Joshua St. Laurent

I spent years at Fidelity. I learned the craft. I also learned how the system actually works — advisors incentivized to gather assets, push products, and keep clients in the dark about what they were really paying. The client's best interest came second. Sometimes it didn't come at all.

“I watched advisors take off their fiduciary hat and put on their sales hat in the same conversation.”

That was the moment. I couldn't unsee it. And I couldn't keep being part of it.

When I finally left, I walked away from the highest-paying job of my life. I took no clients with me, on principle. I built from zero.

I am proud of that.

I'm an Adjunct Professor at Golden Gate University, teaching in the same Financial Planning program I came through as a student. It keeps me sharp. It also keeps me honest — the students ask the questions my clients don't know to ask, and the answer has to hold up either way.

Teaching is a tax on certainty. You can't coast on jargon when a student wants to know why. If I can't defend a financial planning position to someone studying for the CFP exam, it probably doesn't belong in a client recommendation.

I've donated time to 3rd Decade, a nonprofit providing financial planning and mentorship to young adults who wouldn't otherwise have access to it. Most financial advice is delivered to the people who need it least. That's backward.

I've served as a Guardian ad Litem, representing youth in the court system who would otherwise have no voice in decisions being made about their lives. It's the kind of work that doesn't pay, doesn't scale, and doesn't look like advisory practice at all. It's also the kind of work that keeps the rest of it honest.

I've supported Junior Achievement's financial literacy programs in schools. Few things matter more than teaching people young what compound interest and honest fees actually look like.

Wealth In Yourself is where I spend most of my time — serving entrepreneurs and real estate investors who've outgrown the AUM model. I also run a separate practice, Top Shelf Private Wealth, for professional hockey players. I'm a lifelong hockey player myself, and it turns out compressed earning windows, jock tax, and cross-border planning demand the same rigor I bring to WIY clients in different contexts. The work informs the work.

I live near Lake Tahoe, Nevada with my wife Amanda and our son Cole. Our daughter is due September 2026.

I host a podcast where I talk about the things most advisors won't say out loud — fee conflicts, industry incentives, and what real financial planning actually looks like when you strip away the sales pitch.

I also own Lake Tahoe Motorcycle Rentals and CA Homes In The Pines, a short-term rental business in the Sierra Nevada. Advisors who help clients build wealth should be building it themselves. I'm not just managing your money — I'm doing the same work you are. I'm also working toward my private pilot's license — slower than I'd like, but the hours add up.