Mark Zaifman is not your father's financial planner. Using a holistic, values-based strategy, he helps people nationwide and across all income levels effectively manage their money. Mark has been hailed as a “new breed” of financial advisor by Natural Health magazine for his tenets of financial responsibility and sustainability and for his hands-on approach; with Mark, you can expect understanding and accessibility rather than a cold dissection of your financial situation. His planning service is fee-only and has the added bonus of offering tax guidance–a benefit most financial planners cannot provide.

Mark's successes stretch across his background as a tax accountant and now financial planner. A graduate of Monmouth University in his native New Jersey, he worked as both a public and then private accountant for five years, experience that allows him to provide his present clients with a two-for-one service. He is a Registered Investment Advisor and has an NASD Series 65 license.

In 1992, while reading the New York Times best selling financial book Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Mark saw the parallels between his principles and the message of the book. He began teaching the Your Money or Your Life program and developed a holistic approach to financial planning that became the foundation of Spiritus Financial Planning, a company he founded in 2003. During that time, Mark also connected with author Robin and contributed to Your Money or Your Life: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century, published by Penguin Books in December 2008.

Mark is a former board member of Petaluma based COTS (Committee on the Shelterless) as well as Landpaths, a Sonoma County land preservation non-profit. Other accomplishments in Mark's career include serving on the committee of the FPA (Financial Planning Association) to mentor young financial planners; forging strategic partnerships with international providers to offer state-of-the-art services; and teaching classes based on Your Money or Your Life. He is a member of the National Tax Association, Financial Integrity Associates, and the Financial Planning Association.