Meet Our Team

Curtis Hill, Certified Financial Planner, CFP, Investor Advisor Representative, Insurance Agent, Author, Founder of Serenity Wealth Management

Curtis Hill, Certified Financial Planner, CFP, Investor Advisor Representative, Insurance Agent, Author

Since many individuals and small businesses depend on their investment professional for reliable advice, it is wise to learn what qualifies them as financial professionals. Curtis Hill specializes in helping people plan their “next chapter”. Curtis has more than thirty years of experience providing financial planning, investment, insurance and retirement advice. His expertise comes from working with clients through various economic conditions.  
  
Striving to provide the best advice for his clients, Curtis has earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. Has your current advisor acquired the academic competency required to become a CFP®? 
 
Curtis also holds two bachelor’s degrees from North Carolina State University (1978) plus a Master’s Degree from Southern Methodist University (1981). He was a successful professional and manager for fifteen years, including being a director of engineering for a publicly traded company. About 30 years ago Curtis elected to pursue his passion of providing investment and retirement advise. 
 
Curtis has written two books, which challenge the traditional advice that most financial planners provide. They are “The Wealth Conspiracy, Avoid the Dark Side of Wall Street” and “The Financial Blind Side, How Your Investment Advisor’s Bias Limits Your Wealth.” In these books you will learn how many advisors compromise their clients’ best interest in order to maximize their own profits. You will also learn what his tag line “Not the Same Old Advice” signifies, and why Curtis is truly a different kind of financial advisor.  
 
Raised in North Carolina, Curtis moved to Dallas in his twenties. He moved to Los Angeles in his late thirties where his lives now with his wife of 25+ years, Irina and their dog Lucy.

Irina Hill, Investor Advisor Representative, Insurance Agent, CPA, MBA, Realtor,
Senior Real Estate Specialist

Irina Hill, Investor Advisor Representative, Insurance Agent, CPA, MBA, Realtor

Irina brings to the team her education and experience. Irina holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and a CPA license. Her almost two decades of tax and financial planning experience led Irina to the investment world as an Investment Advisor Representative and Insuranced Agent.  Instead of just reporting and accounting for the past decisions, Irina now also helps clients to make good decisions affecting their future.

Irina is also a realtor with Rodeo Realty, Beverly Hills. She specializes in helping people who are 55 years old or better with their life transition. She works directly with seniors and specialists such as mortgage experts, healthcare professionals, and senior housing expert to evaluate how her services can improve clients’ lives in their next phase of life. Irina is a Senior Real Estate Specialist.

To better serve the needs of her clients, Irina acquired Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist Designation. Less than 1% of Realtors possess both Senior Real Estate Specialist and Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist Designations.

With Irina’s background in finance, real estate and marketing, she makes sure we are setting up a path to a better future.

When Irina is not taking care of her clients, she is in the gym, exploring the world with her husband Curtis, or playing with their dog Lucy. Both Curtis and Irina are dogoholics.

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Insurance Licensed and
an Annuity Specialist

Mitchell Glaser, Insurance and Annuity Specialist

A prolific author and trained journalist, Mitchell now focuses on writing financial instruments to enhance a customer’s life and retirement. Currently licensed in California and Florida, he clearly prefers a warm climate with an ocean view.

Mitchell’s many years working for large insurance corporations provided an excellent foundation for graduating into an independent insurance agent. Now working with various insurance companies, he has greatly increased flexibility to deliver finely-tuned solutions that fulfill the needs and aspirations of his clients.

Mitchell is focused on lower risk solution targeted for retirement that have significant tax and security advantages. Achieving financial serenity is his goal for all his clients.

Special forms of life insurance can be structured in such a way to provide significant growth (4% to 8%) per year without current taxation or exposure to stock market risks. Further, it is possible to generate TAX-FREE cash flow.

An annuity can provide higher yield than Bank Rate CD produces while also providing tax deferral. Plus, guaranteed retirement income is possible with an annuity. Would you like to create your personal pension plan?

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Lucy, Chief Dog Officer (CDO)

Lucy, the real “boss”

Our rescue dog, Lucy is the real boss around here.

Coming to us from a horrible abusive situation she has taught us how with understanding and love a great dog could be made out of wild and frightened of everything creature.

Although already 4 years old when we rescued Lucy, she had not been house broken or even been in a house before. She was totally wild. She had no idea how to walk on a leash. She just spun around us on her leash just as she had for years been spinning around the stake she had been chained to for years.

To help her forget her terrible past, we had to change her name. She would duck her head as though someone was about to hit her when we used her previous name. What a negative association!

Initially, Lucy would not let anyone touch her. Now, Lucy is a well-adjusted dog that wants to greet and meet everyone. She has taught us a lot about how we wish to treat others.

What qualifies us as your advisors

Certified Financial Planner (CFP)

The CFP designation demonstrates an advance dedication on the part of advisor to providing the best possible advice to you. By obtaining a CFP an advisor is demonstrating their commitment to providing the best service and advice possible. Curtis Hill has this CFP designation.

Candidate must meet the following requirements: A bachelor’s degree (or higher) from an accredited college or university, and. Three years of full-time personal financial planning experience or the equivalent part-time experience (2,000 hours equals one year full-time). Must complete and pass the exam on 7 post graduate courses specified in the CFP certification education curriculum which are offered through several accredited universities. After that, canadidates must sit for the comprehensive CFP qualifying exam.

Curtis Hill has held his Certified Financial Planner designation for over 18 years and have been licensed in both securities and insurance since 1994

Investment Advisor Representative, IRA

Curtis Hill and Irina Hill are both Investment Advisor Representatives (IAR). IRAs are the individuals working with a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm. An Investment Advisor Representatives (IAR) has achieved their status by successfully taking the Series 65 or 66 exam. Both RIA and IAR are designations of FINRA/SEC. FINRA stands for Financial Industry Regulation Authority and SEC stands for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. RIA and IAR are regulated by the SEC.

Investment Advisors Representatives (IARs) have thousands of investments strategies for you to choose between. Typically, instead of recommending individual investments, IARs recommend a portfolio of separate managers who have developed a track record for selecting and trading investments based on tested strategy proven over time. These strategies may be slowly implemented by human hands or fast computer traded algorithms.

Insurance License and Annuity Specialist

Both Curtis Hill, Irina Hill, and Mitchell Glaser are insurance licensed. Life insurance provides protection from life’s unexpected surprises. It is an essential part of good financial planning. But we also do much more with insurance!

Most people don’t realize the substantial tax advantages and investment possibility that today’s modern life insurance designs provide. This includes not only a tax-deferred retirement plans but much better still, a TAX-FREE retirement plan. Let us show you have this is now possible and practical with the recent changes in IRS rules 7702. Plus, you can achieve substantial investment rates of returns without any stock market risks or exposures.

Annuities can provide much larger growth than most bank rate products like CD while also providing a safer path than stocks or bonds. Annuities can also be used to provide for guaranteed lifelong income where such guarantees are needed. Create your own personal pension plan using an annuity.

Medicare Licensed and Certified

Curtis Hill has achieved his Medicare Insurance License and insurance carrier certifications. This qualifies Curtis to sell and provide advice on Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare supplemental plans, (also known as Medigap plans), and Medicare Part D prescription plans.

Personalized Professionalism is the Key

Avoid automatic or computer assistant Robo Advisors or Digital Advisors that try to force fit you to one of their model investments plans after answering a few questions. Work with a real live professional investment advisor. Someone who has 30 years plus experience who has seen declining markets. Consider full service independent advisor that have the flexibility to offer a variety of solutions, versus some brand name financial firm affiliated advisor than has their own agenda. Avoid insurance only licensed advisors as they will only offer insurance related solutions. Similarly, avoid security only licensed people as they will only offer security related solutions. It’s best if you have a financial advisor who has both types of licenses so they are free to recommend what is best for you.

Service Area

Service area include all of the state of California and particularly the counties of Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, and Ventura County. We also continue to add additional states as requested to our service area.

Service cities are not limited to but include, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Lakewood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Glendale, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Culver City, Manhattan Beach, Malibu, Calabasas, Marina Del Ray, Santa Clarita, Palmdale, and Burbank,

Both Curtis and Irina also licensed in various other states and is willing to extend his licenses to where you live.

Books by Curtis Hill and Irina Hill: