Jeffrey Bingham, CFP®,CLU®,CASL®

I was born and raised in Klamath Falls, Oregon. After graduating from high school, I enlisted in the Marine Corps for a four year hitch. Upon receiving an honorable discharge at the rank of sergeant, I enrolled in the University of Oregon. While I truly enjoyed my academic experiences, I was searching for what it was that I truly wanted to do. Luckily, a demanding Shakespeare teacher introduced me to one of my two true vocations, the theatre. Eleven months later, a traveling theatre troupe from New York City, Mabou Mines, asked me to join their group. That invitation, which I happily accepted, led to a nineteen year career in the professional theatre.

Then I met a wonderful woman, Veronica, and her eight-year old daughter, Natalie. At that point, knowing that it would be impossible to care for a wife and raise a daughter in two rooms in New York City, I left the theatre to work full-time for a data-base publisher, RR Bowker. Finding this work unfulfilling, and the work environment stifling, I began the second career search of my life which led to my second true vocation, financial services.

I began my financial services career working as an independent producer with First Investors Corporation. After ten years there, I accepted an offer from one of my clients, an insurance agent, to develop the financial services arm of his agency. While devoting six years to the project, I found that, the business model of the agency did not allow me to deliver the kind of holistic, independent advice that would best serve my clients. At that point, I decided to reestablish my independent practice.

In the meantime, my eight year-old step-daughter had grown to become a beautiful woman and a skilled graphic arts professional. She and her husband, Kent, established their own successful web and graphic design company, Inclined, Inc. and settled down in the Reading, PA area, Kent's home territory. Once I decided to establish my private practice, it seemed only right we do so in Reading. Family has always been of utmost importance to both Veronica and myself. With both of my parents having passed away and Veronica's family living in Slovakia, our family is in the Reading area, not in New Jersey, where we had previously made our home.

Upon arriving in Reading, I needed to find a firm with which to affiliate. I required a firm that would have a culture that was dedicated to the needs of my clients above all else. This firm would also need to have independent platforms on both the investment and the protection sides so that whatever my clients required, I would not be constrained to only one company's products. After meeting with over fifty companies in my original search, I found eight companies that provided the independence I required for the care of my clients.

Out of those eight, I found only one company that I felt truly understood the real life realities of individuals, families, and businesses in this country. That company is First Financial Group, an agency of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. Their philosophy, which I wholeheartedly embrace, is based on a belief that if anyone is going to save for their future, they must have a financial balance which is based on an understanding that life can derail us at any point. So, protection must come first as a base on which to build an investment strategy.

In the years I have worked as a financial services professional, I have earned the designations of a Certified Financial Planner^TM, a Chartered Life Underwriter^® and Chartered Advisor for Senior Living^®. I am Series 7, 6, 65, & 63 licensed as well as holding health, life, and variable life licenses. I am a Investment Adviser Representative of Park Avenue Securities.

Registered Representative & Investment Advisor w/Park Avenue Securities, Financial Representative of Guardian.