For the past 25 years James has helped clients define and achieve their financial and retirement goals and dreams. His mission is to continue to help clients create and grow wealth, protect and preserve their life savings and plan for the distribution of their estate in the most tax efficient manner.

His goal is for Texas Financial & Retirement to serve as the financial and retirement advisory practice and consumer advocate for Texas retirees and pre-retirees.

He has received countless civic and professional awards and is recognized as a well known Financial Professional. He was recognized by Five Star Professional* for providing exceptional service in his field. The recipients were featured in the August 2015 issue of Texas Monthly.

James holds a bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in Huntsville and a master’s degree from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.

He and his wife, Scheli, live in Bullard and attend the Bullard Southern Baptist Church. He is a member of the Christian Hunters & Anglers Association and enjoys hunting, fishing, reading and spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren.

* 5 Star Professional Disclaimer - The Five Star Wealth Manager award, administered by Crescendo Business Services, LLC (dba Five Star Professional), is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria - required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Active as a credentialed professional in the financial services industry for a minimum of 5 years. 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by Five Star Professional, the wealth manager has not: A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three customer complaints files against them (settled or pending) with any regulatory authority or Five Star Professional’s consumer complaint process.  Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints, registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through Five Star Professional’s consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client’s experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint filed with a regulatory authority; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy; E. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria – considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers.  Award does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients.  Once awarded, Wealth managers may purchase additional profile ad space or promotional products.  The Five Star award is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance.  Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their client’s assets.  The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by Five Star Professional or this publication.  Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by Five Star Professional in the future.  For more information on the Five Star award and the research/selection methodology, go to fivestarprofessional.com.  2,862 Dallas/Fort Worth wealth managers were considered for the award; 684 (24 percent of candidates) were named 2015 Five Star Wealth Managers.

Chris is our Director of Managed Money. He holds his Series 6, 63, and Life Insurance Licenses. With over 5 years’ experience in the financial industry he brings a great operations background to our team. Chris is a father to a 5 year old boy who just started Kindergarten this year. He loves to take his son to Jiu Jitsu, or to the park to play outside. Chris enjoys spending his spare time either writing music, or at the gym working out and living a healthy lifestyle.

Linda is the primary appointment scheduler. She provides appointment reminder notifications. She assists as needed with customer support in the annuity contract area as well as in the Fidelity account area. Linda also helps coordinate special events and activities for clients. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and has 35 years of experience in managing teams. Linda enjoys reading and spending time with her family and friends.

Jackie serves as the chief client greeter at the Tyler office. She is usually the person who first answers each phone call. She processes changes to annuity contracts and withdrawal requests, interacts with insurance companies to obtain current contract values and assists in the annual contract reallocation/review process. She has more than 17 years experience in banking customer service. Jackie enjoys spending time with her family – especially her grandchildren.

Scheli is responsible for fiscal matters including payables, payroll, receivables, etc. She manages other outside activities including insurance and taxes. Scheli has been with Texas Financial and Retirement since it's inception in 1989. She enjoys spending time with her family and grandchildren.

Cheryl is an Analyst Relationship Director and has passed her Series 7, 63 and her Life/Health and Property and Casualty exams. She also graduated from The American College earning the designation of Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU). She has more than 20 years of experience helping clients realize their financial and retirement goals. Cheryl enjoys travel (mostly by cruise ship) and scrapbooking her adventures. She is married to Terry Smith, whom she traveled across the globe with in his Air Force career. They have three children and five grandchildren.