ABOUT
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 — so your tax strategy and your financial plan are built together, by the same person, from the start.
BACKGROUND
I started my career at Ernst & Young, working with high-net-worth individuals and closely held businesses on complex tax and financial planning matters.
That experience gave me an early look at what sophisticated financial 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 my work became increasingly advisory in nature. I worked closely with business owners and families navigating real financial 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, integrated view of someone's entire financial picture.
Harvard Wealth Management exists to make that level of planning accessible to the people who need it most: business owners building toward an exit, professionals approaching retirement, and families who want a single trusted advisor who sees the whole picture — not just one corner of it.
PHILOSOPHY
The way I think
about this work.
Financial planning done well isn't a product — it's a discipline. It requires knowing your clients deeply, thinking in decades not quarters, and staying curious about the intersection of tax law, investment markets, and the way real people make decisions under uncertainty.
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.
WHAT I BELIEVE
01
02
03
04
Tax strategy belongs inside the financial plan
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.
Transparency is non-negotiable
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.
Long-term thinking over short-term comfort
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.
Depth over volume
I work with a deliberate number of clients. That's intentional — it's what allows every relationship to receive the attention it deserves.
CAREER BACKGROUND
The path to Harvard Wealth Management.
University of Georgia — Terry College of Business
UGA •
EY •
→ •
HWM •
Earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees, graduating cum laude. Built the technical foundation in accounting, taxation, and financial theory that shapes how I approach every client relationship today.
Ernst & Young — High-Net-Worth & Business Tax Advisory
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.
Regional Advisory Practice — CPA & Planning Focus
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.
Harvard Wealth Management — Founded on Saint Simons Island
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 across coastal Georgia.
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.
"Saint Simons has a remarkable concentration of successful people who deserve better financial advice than they're typically getting."
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.