About Joel
Before founding SharpEdge Financial, Joel achieved a lifelong dream of playing professional hockey. This unique career path has helped him build the confidence and resiliency needed to launch a financial planning firm. Joel is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) and helps his clients with a variety of complex financial planning topics.
His specialization in working with young professionals, and especially young attorneys, stems from being married to a former Big Law attorney, now in-house counsel. In fact, prior to his wife, Courtney, leaving Big Law, Joel built a detailed financial plan that gave him and Courtney the confidence they needed to navigate her transition to in-house counsel.
How He Got Here
Joel spent his youth in Quebec, Canada, where he balanced school and hockey up until he was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2008 NHL Draft. He signed his first professional contract in 2010 and moved to the United States to play for the Avalanche’s affiliate team in Cleveland, OH. This is where he would eventually meet the love of his life, Courtney. Like many professional athletes, his career had highs and lows. To prepare for life after hockey, he pursued a bachelor’s degree during his downtime away from the rink. After playing for seven different teams over nine years, Joel’s last stop was Allen, TX, where he and his family decided to plant roots.
Immediately after hanging up his skates, Joel entered the financial services industry and started selling life and disability insurance. His primary focus was to help his clients protect their wealth. He eventually morphed into a more complete financial planner and started advising his clients on how to build wealth as well as how to protect it. Even though he is now a fee-only financial advisor (i.e., he does not receive a commission for selling products), he still keeps that same approach to financial planning: prioritize defensive planning to protect assets, then strategically go on the offensive to grow wealth.
Fast forward to today, Joel and Courtney have two boys, Julien and Luca, and a goldendoodle named Harley. He still spends considerable time at the hockey rink either watching, playing, or coaching. And when time allows, he trades his hockey stick for a golf club or a pickleball paddle.
