Financial Planners for Your Life & Wealth

Steve Cordasco

DIRECTOR AND SENIOR WEALTH ADVISOR, MERCER ADVISORS

My fascination with how money works is the foundation for my work today; helping others just like you achieve financial success. It started when I was very young. I developed a strong work ethic and always wanted to be self-sufficient. Earning my own money was important, but investing it and watching it grow was essential.

I had the fortunate opportunity to attend Temple University, at the Fox School of Business, where I studied Finance and Real Estate. During my college years, I was able to apply hard work and grit which I learned at a young age, to win an internship at Butcher and Singer, a premier Philadelphia-based investment banking firm, with deep roots and a solid connection to wealth in the region. Then upon graduation, I was offered a spot in their prestigious financial advisor training program. My formula of hard work, determination and putting the interests of clients first, propelled me to become one of the top advisors at the firm early in my career.

Those long days coupled with my passion to help and educate others on the topic of money, paid off when a local radio station needed someone to fill the position left by legendary talk show host Harry S. Gross, who hosted the “Speaking of your Money” radio show. I took over and started broadcasting “The Big Money Show” which ran for 19 years as a production of CBS. Talking with people one-on-one fueled my passion to help people like you make better financial decisions with their wealth. It also helped me better understand just how important and gratifying educating people about money can be, which quickly became the hallmark of my financial practice. Today, just about all of what you hear on the radio is paid programming and infomercials of investment advisors who pay for commercial air time. This led me to leave CBS radio and forge a new path to educate the public with a more fiduciary approach through podcasting. While podcasting does not offer me the opportunity to interact on a one-on-one basis, I have been able to build a library of over 200 podcasts, which I encourage you to visit.

When I began my career, the industry was Wall Street focused and most financial advisors only had the opportunity to work through Wall Street investment firms. However, I wanted to take a more fiduciary approach with my clients. During the financial collapse and great recession, as big banks and financial institutions started to consolidate and come together, I successfully navigated my client’s wealth through this very trying time. That led me to create my own firm, Cordasco Financial Network, which is built around being a fiduciary, where I could put client interests first.

I enjoy spending time with family, friends and our four dogs along with visiting the beach, boating, sailing, paddle surfing, fishing, cooking and eating.

Timothy Joseph

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CPA, WEALTH ADVISOR

Tim is an avid Philadelphia sports fan who also spends much of his free time coaching sports teams for his 14 and 10-year-old sons. Whether it’s football, baseball, or basketball, Tim knows the importance of being a good teacher and the part it plays in being a good coach.

In his role as a financial advisor and tax specialist, being a good teacher is also important for Tim’s relationships with the people he serves. When he looks at why he enjoys being at Cordasco Financial Network, the opportunity to educate and give helpful guidance sits at the top of his list of reasons

Tim graduated from Bloomsburg University with a major in Accounting. In his early career, he divided his time between working at accounting firms and partnering with an independent financial advisor. He primarily served closely-held businesses and high-net-worth individuals and families.

A licensed CPA since 2004, Tim joined Cordasco Financial Network so he could be involved in building relationships with the firm’s clients. He uses the wealth of knowledge he has attained over the years to create plans and strategies in an individualized and personal way for the people who rely on him.

Tim’s wife is a teacher and they enjoy traveling together with their family, as well as being involved in the many sports teams they follow or participate in.

John Walker

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, MERCER ADVISORS

John spends most of his time at Cordasco Financial Network uncovering people’s life stories so he can understand what CFN can do to serve them best. In all of his years of experience working in financial services, he’s found that people don’t typically remember facts and figures told to them by their advisor—but they do remember the stories that hit close to home.

Wherever he’s been, John has always loved connecting with others on a personal level. By taking the time to get to know an individual and discover their passions, he can connect with them and help support their overall life goals and mission. It’s obvious that managing portfolios is a critical part of what CFN does, but what’s most rewarding for John is the chance to help people use their wealth to enjoy life and find peace with their future.

John uses the disciplines learned from playing competitive soccer during his years at Ursinus College, and coaching after graduation, to help him effectively prepare clients for life’s financial challenges. He guides them with the same holistic coaching philosophy that he used to prepare players to succeed. At CFN, that philosophy has translated to helping people get clarity with their current situation, educating individuals on their options, and providing ongoing guidance.

A passion for soccer is still part of John’s life, and is now accompanied by a passion for his family. His wife, Suzanne, is a teacher and promotes learning throughout the family. John and Suzanne both love nothing more than watching their son play music, seeing their daughter dance, and enjoying the outdoors together.

Dennis Jablonoski

CRPS®, FINANCIAL PLANNER, MERCER ADVISORS

Not everyone feels like they’ve found the career they were destined for, but Dennis isn’t like everyone else. As a young married man in his early twenties, he walked onto the Philadelphia Stock Exchange floor and had an epiphany: Working there was what he was meant to do.

After garnering a job in the mailroom, Dennis worked his way up the ladder until he eventually became manager for a local brokerage firm with fifteen people working under him. As technology advanced on the floor and began to automate positions, he stayed one step ahead and moved onto a major wirehouse, where he became a branch manager and then a sales manager.

After the financial crisis of 2008, Dennis decided to take his fate into his own hands. His children attended the same school as Steve Cordasco’s children, and a friendship turned into a business opportunity. Dennis jumped at the chance to serve people with a complete fiduciary focus where he no longer had to concern himself with sales quotas and proprietary products.

Now, his only benchmark for success is how beneficial the advice he provides is to bettering a client’s situation. The chance to intimately know someone and provide them with clarity and solutions is the passion that keeps driving Dennis after more than thirty years in financial services.

Dennis and his wife have raised eight children, including two sets of twins. He also enjoys working as an official for football, basketball, and lacrosse.

Ryan M. Flurer

FINANCIAL PLANNER, TECHNOLOGY & DATA MANAGEMENT

Ryan Flurer has never had a problem with putting in the hard work necessary to make someone else’s day a little brighter. You might say he got it from his family and upbringing, but working as a waiter for ten years (extending even into his first nine months with Cordasco Financial Network) probably had a hand in shaping his service mentality as well.

Working as a waiter never kept Ryan from financial services, however—in fact, he’s an industry lifer. After studying finance and graduating from Temple University in 2012, he entered the brokerage world immediately.

As he began his career in financial services, Ryan faced an ethical dilemma. He saw that half the industry was focused on commissions and selling products that people might not really need. On the other side, he saw advisors who were fiduciaries—required to put the interests of their clients before their own.

But the dilemma wasn’t much of a dilemma after all, because Ryan knew he wanted to be a fiduciary.

Ryan began his career at Cordasco Financial Network as a Client Services Specialist. In his initial role, he served in the critical role of advisor support, helping senior advisors to prepare for meetings and get them the information and reports they needed to make meetings relational and personal.

Soon, though, Ryan’s skills were needed elsewhere in the firm and he moved into his current role in Technology & Data Management. It’s an ever-shifting role that requires maximum flexibility, but Ryan meets the challenge each day because his work is essential in creating an advisory firm that serves clients in personal ways—like through the trusted technology it provides to them.

It’s the people at a company that make it special, and it’s also the people at home who make life worth it. For Ryan, those people include his wife, Lauren, and son, Jackson.

Evan Salter

CLIENT SERVICES SPECIALIST

Growing up, Evan’s father and grandfather gave him an early exposure to the financial world. Part of that early education involved listening to the “Your Life, Your Wealth” radio show on car rides with his father.

That early education contributed to Evan knowing early on what kind of career he wanted. As a high school senior, he knew that he wanted to embark on a career in financial services. The only question was if he would end up on the relationship side of the business, or spend his time crunching numbers as an analyst.

As it turned out, he’s had a chance to do a little of both. Evan interned with Cordasco Financial Network for two years during his undergraduate studies at West Chester University before joining the firm full-time as a Client Services Specialist.

When you call CFN, there’s a high likelihood that Evan will be the friendly voice to greet you on the other end of the line. He spends most of his days assisting people with moving money, servicing accounts, and supporting advisors. He also pitches in on the data analytics side when he’s not helping others.

Though building relationships and helping the people CFN serves is the most fulfilling part of his work, the analytics side will always have a little piece of his heart.

In the summer, Evan heads to the Eastern shore in Maryland to spend time fishing and crabbing with his family, and in the winter you can find him enjoying some fresh powder on his snowboard.