Wealth Management and Retirement Planning in Phoenix AZ, Based in Chandler
CNBC FA 100 Rankings
Top Advisory Firms in the united states (2026)
See disclosure at bottom of page
If you’re looking for wealth management in Phoenix, AZ, Godsey & Gibb Wealth Management provides a coordinated approach for retirees and high-net-worth families across the East Valley, including Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Tempe. Your retirement should be about enjoying the life you’ve built, not wondering whether your investments, retirement income, tax strategy, and estate plan are working together—or whether a large April tax bill will cut into what you’ve saved.
For households with at least $500,000 in investable assets who want to preserve wealth, draw income tax-efficiently, and pass assets to the next generation with more intention, we bring investment management, tax planning and preparation, retirement planning, estate planning, and fiduciary advice together under one roof. That matters in and around Phoenix, where approaching and current retirees often need a more synchronized plan to manage taxes, protect what they’ve accumulated, and transfer wealth with greater clarity and peace of mind.
Serving Families Across Phoenix’s East Valley
Emil Pichardo, CFP® works with families throughout the East Valley, including Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe, as well as clients elsewhere in Phoenix, Arizona. Most client meetings happen wherever the client is most comfortable, whether that is our Chandler office, conveniently located for East Valley retirees, or their own living room, so each person can get advice in the setting that suits them best.
Wealth Management in the Phoenix East Valley: Financial Advisors for High Net Worth Clients
If you’ve spent years working with separate advisors—one for investments, another for taxes, maybe a third for estate planning—you know the frustration. Recommendations conflict. Opportunities slip through the cracks. And you’re left wondering if anyone is looking at your complete financial life.
Most wealth management firms in Phoenix serve everyone from young professionals to business owners to retirees, spreading their attention thin across vastly different needs. Pre-retirees and retirees deserve a firm focused specifically on the challenges you face: preserving what you’ve accumulated, generating reliable retirement income, and transferring wealth to the next generation efficiently.
Godsey & Gibb Wealth Management was built to eliminate that fragmentation. Our team of wealth advisors and in-house CPAs works together to create a comprehensive approach where your investment portfolio and tax strategy reinforce each other—rather than operating in silos. We focus on wealth preservation over aggressive growth because at this stage, protecting your assets matters more than chasing returns.
Reviews From Our Local Clients
Our Approach – Retirement Planning in Phoenix AZ
Fiduciary financial advisors
We are a fee only firm with a fiduciary duty to put your interest first, and our advisory services are designed to eliminate conflicts that may compromise advice at commission-driven institutions. Our advisors are compensated by clients, not by selling investment or insurance products, so there is no product-based compensation tied to any recommendation or sale. That means we provide advice in your best interest with clear transparency around compensation and conflicts of interest, while many advisors in the U.S. still accept commissions.
Tax planning, financial planning, and investments advisors under one roof
Our in-house CPA team collaborates directly with your financial advisor, ensuring investment decisions considers tax implications
Rigorous investment selection process
Rather than defaulting to broad mutual funds or ETFs, we conduct thorough research on appropriate investment products to build your entire portfolio with purpose, and our portfolio management process continues to refine it over time.
Dedicated wealth advisor building deep family relationships
You work with professionals who know your history, your family, and your financial goals—not a rotating cast of representatives
This isn’t financial planning by checklist. It’s genuine guidance from a team invested in your success.
Our Process – Phoenix AZ Wealth Management
Step 1: Comprehensive Wealth Assessment
Every relationship begins with a conversation. During your initial consultation, we take time to understand your retirement goals, risk tolerance, investment goals, cash flow, and the lifestyle you want to live throughout your financial journey. We review your current investments, tax situation, and estate planning needs to identify gaps and opportunities.
That early review may also include insurance needs as part of your overall plan.
This assessment examines everything from retirement plan distributions and Social Security timing to how Arizona’s unique tax rules might benefit your situation. Many families who relocate to Phoenix do so to take advantage of potentially lower state income taxes, no state tax on Social Security, no state-level estate or inheritance taxes, and the benefits of living in a community property state. Our assessment helps identify whether you’re maximizing those benefits.
Step 2: Synchronized Strategy Development
With a clear picture of where you stand, our team creates coordinated investment strategies and tax strategy. Your wealth advisor works alongside our in-house CPA team to develop a client-focused approach to the more technical parts of planning, including multi-year tax bracket management, Roth conversion timing, Required Minimum Distribution scheduling, asset location across different asset classes, and other tax considerations. This planning helps you manage money in a way that aligns with your goals and tax picture.
We also develop a multi-generational wealth planning approach aimed to help your assets transfer efficiently to children and grandchildren. Proper planning can preserve significantly more of your legacy.
Step 3: Ongoing Management and Optimization
Investment management isn’t something you set and forget. We provide regular portfolio monitoring and rebalancing aligned with your retirement timeline, helping manage portfolios as market conditions and client needs change. Market conditions change. Tax laws evolve. Life happens.
Our team provides annual tax preparation integrated with your investment strategy, ensuring the plans we create actually get implemented. You receive strategic planning updates moving forward as rules, marketings, or life circumstances shift, whether that’s a change in federal RMD rules or a new opportunity to lessen your tax burden.
What Makes our Phoenix AZ Wealth Management Different
Phoenix AZ has no shortage of financial advisors and wealth management firms. What matters is finding one aligned with how you want to retire.
in-house cpa collaboration
Unlike firms that hand off tax work to outside CPAs, our professionals work together daily, ensuring your financial strategy and tax preparation are fully synchronized.
Focus on approaching and current retirees
We specialize in the unique challenges you face, from retirement income planning to estate transfer strategies, and while many Phoenix firms cater to high-net-worth individuals, our focus is specifically on approaching and current retirees who want to protect and grow what they’ve built.
Access to investment decision-makers
You can speak directly with our investment team about specific securities, investing decisions, or our methodology—direct access that can build your confidence in our team’s expertise and provide complete portfolio transparency.
Our Phoenix AZ Wealth Management Services
Investment Management
We construct customized portfolio strategies aligned with your retirement timeline and risk tolerance. This includes regular monitoring and rebalancing to keep your investments on track with your goals.
Our approach emphasizes wealth preservation through dividend-focused stocks, fixed income allocations, and positioning designed with the intent to protect against market volatility.
Tax Strategy & Preparation
Our in-house CPA team provides tax preparation for investment clients, eliminating the disconnect between advice and implementation. Beyond annual filing, we deliver coordinated tax planning strategies designed to minimize your lifetime tax burden.
This includes managing your tax bracket across retirement, timing Roth conversions strategically, optimizing capital gains and losses, and ensuring you take full advantage of Arizona’s many state tax benefits. A complete wealth plan may also address cash management for households with more complex needs.
Retirement & Estate Planning
Comprehensive retirement income planning can help your resources last throughout your lifetime. We help you coordinate Social Security, pensions, retirement account distributions, and other income sources into a sustainable withdrawal strategy.
Multi-generational wealth transfer strategies help you preserve and protect assets for children and grandchildren. With federal estate tax exemptions currently at $15 million for individuals ($30 million for married couples), many families in Phoenix AZ likely won’t face estate taxes—but proper beneficiary designations, trust structures, and succession planning still matter significantly. Estate planning can also help prevent disputes among heirs after death.
Meet Your Chandler Team
Emil Pichardo, CFP®
Wealth Advisor
Chandler, AZ
With over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Emil’s background is expansive and includes work in client services, financial advisory, holistic planning, risk oversight, supervision, and human resources, reflecting deep advisory expertise developed while working alongside financial planning professionals. He brings broad experience in supporting clients and colleagues while maintaining a focus on operational effectiveness and regulatory standards. Outside of work, Emil cherishes time with his wife, Tonja, their growing family of three adult children, six grandchildren, and their Aussie-doodle, Gia. He also enjoys travel, functional fitness, time with friends, and staying active in his church community.
Kelsey Cordrey
client service administrator
Kelsey joined Godsey & Gibb in 2019 and brings ten years of administrative and client service experience, including roles as education coordinator at Virginia Opera and legal assistant at Marrs & Henry. She studied musical theatre at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and political science at VCU. Outside the office, she acts, sings, directs and designs sound for professional theatres around Richmond VA, where she lives with her wife, Margaret, and their rescue dogs, Gracie and Phoebe. Kelsey loves building genuine connections with the clients she supports and is regarded at Godsey & Gibb for her attention to detail and institutional knowledge.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum to work with your firm?
We require $500K in minimum investable assets to uphold our commitment to top-tier service. This threshold helps us serve high net worth investors with the dedicated attention, personalized strategies, and integrated tax planning they require. Managing fewer, larger relationships means we can truly serve as your partner rather than processing transactions.
How do you charge for wealth management services?
Our fee structure is transparent and based on assets under management:
- 1% annually for the first $1 million in AUM
- 0.75% annually for AUM from $1 million to $2 million
- 0.50% annually for any AUM above $2 million
This fee is the only compensation we receive to serve as your investment firm. Tax preparation services are provided for investment clients at an additional cost as part of our integrated approach.
Where is Godsey & Gibb based, and do you serve clients outside the Phoenix area?
Godsey & Gibb was founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1985, and Richmond remains our headquarters. Emil Pichardo leads our Chandler, Arizona office, and our advisors also work with clients in other parts of the country. If you live outside the East Valley, contact us and we will talk through how we would work together.
What makes working with you unique?
Several things distinguish our firm:
- In-person meetings if you wish—we value face-to-face conversation and relationship building
- Personalized service with a synchronized approach that coordinates every aspect of your financial life
- Access to our investment team if you’d like to discuss specific securities or our methodology
- No 800 number—only our team responding to you promptly and personally
- Education and preparedness for your family, ensuring spouses and heirs understand your financial situation and plans
We’re not a large institution where you become lost in the system. We’re a team of professionals committed to your family’s financial future.
Our Chandler Office Location
3100 W Ray Rd Suite 201
Chandler, AZ 85226
Business Hours
| Monday – Friday* | 8:30AM – 5:00PM |
| Saturday – Sunday | Closed |
*Our Chandler location observes the NYSE stock exchange closures.
Chandler, AZ
Our Other Office Locations
Start Your Wealth Management Journey Today
If you’re ready to stop managing fragmented financial relationships and start working with a firm that coordinates your investments, taxes, and estate planning into one strategy, we’d welcome the opportunity for a conversation and to support you through every stage of your financial journey.
Fill out our contact form to schedule an initial consultation. This meeting is entirely no-obligation—an opportunity for us to learn about your situation and for you to learn our approach, expected cost, and figure out whether our firm is the right fit for your needs.
You’ve worked hard to build your wealth. Now let’s create a plan to protect it.
Contact Us
RANKINGS DISCLOSURE
CNBC:
On October 8, 2026, Godsey & Gibb Wealth Management was ranked #89 of all Registered Investment Advisors in the United States. This ranking was based on data as of December 31, 2025. For 2026, CNBC and data partner AccuPoint Solutions started with 41,578 RIAs from the SEC’s regulatory database. That list was culled to 1,015 firms, and finalists completed surveys to confirm key details. CNBC made an editorial review of entries, and AccuPoint used our proprietary weighted criteria to narrow down the list and rank the firms. Among other criteria, CNBC and partners weighed regulatory/compliance record, years in business, number of employees, number of investment advisors, assets under management, accounts under management, states where RIA is registered, and country of domicile. Read more about the ranking methodology here. Godsey & Gibb Wealth Management did not pay a fee to be included in this ranking.