ABOUT THE FIRM
A firm built around the whole financial picture.
Harvard Wealth Management is an independent, fee-only wealth management firm on Saint Simons Island, serving business owners, professionals, and families across coastal Georgia and nationwide. We are held to a fiduciary standard, compensated only by our clients, and led by a practicing CPA — which means tax strategy is part of the planning rather than a separate conversation held somewhere else.
FOUNDED ON SAINT SIMONS ISLAND
FEE-ONLY
CLIENTS NATIONWIDE
FIDUCIARY
CPA-LED
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Tax strategy belongs inside the financial plan
01
Not as an afterthought, not outsourced to a separate CPA. The most consequential financial decisions — Roth conversions, retirement withdrawals, business exits — are tax decisions first.
Fee-only, fiduciary advice means our interests are structurally aligned. There's nothing I'm trying to sell you. There's no product that pays me more than another. The advice is clean.
02
Transparency is non-negotiable
Long-term thinking over short-term comfort
03
Good advice isn't always what you want to hear. My job is to give you an honest, well-reasoned view of your financial situation — even when that means having a harder conversation.
I work with a deliberate number of clients. That's intentional — it's what allows every relationship to receive the attention it deserves.
04
Depth over volume
LEAD ADVISOR
Jake Harvard, CPA, CFP®
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT · CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®
“Most financial advisors and CPAs operate in separate worlds. I built Harvard Wealth Management to close that gap.”
I started my career at Ernst & Young, working with high-net-worth individuals and closely held businesses on complex tax and financial planning. That experience gave me an early look at what sophisticated planning actually looks like — and how rarely most people have access to it. The clients I worked with at EY had teams of professionals coordinating their financial lives. Most individuals and business owners don't.
After EY, I moved to smaller and mid-sized firms where the work became increasingly advisory. I worked closely with business owners and families navigating real decisions, not just compliance. Over time it became clear that the most valuable thing I could offer wasn't a tax return. It was a comprehensive view of someone's entire financial picture.
The CPA credential grounds everything I do in the reality of taxes — which is where most financial plans quietly succeed or fail. The CFP® brings the broader framework: income planning, estate strategy, risk management, retirement income. Together, they're how I think about every client relationship.
University of Georgia — Terry College of Business
UGA
Undergraduate and graduate degrees, cum laude. The technical foundation in accounting, taxation, and financial theory that still shapes how I approach client work.
High-Net-Worth & Business Tax Advisory
ERNST & YOUNG
Started my career at one of the world's largest accounting firms, advising high-net-worth individuals and closely held businesses on complex tax planning and multi-year financial strategies. Developed deep fluency in the kind of integrated planning most advisors never see up close.
Moved into smaller and mid-sized firms where the work became more advisory in nature — working directly alongside business owners and families on real financial decisions, not just year-end compliance. Earned the CFP® designation during this period.
REGIONAL PRACTICE
CPA & Planning Focus
Founded on Saint Simons Island
HWM
Founded Harvard Wealth Management to bring CPA-led, fiduciary financial planning to the clients who benefit from it most — business owners and individuals approaching or in retirement who want their tax strategy and financial plan working as one. Based on Saint Simons Island, Georgia, and serving clients nationwide.
OPERATIONS
Sydney Harvard
ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR
Sydney runs the operational side of Harvard Wealth Management. She manages client onboarding, scheduling, account paperwork, and the day-to-day systems that keep the firm running — the work that determines whether a client relationship feels organized or chaotic.
If you become a client, Sydney is likely the first person you'll hear from after your discovery meeting, and the one who makes sure nothing falls through the cracks between conversations.
Sydney brings an accounting background to her role, with both an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in Accounting from Georgia Southern University. She has worked in accounting since graduating and brings that experience into the way she approaches the firm, its systems, and its clients.
CREDENTIALS & MEMBERSHIP
Certified Public Accountant
Licensed CPA with active practice in tax strategy, planning, and advisory work for individuals and business owners.
CPA · State of Georgia
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®
CFP® certification represents the highest standard of competency in financial planning, covering investments, taxes, retirement, and estate planning.
CFP Board
XY Planning Network
Member of XYPN's Sapphire program — a network of fee-only financial advisors committed to serving clients under a fiduciary standard.
XYPN · Sapphire
NAPFA Member
Member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors — the leading professional association for fee-only financial planners.
NAPFA
SAINT SIMONS ISLAND
Rooted in
coastal Georgia.
Harvard Wealth Management is based on Saint Simons Island — not because it's a convenient location, but because this is home.
I live and work here, and I built this firm to serve the business owners, professionals, and families who make up this community and the broader coastal Georgia region. The SSI market is unique — a mix of longtime residents, retirees with significant accumulated wealth, and business owners who've built real equity over decades. What's often missing is a locally based, CPA-led advisor who understands the full picture. That's the gap Harvard Wealth Management was built to fill.