Scott Terry, CFP®

Financial Planner

On Thanksgiving Day, 1985, in the frigid oilfields of eastern Montana after graduating from the local community college and six months into my initial career as a roustabout, I sat in the cab of a Shell Oil truck with a frozen nose and iced-over cup of coffee in thirty-below-zero weather and had the epiphany that there were probably some alternative and better career choices to which I could devote my life. A very persistent aunt convinced me to move to California where I enrolled in the Business program at California State University – Chico. Two months later, I attended a lecture from a local financial planner and found my calling. Four years later with a BS degree in Finance, I was the first graduate from the Cal State – Chico College of Business to obtain the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) certification.

  • After many years devoted to public speaking and writing on the topics of financial planning (FOX, NPR, KRON, KQED, Financial Planning Journal, et al), I developed an interest and expertise in assisting clients with portfolio management and financial decision making during their retirement years.

    In 2019, after thirty years with Lincoln Financial Advisors, I moved my practice to Summit Wealth and Retirement, following Rob Cucchiaro and Ryan McCloskey. The independence and professionalism at Summit allow for a commitment to act in the best interest of clients, and I greatly enjoy working with a group of advisors who are smarter than me.

    Outside of the office, I enjoy painting watercolors, writing novels and short stories (San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, et al), and run Stonybrook Canyon Farm, a small organic farm in Castro Valley with my partner, Curtis.

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    Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the United States, which it authorizes use of by individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.