Jake Skelhorn

About Jake

My partner and I started Spark Wealth Advisors after spending the first part of our careers working for the big name firms everyone is familiar with. While we gained invaluable experience, we felt that we could provide deeper planning to a limit number of clients, adopt modern technology and retirement strategies, and remove investment provider constraints of large firms by opening our own shop. At Spark, we specialize in tax-efficient retirement income planning. Rather than using a rigid withdrawal rate like the 4% rule or using arbitrary Monte Carlo simulations, we used a guardrails approach that helps our clients understand when they can spend more and when they might need to cut back based on their balances throughout retirement. We consider tax implications of every recommendation we make and aim to minimize them throughout retirement and beyond, if leaving a legacy to loved ones is a goal. My partner Christopher Johns, EA also files taxes for our clients, ensuring taxes, investments, and retirement income are all aligned rather than disconnected. Our investment approach focuses on keeping costs and taxes low and diversifying globally. Rather than trying to pick the next hot stock, we believe the markets are efficient pricing machines and will do the heavy lifting over time. Decades of academic research have shown that tilting portfolios towards certain categories of stocks, such as small cap, value, and highly profitable companies, can enhance* long-term expected returns while maintaining low costs, tax efficiency, and diversification. *Past performance does not guarantee future results.