Advisory Experts

These independent professionals advise Susan Turnbull with insights and perspective gleaned from years of experience in their respective fields.

Marty Kurtz

Marty Kurtz, CFP®, AIFA®, has worked in financial services since 1985, and earned his CFP designation in 1988, is President of The Planning Center, Inc., a financial planning firm based in Moline, Illinois.  In 2007, Kurtz founded First Step Cash Management™, a cash flow system to help clients as well as other advisors.

Marty has been an FPA member for 15 years and has served in a leadership capacity on the FPA of the Quad Cities Board of Directors, as well as the FPA Retreat task forces, FPA Chapter Leaders Conference and numerous FPA committees, including the Nominating and Ethics Committee.  Kurtz was appointed to the CFP Board of Professional Review in 2001, and chaired the CFP Board of Professional Review in 2005.  In 2009, Kurtz was elected to the FPA Board and in 2010 became President-Elect of the organization.

Marty has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Journal of Financial Planning, Business Week, Mutual Fund Magazine, and others.  In 2009, Business Week featured Marty Kurtz as one of 4 “time-tested advisers”, and he has been listed among 200 Great Planners in Mutual Fund Magazine.

In addition to his involvement with FPA, Marty Kurtz is also a board member of Money Quotient, has held various leadership positions in his local community, including Ballet Quad Cities, and is an active member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

Carol Anderson

Carol Anderson holds a master’s degree in Consumer Economics & Family Resource Management and has a diverse background in business, education, and financial services.  Since 1989, Carol has focused on the issues of financial planning education, retirement preparation, life planning, and productive aging.  Currently, she is the president of Money Quotient, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that explores and promotes a life-centered perspective and process for delivering financial services, education, and advice.

As a researcher, writer, and consultant, Carol has worked with a broad range of companies and non-profit organizations in designing studies, conducting analyses, and compiling research reports.  Most recently, she worked with the Life Planning Consortium in conducting a survey, “Specific Elements of Communication that Affect Trust and Commitment in the Financial Planning Process,” that was funded by the Certified Financial Planning Board of Examiners and co-sponsored by the Financial Planning Association.  In addition, Carol has written articles, developed publications, and designed educational tools, materials, and training workshops.  She is a member of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education and the Financial Planning Association, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Solutions, a publication of the Financial Planning Association.

Harry Margolis

Harry S. Margolis founded ElderLaw Services, the predecessor of Margolis & Bloom in June 1987.  Prior to that, he was an associate with Palmer & Dodge in Boston.  He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the New York University School of Law.

Attorney Margolis is editor of The ElderLaw Report, a monthly newsletter for attorneys, and was the founding general editor of The ElderLaw Portfolio Series, a compilation of in-depth studies on various aspects of elder law.  Both are published by Aspen Law & Business.  He is the author of the ElderLaw Forms Manual and publisher of the ElderLaw News, a quarterly newsletter for the firm’s clients.  He is also a Fellow and former member of the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, founding President of the Academy’s Massachusetts Chapter and has been named a Super Lawyer since 2005.

Attorney Margolis has served on the adjunct faculty of Boston College Law School. He is the founder and president of ElderLawAnswers and a founder of the Academy of Special Needs Planners.

Jim Grubman

Jim Grubman PhD is a psychologist and consultant to families of wealth and their advisors in the estate planning and financial services industry.   In addition to working directly with clients, Dr. Grubman provides consultation and training to Top 100 independent advisory firms, family offices, and institutional advisors.  He has earned the Family Business Advising certificate from the Family Firm Institute and has developed a graduate course in psychology and financial advising at Bentley University in Boston, MA.  Dr. Grubman has presented at regional and national speaking engagements and has been featured in print, online, and television media along with journal publications. He maintains a specialty interest in the prevalence of ADHD and learning disorders in the wealth population.

Ed Jacobson

Ed Jacobson is a business consultant, coach, public speaker, and writer, based in Madison, Wisconsin. His background includes an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, a doctorate in psychology from Indiana University, and careers as a community mental health executive, an academic psychologist, and eleven years in the for-profit consulting world of KPMG Peat Marwick. He has over 35 years experience helping individuals and organizations to articulate, pursue, and achieve goals that really matter. Ed’s work blends Appreciative Inquiry, positive psychology, and Change Management into a unique approach which equips and empowers clients to build on their strengths and successes, focus on “daring yet doable” aspirations, and successfully traverse the sometimes-daunting path of pursuing and achieving their dreams. The author of Appreciative Moments: Stories and Practices for Living and Working Appreciatively, he is currently writing a handbook of positive questions for financial advisors.

Amy Zell Ellsworth

Amy Zell Ellsworth, Senior Philanthropic Advisor at The Philanthropic Initiative, works on curriculum development, donor educational programs, program research, strategic planning and meeting facilitation for family and other foundations.  She has worked closely with community foundations on donor services and led the three year Excellence in Family Philanthropy initiative. She authored TPI’s family philanthropy primer and workbook, Giving Together and co-authored with Susan Turnbull Across Generations, a workbook for creating an expression of donor intent.  Amy currently serves as the Program Director for New England International Donors, a networking organization housed at TPI. Amy has contributed planning and committee work for COF, Association of Small Foundations and Grantmakers in the Arts, and she also has experience as the President of a family foundation that comprises members of the 2nd and 3rd generation.  In addition, she is a leader in the arts non-profit community in Boston.