Jerry M. Schwartz, CFP®, AIFA®

Jerry M. Schwartz, Co-founder, Principal, Chief Investment Analyst and Chief Compliance Officer with Arista Wealth Advisors, was born in 1947 in New York City. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Stony Brook University and a Master of Arts degree in comparative East-West Philosophy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In addition to post-M.A. graduate work, he was the recipient of a National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship in Sanskrit, was the assistant to the editor of the journal Philosophy East and West, published at the University of Hawaii and participated in the East-West Philosophers Conference on Wang Yang-Ming, held at the University of Hawaii.

In 1977 he became a FINRA Registered Representative with Merrill Lynch in Honolulu and continued there until 1984, when he began his private financial planning and investment advisory practice. In addition, he was a Registered Principal with the FINRA, through Walnut Street Securities, Inc. through March 2004. He now serves his clients exclusively through Arista Wealth Advisors, his independent investment advisory and financial planning practice.

Mr. Schwartz completed the CFP® Education Program through the College for Financial Planning and has earned the Certified Financial Planner™ designation. In addition, Jerry holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIFA®) designation.

He is a member of the Financial Planning Association and the Registry of CFP® Licensed Practitioners. He is past President, past Chairman and past trustee of the Board of the Capital District Society of the FPA in Albany, NY and is a member of the Hawaii Society of the FPA in Honolulu and the Hawaii Estate Planning Council.

In addition to numerous appearances on the radio in the Albany area, on the CNBC cable television network and KHET Hawaii Public Television, he has taught individual tutorials in business ethics and philosophy through Empire State College of the State University of New York, financial planning and investment courses in the non-credit division of Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, NY and has twice addressed the New York State Bar Association Elder Law Section. Mr. Schwartz spoke on financial planning for the aging and was a panel participant at the 2005 White House Mini-conference on Aging in New York City. He presents the “Planning for Retirement” and “Investing for Retirement” program segments of the telecourse, “Take Charge of Your Money”, presented on Olelo, Hawaii public access TV, through the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He presents programs and talks on spirituality and money, addressing the issue of applying the purposes of our lives to the money in our lives.

Mr. Schwartz was founding Board President of Greene County Common Ground, a not-for-profit alternative dispute resolution and mediation service. Mr. Schwartz is a board member, investment advisor and treasurer of the Foundation for World Education, a tax-exempt granting institution, which supports the work of the Integral Yoga community in the USA and Auroville, India. He is a past board, endowment and investment committee member of Camphill Village, USA, Inc. in Copake, NY, a life sharing community for the developmentally disabled and currently manages a portion of the endowment of the Camphill Village Copake Foundation. Additionally, he is a member of the board, chairs the asset management committee and is investment advisor for the Camphill Foundation. He is investment advisor to the Triskeles Foundation, which serves progressive social initiatives and philanthropy and serves as a board member and treasurer of Lokelani Ohana on the island of Maui, Hawaii, which is building a life sharing community for people with special needs. In addition, he manages several other charitable and religious endowments.