Guideway Financial is a fee-only financial consulting firm owned by Sharon and Jim Lear, headquartered in Austin, Texas. We specialize in comprehensive planning services to create livable strategies to strive for your best life today and in retirement. Our goals-driven process uses an annual retainer model, rather than assets under management, since we feel this best enables us to put your interests first. You maintain control and implementation of your investments at the bank, brokerage, or custodian of your choice.
Our holistic approach incorporates all aspects of a client’s finances, including investment strategy, retirement planning, college planning, insurance review, tax planning and preparation, cash flow and record keeping, estate planning, and more. Unforeseen financial topics that arise during the year are included with no additional charge. In some situations, we also offer project or hourly planning engagements.
Guideway works with clients throughout Texas. Austin, San Antonio, and North East Texas are focus locations, and we serve clients in other states on a limited basis. We offer video conferencing to communicate with remote clients and busy professionals.
About Sharon
Sharon Lear is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNING™ professional (CFP®), and she holds an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University.
Prior to establishing Guideway Financial, Sharon led a successful marketing career in the semiconductor industry for 15 years. In the mid-2000s, Sharon joined Jim in exploring financial software methodologies for asset allocation and retirement strategy. She was inspired to become a comprehensive financial advisor in order to integrate an essential suite of financial services with retirement planning.
Sharon is part of the Alliance of Comprehensive Planners™, a national association of fee-only financial advisors who practice a holistic approach. She is also a member of NAPFA and the Financial Planning Association®, and served on the Board of Directors of her local chapter for two years.
Her interests outside of work include jogging, time with friends and family, home improvement, and volunteering. Sharon has served on the Board of her neighborhood association, and she is currently a Board member of the Texas A&M Aggie Moms Club. She is originally from Longview, in North East Texas.
About Jim
Jim Lear is chief investments manager at Guideway Financial. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in Electrical Engineering.
While his interest in financial planning has extended over 20 years, Jim’s primary career for some time was in the semiconductor industry. He developed techniques for modeling and verifying the design of complex mixed-signal systems for communications products, as well as optimization algorithms for high-performance circuits. Jim was actively involved in updating standards for an engineering programming language, and has written a number of papers and spoken at conferences about mixed-signal engineering methodologies.
Jim’s engineering research dovetailed into his work with optimization methods for financial planning. Since 1995, Jim has studied and invented portfolio optimization methods, and in recent years, he transitioned to the financial industry full-time. He holds a patent for the Portfolion Planning® technique, which enables retirement income to last exactly as long as planned. He has also spoken at conferences on topics such as “Understanding and Working with High-Risk Investors,” and “Self-Managing Your Retirement Nest Egg.” Jim recently published an article in Advisor Perspectives entitled “Why Monte Carlo is Optimistically Biased,” describing how many financial planning tools in the industry systematically overestimate future returns.
Jim’s interests outside of work include jogging, time with friends and family, and consideration of school finance issues. Jim is originally from Torrance, California and moved to Clear Lake, Texas as a teenager.
Both Jim and Sharon have lived in Austin for over 20 years. It is home base for them along with their teenage daughter and college-student son (when he is home!).
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