Katherine Brown, CFP®, CSA®, NAPFA Registered Advisor

“Wealth management with clients is about the fiduciary relationship .”

Katherine Brown has 20 years of experience in the Financial Planning field and has been a NAPFA registered advisor for more than 15 years. Katherine has been featured in the Daily Press and Black Enterprise as one of the few trusted fee-only advisors in Hampton Roads. Katherine founded BrownPlanning in 2005, which held assets in excess of $36 million. In 2020 Katherine Brown joined forces with Daniel Joss to re-brand as Joss Brown Wealth Advisors, where together they manage over $100 million in assets.

In addition to being a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, Katherine is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the Society of Certified Senior Advisors. Katherine enjoys helping clients, especially seniors, hold on to their hard-earned money into retirement and make wealth transitions to future generations. Prior to financial planning, Katherine worked in real estate, mortgage lending, and insurance. Katherine holds life and annuities insurance licenses which allow her to consult on risk for her client's estate planning needs and work hand in hand with their insurance agents and attorneys as part of the family professional team.

Originally from Silicon Valley in California, Katherine earned a Bachelor's degree from Stanford University. Growing up with a mother who was an accountant, and a father who studied engineering and physics, Katherine was destined to fall in love with data-driven problem solving. This approach helps her to strategically focus on her clients' needs, and systematically coach them. After being recruited into securities by another Stanford grad in California, Katherine completed her post graduate certificate in Personal Financial Planning (PFP) at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

While she enjoys working with many types of clients, she specializes in helping clients over 50 who are planning for retirement by considering complex factors such as risk, tax savings strategies for distribution and inheritance, the effect of inflation, survivor needs, and realistic investment rates of returns over varying economic conditions. She works to make sure portfolios are re-balanced as needed, expenses for funds are competitive, and that clients have an understanding of their position based not only on their market exposure, but their cash flow and lifestyle choices throughout the duration of their plan.

“I grew up loving planning and loving enterprise. And I knew I loved people. Financial planning was a natural fit for me.”

After college, Katherine worked for her family's real estate business and later for life insurance firms before forming her fee-only practice. The real estate business provided Katherine with a wealth of experience in investing. She dealt with B and C paper lending, contract negotiation, credit underwriting , sales, office management, and most importantly, real estate investing. It was the management of her family's real estate portfolio that inspired her to learn more about other investment vehicles such as equities, bonds, IRAs, ext.

“Listening to people takes an investment in time with clients to truly see where they are coming from and to uncover the strengths that will help them accomplish their goals.”

Katherine couples her listening skills with her natural inclination to be data driven. Katherine enjoys explaining to her clients how data can help them make decisions and plans when coupled with objectives and goals.

When she is not working with clients, you can find Katherine spending time with her husband, son, and daughter; giving back to the community; worshiping at World Outreach Worship Center; and enjoying the outdoors. Katherine and her daughter are both equestrians and have enjoyed riding both dressage and hunt seat. Katherine and her family live in one of the last rural areas of Newport News, where they enjoy exploring the adjacent trails in Newport News Park and Colonial National Park.