Justin Berry, CFP®, CSLP®, RICP®
Financial Planner, Partner
Justin Berry, CFP®, CSLP®, RICP®
Financial Planner, Partner
About me
I am an independent financial planner located in Oregon who believes in building relationships with physician families based on financial education and blunt honesty. My primary goal with everyone I meet is to reduce their financial stress and help them avoid costly mistakes.
I have built relationships with several hospitals in the Pacific Northwest, but I specialize in helping young physicians at OHSU because decisions during the early stages of a medical career regarding topics such as student loans, renting vs. buying a house, disability insurance selection, and savings automation can have a significant long-term effect on a physician’s financial health.
Since 2011, I have hosted over one hundred financial wellness workshops for residency departments at OHSU, and I have provided one-on-one financial education coaching for more than one thousand OHSU residents and fellows. I want the doctors I coach to be prepared to make informed decisions and to have a clear understanding of the “why” behind each decision they make. Financial education before the end of training is crucial to accomplishing this goal.
In February 2019, I was selected to be the advisor responsible for the OHSU Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) Disability Insurance Program. This beneficial program allows OHSU residents and fellows to purchase specialty-specific, privately owned, portable disability insurance at discounted pricing without having to complete the normal risk screening and medical records review process. I am the only advisor approved to help OHSU residents and fellows acquire a GSI policy.
If you want to learn more about the GSI policy available to OHSU residents and fellows, you can email me or visit this page.
When I am not working, there is nothing I like more than spending time with my wife and daughters. Being a dad has been the best experience of my life, and I love finding new activities or adventures for us to enjoy together. I also enjoy golfing, speed golfing, basketball, going on road trips, and seeing live comedy shows.
My training and experience
I have spent my entire career working with physician families. The experience of coaching hundreds of families is incredibly valuable and contributes to the guidance I provide to my clients. I want to help physician families avoid mistakes, and a big part of that is accomplished by learning from others who have traveled a similar path before you. I help transfer that knowledge and experience from my older clients to my younger ones.
You should not rely solely on experience, though. To provide great guidance, formal training is also critical. Here is a short description of the designations I have qualified for:
CFP® or CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
Qualifying to use the CFP® designation requires completing the CFP® formal education program, passing the CFP® exam, having more than 6,000 hours of qualifying experience, and demonstrating adherence to a standard of professional ethics. A CFP® professional is trained to take a holistic, personalized approach to bring all the pieces of your financial life together.
CSLP® or CERTIFIED STUDENT LOAN PROFESSIONAL
With almost all my clients being physicians, creating a strategy for repaying medical school student loans is often the most pressing financial concern I hear about. The CSLP® education program was created to educate financial professionals about all facets of student loans and various repayment strategies. I was the first financial professional in the state of Oregon to meet the requirements and pass the test for qualifying to use the CSLP® designation.
RICP® or RETIREMENT INCOME CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL
A problem I have encountered numerous times in my career is folks often talk about retirement as a “finish line”. However, the reality is that there often will be two, three, or even four decades of life beyond the point of your earned income slowing down or stopping entirely that we need to prepare for. Many people focus almost entirely on the “accumulation” period of their life while they are working and saving. They often spend little to no effort planning for the “distribution” phase when they need to live on their savings. The RICP® designation focuses on addressing this concern.
Services
As an independent financial planner, I help physician families address the following topics:
- Debt management and repayment strategies, including education about Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)
- Specialty-specific disability insurance options and assisting with company selection among the “big five companies,” which consist of Principal, Ameritas, Guardian Berkshire, Standard, and Mass Mutual
- Cash flow organization and automation strategies
- Term life insurance options and assisting with company selection
- Retirement funding strategies (401a, 401k, 403b, 457b, Roth IRA, taxable brokerage accounts, etc.)
- Education funding strategies for children or other loved ones
- Home buying vs renting decisions
The potential benefits of meeting with me include:
- A debt education discussion to make sure you are not making an expensive mistake with your repayment strategy.
- An evaluation of your insurance needs to make sure you are not over-insured, under-insured, or overpaying.
- Increased knowledge of how the U.S. financial system works and how it will affect your life.
- A reduction in financial stress.
Registered representative of Cetera Wealth Services, LLC. Securities offered through Cetera Wealth Services LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory Services offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, a registered investment adviser. Cetera is under separate ownership from any other named entity.
