In my free time you’ll usually find me on a boat somewhere with the family, golfing with my youngest son or with my daughter (or both if I’m lucky enough that day)… or otherwise enjoying a date with my wife. I also spend a pretty good chunk of my free time entertaining my dog, although I think it’s supposed to be the other way around.
I was born in Pennsylvania, but grew up in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. In sixth grade history class, we had to pick a stock, look up the price in the newspaper daily and chart it for one month on graph paper (yes, before the internet and computers!) From that point, I was hooked on investing! As soon as I started college, I began investing in mutual funds, and then stocks. Eventually, I began trading options and commodities.
I graduated from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy 1991 and married the love of my life, Eileen, in 1992. In 1994, received the Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Temple University. By 1998, I had worked in retail and hospital pharmacy, the pharmaceutical industry, academia and association management. But throughout the years, I kept coming back to the conclusion that my true passion was in finance.
In late 1998, I joined Prudential Securities as a FAIT (Financial Advisor In Training). It was a great experience to train and work in the industry as an advisor at a major wall street firm (also called a “wirehouse”). However, as a pharmacist, I was instilled with the professional ethic of “do no harm” and that the patient always comes first. Although, I loved being a financial advisor and keeping my clients “financially healthy”… I hated being asked to meet sales quotas and lack of flexibility to do what I felt was in my clients’ best interest.
That growing discontent led me to leave that “big brand” broker/dealer and advisory firm and go “independent” with Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., in November 2002 (the day before Thanksgiving). At that time, my practice was simply Steven A. Boorstein, Financial Planner. From there, I grew a fee-based practice. In 2005, I successfully passed the CFP Board’s exam and became a Certified Financial Planner™ professional. In 2012, I decided that branding my practice would allow me to grow it into something greater than just myself, and so RockCrest Financial LLC was born.
In February 2016, I left Cambridge and registered RockCrest Financial LLC as an investment adviser in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I also serve a limited number of clients in several other states. By being it’s own advisory firm, RockCrest Financial is able to create services and adopt state-of-the-art technology that can help provide an unparalleled experience so that we can continue to do what we have always done…”make sure the client’s needs come first.”
Although we have always done a combination of financial planning and investment management for many of our clients, in 2021 I thought a lot about the vision of RockCrest in the financial services industry for the next decade and beyond. I thought extensively about what was wrong with our industry and how we could potentially do it better. What I envisioned was that an advisor should actually become the client’s Personal Financial CEO providing Comprehensive Financial Planning in all five areas of personal finance: financial planning, tax strategy, estate planning, investment management and strategies to reduce risk. We provide comprehensive, written financial planning in all five of these areas, and work with clients other professionals to make sure the overarching plan is meaningful to the client’s values and goals, coordinated appropriately, simplified as prudently possible, and that each party is held accountable for their piece of the planning.
During this journey, my wife and I moved to Williamstown, New Jersey, where we’ve been a part of the community for over almost 30 years. I served on the Finance Council for Our Lady of Peace Parish from 2009 to 2011, and I served on the Monroe Township Planning Board for two years.
If you want to learn a little more about what we do, you can follow me on facebook @RockCrestFinancial or look me up on LinkedIn. We are also somewhat active on X (formerly Twitter), and will be increasing our presence on Instagram shortly.
Now that you know more about me than probably most professionals you’ve worked with… I’d love to have an opportunity to learn more about you, and how I may be of help on your journey down the path to financial independence.
