Team Approach
At Opus Financial Solutions, we have implemented a team-based approach to support you, ensuring you benefit from perspectives and insights from advisors with varied and specialized areas of expertise and education. This approach is also intended to ensure each of our advisors understand your situation and is there to provide you immediate assistance should you need it if your lead advisor is unavailable.
Credentials & Experience
We are proud of the fact that our advisors are among the less than 2% of financial advisors with CFP (“Certified Financial Planner”) certifications who also hold a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter. An even smaller percentage hold a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) license as well as an MBA. We share this because we believe our commitment to life-long financial education provides our clients with the assurance they can rely on the counsel and expertise they seek and that we can provide.
While the CFP certification provides an excellent foundation for comprehensive financial planning, the CFA program—considered the “gold standard” in the finance and investment field—requires a demanding 3-year (1,000 hour) study program focused on portfolio and investment management and financial analysis. And given its rigor, just 1 in 5 individuals who pursue the CFA charter successfully complete the program to attain it. The CPA license is similarly considered the “black belt” in accounting and also requires approximately five years of preparation and study. Bottom line: our education is vast and our experience is analytical, financial, educational, and investment-oriented, not sales.
Team Background
Lisa Louise Bayer, CFA, CFP®, MBA
Principal
After graduating from the University of Illinois in Finance in 1985, I launched my finance career, which included myriad roles before founding Opus Financial Solutions, including securities compliance, investment analysis, institutional portfolio management, and teaching investments and financial planning topics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Those roles and hard-earned education and financial designations converged methodically to shape my final career choice as a Wealth Manager and Financial Planner.
My objective as an advisor is to help my clients gain create road-maps for their financial lives, helping them stay disciplined, and improve and/or be aware of the implications of the financial choices they make. That requires me to listen and truly understand my clients' past, present, and anticipated journey before offering strategies and solutions. While I'm an analyst at heart—actually enjoying the technical research and number crunching aspects of my job—I see my primary service as helping my clients attain the freedom, peace of mind, and ability to live as they choose.
After graduating in finance from the University of Illinois, I obtained my MBA in International Business from DePaul’s Graduate School of Business. I later attained my Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designations in order to provide the highest level of financial counsel to my clients. Additionally, given my personal experience with divorce with young children, I developed an expertise in divorce financial planning in order to help people make more informed financial decisions in divorce matters and make the process of divorce less painful and less expensive. I've served as both a divorce advisor, financial neutral and mediator for individuals and/or divorcing couples. (Refer to “Pre-Divorce Planning” for more detail).
I grew up in the Chicago area and serve clients across the United States. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time in natural settings hiking, camping, mountain-biking, skiing--or whatever the weather dictates. I have served in many volunteer roles over the course of my life, mostly relating to educating and mentoring the underprivileged. Thus far, one of my greatest joys has been watching my children—both recent college graduates--evolve into kind, smart, empathetic human beings who I believe will change the world for the better.
Lisa can be reached at Lisa@OpusFinSolutions.com.
Matthew M. Kunst, CFP®, CFA, CPA, MBA
Wealth Manager
Matthew is currently a Wealth Manager at Opus Financial Solutions. He began his career in accounting and finance more than 20 years ago when he graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois (Champaign/Urbana). Over the years Matthew has held various roles as an accountant, auditor, investment banker, business valuation expert, and litigation consultant. He also previously provided financial planning advice, investment management, and other concierge financial services through his own independent wealth management firm.
Matthew believes strongly in the application of proven academic principles to financial planning and investment management. His quest for knowledge has driven Matthew to many accomplishments. Notably, Matthew has been awarded several prominent financial designations, including Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) certificant, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) charter holder, and Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Matthew also earned his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in finance and economics.
In working with clients, Matthew draws upon his diverse background and extensive financial education and training. He provides clients with unique and highly informed perspectives on realizing both their life and financial aspirations, goals, and dreams. From short-term budgeting to retirement and estate planning, Matthew utilizes his people-focused style to assist clients in developing an appropriate balance between the trees and the forest. Where others may see conflicts in allocating limited financial resources, Matthew seeks creative resolutions through holistic wealth management solutions.
Outside of work, Matthew enjoys spending time with his two teenage sons, competing at fantasy baseball, and reveling in most Chicago sports teams. Matthew is a long-time resident of the southwest suburbs of Chicago.
Jaco Jordaan, CFP®, CFA, CRPS®, ChFC®, CAIA, EA
Wealth Manager
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, I started my career in financial services in 1996 selling mutual fund portfolios by cold-calling prospects. The interactions were impersonal and intrusive. I did not enjoy it, and it likely created my first bias against "selling" products in financial services.
Since that initial experience, I have built a career in financial services by building my knowledge in different areas of the industry with an eye towards always serving the best interests of clients through a consultative approach. I have held positions spanning from customer service and operations to technical financial planning support of financial advisors. As a private banking representative, I have worked directly with high net worth clients to develop custom financial plans to pursue their retirement, estate and distribution goals, and I have worked as a portfolio manager to implement the investments needed to pursue those goals. For approximately 10 years, I served as the Chief Investment Strategist and Senior Portfolio Manager of a national financial services firm. In my capacity as Senior Portfolio Manager, I built and ultimately was directly responsible for the portfolio construction and investment selection of an investment program with over $2 billion in assets. As Chief Investment Strategist, I was responsible for communicating the firm's investment philosophy by writing economic and investment updates. In my role as Chief Investment Strategist, I made multiple appearances including on Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, Closing Bell, Fox Business, and The Street.
Despite a successful career working for banks and financial services firms, it had long been my desire to apply what I have learned by working directly with clients and families and to help them pursue their financial goals. So, after two decades of experience, in 2017 I left the corporate world and founded SanitasWealth Management, a fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm serving Boulder and the surrounding communities.
As a small business owner--always on the lookout for strategic opportunities to improve my ability to serve clients--I joined Opus Financial Solutions as a Wealth Manager. The affiliation provided me with access to improved resources and technology to better serve my clients along with an improved Business Continuation Plan and "Brain Trust" of highly competent colleagues.
On a personal note, I was born in South Africa and moved to the United States with my family at the age of 11. We moved to a town on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas. In 2001, I proudly was granted U.S. citizenship. Along with my wife Samantha, we moved to Boulder because we love the outdoors and the active lifestyle afforded by Colorado, and Boulder seems to be the epicenter of outdoor living. On weekends you can generally find us hiking somewhere in the foothills. In 2014, I completed my first full IronMan race in Whistler, Canada, and as Boulder seems to be home to many professional endurance athletes I hope some of that skill will rub off and that I will compete again in the future. My wife and I welcomed a baby boy to our family in 2019.
Jaco can be reached at Jaco@opusfinsolutions.com.