Jay R. Spector, CFP®

I am honored to be a founding partner of Barton Spector Wealth Strategies along with my long-time friend, Sharon Barton.  Sharon and I had initially met in 2005 during Scottsdale Leadership (Class XX) and formed a great friendship.  I started my early financial advisory career at AG Edwards, before meeting up with Sharon at a Scottsdale Leadership annual luncheon.  We both shared a vision to create a firm where we had the freedom, tools, and support to provide a customized approach to wealth planning and investing for our clients, with their best interest as our cornerstone.

Before Sharon and I started our firm, I spent my early career as an assistant to former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt in Washington, D.C.  During my time there, I attended The Johns Hopkins University where I earned a Master of Science in Real Estate.  And, Washington, D.C. is where I met my wife, Bethany.  

After a few years, Bethany and I had an incredible opportunity to move back to my home-state of Arizona where I was privileged to serve as executive director of the Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (“AZWIFA”) in the administration of former Governor Janet Napolitano.  After my tenure working with Governor Napolitano at AZWIFA, I took the skills that I had developed and joined the private sector as a municipal finance investment banker.  There, I could continue to help cities and towns with their municipal finance plans.  It was a natural transition.  

While I really enjoyed being an investment banker, I came to realize my passion was in helping my friends and family with their retirement and investment planning.  Financial planning was something that I had wanted to do ever since I earned my Bachelor of General Studies in Business Administration at Northern Arizona University.  After my time as a vice president of municipal finance at RBC Capital Markets, I moved to the financial planning side of the industry where Sharon and I started working together.  And the rest is history...

Bethany and I live in Phoenix with our two children, Jordyn and Micah, and our labradoodles, Piper and Winnie.  I really enjoy giving back to our community.  I have served on the city of Scottsdale's Environmental Quality Advisory Board and the U.S. EPA's Environmental Financial Advisory Board.  I was an active member of the Fiesta Bowl committee for eight years where I was twice Chairman of the Fiesta Bowl Parade as well as Chairman of the Game Operations committee.  I am now a Life Member of the Fiesta Bowl Committee and am active with the Arizona Alumni Chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for Arizona Helping Hands (“AHH”), a foster care resource organization.  Our family is involved with AHH as well.   Since both of my children have been competitive swimmers, I have become a member of USA Swimming, serving as volunteer meet official at local, state and regional competitions.

Sharon and I continue to work to fulfill our initial vision of providing you and your families a financial planning partnership you can trust.  The partnership is not just the two of us, but all of you who we strive to serve with our best guidance.  We utilize our "Reality-Based Investing" approach and believe that we all make a great team together.

https://www.cfp.net/
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ - a designation awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.