Find Top Financial Advisors in Burlington, North Carolina

I live in Durham, North Carolina, in the heart of the Research Triangle. I have a wonderful wife of 37 years, Lynn, and a daughter and son. My favorite activities involve spending time with friends and family. I love to ski, play golf, camp, and I walk with my father most every day.

Service has always been a part of my family history. My parents were physicians, my grandparents missionaries in China and small business owners. My other relatives are college professors, business owners, estate attorneys, missionaries and foundation executives, and my two grown children are both educators. Most of my family went to Wake Forest University, though my loyalty lies with UNC and Duke.

I earned an undergraduate degree with focus on Economics, Business, and Psychology from UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. Not realizing that would be a perfect background for financial planning, I kept reinventing myself as an executive to create value in 14 high-growth startups. In my spare time while running the IT group for a highly profitable 24/7/365 manufacturing facility (part of a Fortune 20 company), I earned a Duke MBA. In 2005 I decided to start a financial planning practice, garnering my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ professional designation three years later. Since then I've accumulated another 7 planning designations, and I still attend upwards of 15 conferences and industry events a year: I believe it's my obligation to clients to keep on top of current research, changes in policy, and thought leadership so I can serve them better and get them to the best possible outcomes. I specialize in financial independence, life, and legacy planning for clients in or near retirement, as well as business owners and executives.

You have decisions in your financial picture, you're the CEO of your financial life. Your job is to take all these ideas and decisions and make sure there's no gaps or overlaps. You have an asset management, risk management, and tax management divisions in your business management. One question: when you think about your whole financial picture, when was the last time someone besides you saw the whole thing in one place?

Our team is going to do a deep dive on the whole picture and report back to you about what you're doing that's really well-aligned, and typically find a few areas to talk about. And more importantly, there are going to be some strategy things that you didn't know you didn't know.

At the end of the day, financial planning is not just about the numbers -- how much you have and how much you need -- but about why the things you want are important to you. We go into much, much deeper planning than the math alone would dictate because we want to help people live focused on the joy in their lives. It's about the finances supporting your life, not your life supporting the finances.

Jacob leads a nationally known wealth management practice serving clients in search of holistic financial planning. Jacob has a desire for helping his successful clients reach their financial goals and protect their legacy by designing a fully optimized plan focusing on tax efficiency, estate/creditor protection, and efficient accumulation/decumulation methods. If this peeks your interest, reach out to our team for a consultation. jacob@piedmontcapitaladvisors.com

Core Values: 1. Faith 2. Family 3. Excellence 4. Transparency 5. Generosity

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor. Member FINRA & SIPC.

The LPL Financial representatives associated with this website may discuss and/or transact securities business only with residents of the following states: NC, SC, VA, GA, AL, AZ, CA, FL, IL, KY, MD

Ken Nelson started in the investment industry in Manhattan immediately after the crash of 1987. He earned an Engineering degree from Tufts University and has very strong quantitative skills as evidenced by his perfect Math SAT score, and State Chess Championship. He became a branch manager of a major brokerage firm at age 26, one of the youngest in his firms history.

Ken has provided economic commentary on TV and radio since 1990. He can be heard in the Triangle on 680AM. Ken earned his MBA (3.9 GPA) from Duke University in 2001. At graduation, Ken was asked by his Professors to return and guest lecture. Ken has guest lectured at Duke in the MBA program and Olli Program. Prior to the Covid pandemic in 2020, Ken taught a class on "The History of Money and Financial Markets" in the Olli Program. He is in the process of turning his course into a book.

Ken has utilized Duke, UNC,and NC State Phd candidates, Masters candidates and undergraduates as interns since 1991. They help Ken with his academic research in the financial markets.

Ken and his fiance' have 10 children and 6 grandchildren. Ken coached boys and girls soccer at the recreational, Challenge and Classic level periodically from 1992 - 2012 (mostly with CASL). Ken loves soccer, chess, skiing, history, and investments. While Ken has 35 years in the industry, he hopes to work 35 more. His investment practice is a family affair. His fiance' and son also work in the investment practice.

We are a committed group of professionals dedicated to providing superior investment advice to our corporate and high net worth clients. We average over 30 years of experience in the financial industry. We strive to provide the best, most professional and personalized service possible. We act honestly, with pride and integrity, and always in the best interest of our clients. We earn our clients trust and respect. We believe our knowledge, combined with the exceptional service we provide, ensure our clients are proud to recommend us to their family members, colleagues and friends.

Also located at 9121 Anson Way, Suite #204, Raleigh NC, 27615

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What if you didn't need to be ultra-wealthy for personal, top-to-bottom financial guidance and investment advice? Since 1986, we've helped millions of people get the ball rolling on their financial plans — with straightforward guidance built around their story and where they're headed next. Today, we're proud to be one of America's top independent investment advisory firms as ranked by Barron's (awarded September 2025, based on prior 12-month data through June 30), with nearly 1.25 million clients and more than $314 billion assets under management (as of March 31, 2026) — and prouder still of the trust clients place in us.

The Barron's Top 100 RIA Firms list, an annual ranking of independent advisory firms, is based on qualitative and quantitative criteria. Firms elect to participate but do not pay to be included in the ranking.