David Rae is the LA CFP®, AIF® to Lead Your Journey to Financial Freedom.
Your work hard for your money; now is the time to let your money work hard for you. Live For Today Plan for Tomorrow with this fun Los Angeles Financial Adviser.
David Rae, Certified Financial Planner™, Accredited Investment Fiduciary™, and President / Founder of DRM Wealth Management LLC, helping you make smarter financial decisions and positioning yourself for prosperity.
“Once you get your financial house in order,” he says, “It’s a lot easier for everything else–personal life, professional life, family life, and recreational life–to fall into place too.”
Working with a wide diversity of clients for well over a decade, he has built a successful career developing comprehensive financial plans to meet life goals, retirement, tax planning, estate issues, portfolio revision, life insurance, portfolio management, business exit strategies, and more. While based in Los Angeles, he serves clients across the country. At the same time, he enjoys a solid reputation as a smart, go-to financial guy for both mainstream and LGBT print, broadcast, and online media.
Early days
David Rae grew up in Irvine, California. His father, Mike Rae, retired from a career as an NFL quarterback (USC, Raiders, Redskins, Buccaneers) while he was still in elementary school. This gave him a front-row seat to retirement planning and money matters early on. His mother, Terri, was something of a financial genius who ran a tight ship, planned carefully, got the most bang for the buck, and successfully avoided the financial traps that often snare former athletes and their families.
At the University of Redlands, David majored in Business and Musical Theatre, earning full-ride scholarships in both disciplines. A year studying abroad in Vienna, Austria – in addition to consistent and considerable amounts of world travel that he keeps up to this day – engendered a dimensional worldview about peoples and cultures.
Life in the Finance Planning Arena
Financial planning has proven an excellent fit for it fully engages David’s considerable math, social, and communication skills. He began at Trilogy in 2003 as a young and trusted Financial Advisor and hit the ground running. After completing the CFP’s rigorous two-year preparation program, in 2006, he passed the two-day CFP exam (the financial industry’s equivalent of the bar exam) with flying colors, earning him his professional certification. He achieved his Accredited Investment Fiduciary certification in 2015.
In addition to building his own business, Financial Planner David Rae has always been active in helping others build their businesses as well. In 2004, he founded the Beverly Hills Breakfast Club chapter of BNI, an international networking group that has grown today into the largest and wealthiest chapter in Southern California.
Turning Dreams Into Reality
“There’s a significant lack of financial literacy in the general population,” David Rae reports, “Even among those who are very bright. This may be related to being phobic about math since so much about money is really about math too. My function is to translate what may seem to be overwhelming and confusing concepts and programs into something clear, understandable, and attainable. Essentially it’s pretty simple. Do you have a dream or life goal? Great, let’s sit down together, plan a workable strategy on how to finance it, and make it a reality.”
He has been named to the Investopedia “Top 100 Financial Advisors” list for the past 5 years running. He continues to achieve this honor as one of the most influential financial planners in America.
Media Matters – LA Financial Expert
David Rae has been seen, quoted, and published in many national publications, including The Today Show, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, KTLA News, MSN Money, Men’s Health, Nightline, NPR, Marketplace, Me Time with Frangela, Face the Truth with Vivica A Fox, US News & World Report, Yahoo News, KCAL News, and 401(K) Specialist Magazine. He blogs weekly on financial issues for The Huffington Post, where he is noted for his trenchant observations and spot-on wit. Rae is currently a Personal Finance Contributor to Forbes.com. He is also a regular contributor to The Advocate Magazine and Investopedia blogs. David also authors the Financial Planner LA blog.
Personal life
David has completed the 545-mile Aids Lifecycle bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles for seven years in a row, becoming not only a top fundraiser personally but heading a team that raised over a million dollars for the organization. A longtime and enthusiastic resident of West Hollywood, he lives with his husband, Ryne Meadors and their two chihuahuas.
Contact David Rae, West Hollywood Wealth Manager, to see how he can help you reach your specific financial goals.
2011 Registered Rep Advisor With Heart Awards Winner
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