Westmont Magazine The Values of Planning
When Jim Fisher advises clients on financial planning, he asks for information about their values as well as their assets. In his opinion, the legacy people leave in their children is more important than the amount they leave to their heirs.
A principal in Trinity Financial Partners in Ontario, Calif., Jim has worked as a chartered financial consultant (ChFC) for 31 years. His firm takes a biblical approach to planning when advising businesses, charitable organizations and individual professionals.
“Our goal is to teach stewardship,” Jim explains. “We assist clients in maximizing the efficiency of their financial resources in line with their values. This enables them to be the best possible trustees of the resources God has given them.”
Once he knows what his clients value, Jim works with them to develop a plan and then assists them in implementing the plan. Follow-up and review are an essential part of the process as it is often necessary to adjust and refine estate plans as time passes.
When he was starting his business, Jim struggled as many new business owners do. He and Marcia worked hard to establish themselves and learned the importance of careful financial planning. He passes this experience on to the people he advises.
Because he works closely with clients over a period of years, Jim often becomes friends with them. Building good relationships is an important part of his profession.
Jim practices what he preaches. He and his wife, Marcia, have raised their three children to share their Christian faith, and they have made a provision in their estate plan for Westmont, where all three graduated.
Michael ’89 works as a computer consultant and lives in Alta Loma, Calif., with his wife, Melissa Roth Fisher ’90, and their daughter. Both Mike and Melissa were economics and business majors. Melissa is executive vice president in charge of leasing for a multi-office leasing company and works from home two days a week.
Fredric Fisher ’92 and his wife, Kathryn Dorchak Fisher ’95, live in Santa Barbara. With a degree in economics and business, Fred works for Mercer Financial, and Katie became a physical therapist after majoring in kinesiology.
Lynne Fisher Asfahl ’94 earned a master’s degree in student life after graduating with a liberal studies degree. She manages a Christian bookstore and raises her daughter. Her husband, Jon, went to Azusa Pacific and works in security with SBC Communications.
With five graduates in the family, Jim and Marcia know the value of a Westmont education. “We have a daily experience with Westmont’s legacy,” Jim notes.
They began a tradition of hosting students for Easter and an egg hunt after Potter’s Clay in 1989, the year Mike’s roommate Alan Voorman was killed in an automobile accident in Ensenada that also took the lives of two other students. “We love having a houseful of Westmont kids,” Marcia says.
Through their long association with Westmont, they have learned that the college stands for the values they treasure. Supporting Westmont enables them to leave the kind of legacy they like best: a value-oriented one.