Our mission is to be the trusted financial advisor for all aspects of our clients’ financial lives. In so doing, we take the time to develop a complete understanding of each client’s financial goals and aspirations, their individual circumstances, and their investment objectives and concerns. With that information, we help our clients make smart investment decisions and keep them focused on their intended path to a secure financial future. We work closely with our clients using a consultative process to help them grow and protect their wealth with cost efficiency and reliability.

About Us

Working with the team at PKS Investment Advisors is described by many clients through a single word. Unique. This description is born from those clients’ who have not only engaged PKS Investment Advisors for financial planning, but have taken the opportunity to employ the tax advisors in our affiliated firm, PKS & Co, PA to integrate their tax planning with their financial plans. We have experiences that this “dovetailing” of services helps provide an efficiency to a client’s overall financial picture.

John M. Stern, Jr.

CPA/PFS, Member of PKS Investment Advisors LLC

A 1970 graduate of Loyola College with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. John has over 40 years experience in accounting and taxation. Twenty-five years as partner with PKS & Company, Certified Public Accounting, overseeing tax and financial planning for businesses and individuals. John started his career in Baltimore with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. (KPMG) working with both public and privately held companies. John has also owned and operated private industry businesses, all of which have been successfully sold. Over the past 25 years, John has gained extensive experience in financial planning with privately owned and family operated businesses. He volunteers on the Board of several local non-profit organizations including the Community Foundation, and he is a member of the Salisbury Rotary, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Timothy A. Gonzales

AAMS®, CFP, Advisor of PKS Investment Advisors LLC

Tim is a Certified Financial Planner and Accredited Asset Management Specialist through the College for Financial Planning. As an Advisor for PKS Investment Advisors, Tim specializes in Investment Planning and Retirement Income Planning. Tim is pleased to be truly independent of any brokerage company, and maintains a fiduciary (legal) duty to his clients’ best interests. An active member of the community, Tim serves on the board for the Fruitland Chamber of Commerce, and on the board for Crimesolvers of the Lower Eastern Shore. Tim holds FINRA series 7, & 66 licenses in addition to insurance licenses for life and health.

Gigi LeKites

Advisor of PKS Investment Advisors LLC

Gigi is a 1996 graduate of Salisbury University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Since joining PKS Investment Advisors, she has gained experience in financial planning and portfolio management with a concentration in the 401(k) industry. As an advisor with PKS Investment Advisors, Gigi assists the advisors in investing and rebalancing portfolios, meeting clients’ service needs, and acting as a liaison for the advisors. Gigi holds a FINRA series 65 and insurance licenses in life and health.

Daniel M. O’Connell II

CPA/PFS, CVA, Partner, PKS Investment Advisors LLC

A graduate of Salisbury University, Dan has over 18 years experience in accounting, auditing, taxation and financial planning. In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant, he is a Personal Financial Specialist and a Certified Valuation Analyst. With his experience and certifications Dan specializes in providing services to 1) small & middle-market businesses by providing accounting, tax and business valuation services 2) the healthcare industry including financial, operational and management consulting services, 3) the legal community though providing litigation support services, and 4) individuals by providing personal financial planning.

He is a member of: the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants, the Delaware Society of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, the Institute of Business Appraisers, the Financial Planning Association and the Medical Group Managers Association.

Established in 1999, PKS Investment Advisors LLC is an independent registered investment advisor. As such, the firm represents the interests of its clients and not that of a brokerage firm or insurance company. The firm is affiliated with PKS & Company PA. one of the largest and most respected Certified Public Accounting firms serving its clients on Delmarva since 1978. This relationship enables PKS Investment Advisors to extend the income tax and estate planning services of the C.P.A. firm to its clients under one roof. It is the core belief of both PKS Investment Advisors and PKS & Company that the coordination between your financial plans and your tax plans benefits clients with a service truly unique to financial planning.

The majority of individual investors, through stock brokers or on their own, pick stocks and/or mutual funds that are expected to outperform the market averages. In so doing, the question of what and when to buy and when to sell is a constant issue, and it is difficult to maintain an investment discipline particularly during market downturns.

We believe there is a better way to a good investment experience, one that will enable you to achieve the premium returns that world capital markets provide over the long term.

Our investment philosophy and approach is perhaps best defined by what it is not: stock picking and market timing, which are costly efforts put forth by brokers and money managers in their attempt to beat the market. Instead, our investment philosophy is based upon Modern Portfolio Theory, an academic effort that won a Nobel Prize and that has become the fiduciary standard for trust investment management. MPT essentially states the following: 1) that securities markets are highly efficient at incorporating new information into security prices, thereby making it extremely difficult to exploit market anomalies; 2) that risk and expected return are related, so that riskier assets produce higher expected returns as compensation for taking greater risk; and 3) that diversification is the best means to manage portfolio risk, enabling the investor to add higher-risk, low-correlating asset classes to a portfolio to reduce volatility and increase expected rates of return.

We insure that our clients’ investment portfolios are well diversified by using institutional, asset-class portfolios that contain 1) large company stocks and small cap stocks, 2) growth stocks and value stocks, 3) U.S. and international stocks (developed and emerging markets), 4) bonds with short to intermediate-term maturities and inflation-protected bonds, and 5) hard assets such as securitized real estate and commodities. Where appropriate to fulfill income and cash flow needs, we often include structured annuities in the investment program.

We look forward to an opportunity to meet with you to further describe how our investment approach has performed and, more importantly, how it can work to better ensure that you reach your financial goals.

The BAM ALLIANCE is a community of more than 130 independent wealth management firms located throughout the United States — united in belief and in practice that there is a better, more effective, and more resilient way for investors and their families to safeguard their financial futures and realize their dreams.

DFA implements our recommended passive investment approach via funds designed to capture market dimensions in a low-cost, tax-efficient manner.