Laura Tarbox, CFP^®

As CEO, Laura is responsible for creating the vision and implementing the firm’s strategy, and for building and preserving the firm’s culture.  Along with other members of the firm’s Management Committee, Laura is responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm.

A UCLA graduate with 40+ years of investment and financial planning experience, Laura received her CFP^® in 1984 and founded Tarbox in 1985.  Laura has been an industry leader in financial education, teaching investment and financial planning classes and holding leadership roles in a variety of programs, including:

• Program Director, Financial Planning Certificate Program at UC Irvine (20 years)
• Dean, Financial Planning Association’s CFP^® Residency
• Adjunct Faculty, College of Financial Planning, USC and Cal Lutheran University
• CFP^® Instructor, UC Irvine, winner of the Distinguished Instructor Award
• Founder, Financial Planning Internship Program at UC Irvine
• Instructor, California CPA Education Foundation
• Board Member, CFP^®  Board of Standards’ Board of Examiners

Professional boards have sought out Laura’s expertise throughout her career.  She is currently a member of TD Ameritrade’s President’s Council and a Trustee of the Board of the Foundation for Financial Planning, a national organization supporting pro bono financial planning programs.  Laura has previously served as a member of the Charles Schwab Institutional Advisory Board, president of the Orange County Society of the ICFP, and director on the National Board of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners—the youngest director ever appointed at the time.

Formerly host of the weekly radio talk show Money with Laura Tarbox on K-ORG 1190 AM, Laura is frequently quoted by national and local media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.

Laura’s volunteer charitable activities include serving as Board Chair of the Laguna Beach Community Foundation, Treasurer of the Laguna Beach SchoolPower Endowment Fund, member of the Laguna Canyon Foundation’s Gift and Estate Planning and Investments Committees, and Board member of ChildAid, a non-profit foundation dedicated to creating opportunity through literacy in the lives of Latin American children living in poverty.  Laura has been recognized as one of the “Best Financial Advisors” in the country by Worth magazine for multiple years and was named one of the country’s “100 Great Financial Planners” by Mutual Funds magazine.