We specialize in helping corporate professionals who are approaching or in a career transition and beyond. John Stokes founded this company over 20 years ago with a mission to help others “Transition and Thrive.”

At John Stokes Financial, we provide personalized financial planning focused on life transitions. We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all strategy. Instead, we take the time to understand your goals, values, and concerns, then create a retirement or transition plan. Our onboarding process includes multiple meetings to ensure we are a good fit for one another. We want to hear your life story and get to know you as a human being, not a client.

We work with professionals and families who have built meaningful wealth and want to put it to work with the guidance of a trusted advisor. Our clients come from a variety of industries and backgrounds, and most have established investment portfolios and are ready to delegate their financial decision-making to a professional.

We offer personalized wealth management through: financial planning, investment management, retirement planning, job transition consulting, employment benefits planning, estate planning strategies, insurance, tax planning strategies, and educational client events.

We are an independent fiduciary wealth management firm. We are legally and ethically required to act in our client’s best interests, free from influence of commission-based sales or outside influence. We provide non-biased financial advice on a fee-only basis.

We’re headquartered in Irvine, CA. We meet many of our clients for virtual meetings, but still offer in-person appointments.

We use National Financial Services, a Fidelity company, for our investment clearing firm.

Osaic is our broker-dealer—the firm that provides the regulatory, compliance, and trading support that allows us to serve you as independent financial professionals.

Our Transition & Thrive Process is designed to guide you through career and life changes with clarity and confidence. We begin by understanding your goals and concerns, then create a personalized plan that addresses income, benefits, investments, and cash flow. From there, we help you take action—whether that means rolling over accounts, reviewing insurance, or adjusting your financial strategy. As your situation evolves, we stay by your side with ongoing support to ensure you not only navigate the transition but thrive in your next chapter. We help you move from uncertainty to clarity, and from stability to growth—so you don’t just transition, you thrive.

Yes. Taxes don’t disappear in retirement, and without planning, they can become one of your biggest expenses. Our Planning Portal helps us create personalized strategies to minimize taxes on withdrawals, Social Security, and investment income—so you can keep more of your money and enjoy retirement with confidence.

We design customized retirement income strategies to help you generate consistent and sustainable income throughout retirement. This often involves coordinating Social Security, pensions, retirement accounts, and investment income in the most tax-efficient way possible.