas. She joined the Diesslin Group, Inc. team in 2019.

Mark Michel

Mark M. Michel, CFA, MBA

Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager

Mark M. Michel, CFA, MBA, is Diesslin Group, Inc.’s Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager. He conducts investment analysis, risk-return analysis, performance management, and asset allocation for client portfolios. Mark is also involved in the analysis of the firm’s alternative investments.

Prior to joining Diesslin Group, Inc. in 2021, Mark worked as an Associate Portfolio Manager for American Beacon Advisors and a Senior Portfolio Analyst at JPMorgan. Before entering the financial services industry, he served in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mark received an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a BS in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of both the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Sherry Redden

Sherry L. Redden, FPQP™

Client Services Director

Sherry L. Redden, FPQP, is Diesslin Group, Inc.’s Client Services Director. She has numerous responsibilities—some of which include serving as a client liaison and financial planning associate—and helps ensure each division of the firm functions successfully.

In addition to being a certified paraplanner, Sherry has over 20 years of professional experience as an executive assistant and outside sales representative. She joined Diesslin Group, Inc. in 2012.

Scott Reasor

Scott B. Reasor

Relationship Manager and Senior Portfolio Manager

Scott B. Reasor is a Relationship Manager and Senior Portfolio Manager at Diesslin Group, Inc. He conducts investment and risk-return analysis, performance measurement, diagnostic procedures, and asset allocation for client portfolios. Scott also serves as an advocate and primary point of contact for clients, maintaining ongoing communication with them while monitoring and executing projects to help them meet their financial goals.

Scott received a BBA in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington and has been with Diesslin Group, Inc. since 2004.

Shawn Gray

Shawn L. Gray

Principal, Chief Compliance Officer, and Chief Technology Officer

Shawn L. Gray is Diesslin Group, Inc.’s Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, as well as a principal of the firm. Shawn manages the firm’s computing, networking, and programming solutions. He also develops retirement and cash flow projections and models stock options for clients.

He received a BBA in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington and worked in the banking industry prior to joining Diesslin Group, Inc. in 1992.

Rocky Farr

Norman R. (“Rocky”) Farr, CFP, EA, ATA

Principal, Managing Director, and Relationship Manager

Norman R. “Rocky” Farr, CFP, EA, ATA, is Diesslin Group, Inc.’s Managing Director as well as Relationship Manager and principal of the firm. Rocky oversees the firm’s daily operations and coordinates the efforts of the financial planning, client services, and asset management divisions. He specializes in estate and tax planning.

Rocky has held his certified financial planner mark since 1982. He also holds an Enrolled Agent license from the Internal Revenue Service and an Accredited Tax Advisor license from the Council for Accounting and Taxation. Rocky joined Diesslin Group, Inc. in 1992. Prior to moving to Texas, he played hockey professionally.

David H. Diesslin, CFP®, MBA

David H. Diesslin, CFP®, MBA

Founder

David H. Diesslin, is the founder of Diesslin Group, Inc. Dave founded the firm as Diesslin & Associates, Inc. in 1980 and has provided fee-only financial planning and investment management ever since.

He has been honored for his work as a financial advisor in Worth, Medical Economics, Fort Worth Inc., and Money magazines, and has been endorsed by the Consumers’ Research Council of America as one of “America’s Top Financial Planners.”

Throughout his professional life, Dave has worked diligently to promote and advance the financial planning profession both nationally and internationally. In addition, he has served as a chairman of the Board of Governors on the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards as well as chairman and president of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA).

Dave received an MBA from the University of Dallas and a BS in Business Management from Indiana University. He has held his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ mark since 1983. Prior to entering the financial planning profession, Dave served as First Lieutenant for the U.S. Army Signal Corps.