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About Us

Pivotal is an action word. It reflects change, movement, and the kind of meaningful moments that bring most people to a financial advisor in the first place.

Why We Became a Team

Why We Became a Team

Pivotal Financial was founded in 2017, but the story starts a few years before that. Alona Anspach, Jay Warren and Peter Hass began their careers independently, working out of the same Chicago office. Over time, a pattern emerged. They kept turning to each other when a client situation called for a perspective or specialty beyond their own. The informal collaboration worked so well that formalizing it became the obvious next step. David Smith joined in the years that followed, each bringing their own depth of experience. Since then, the practice has continued to grow and we are here to serve the next generation of clients. What drives that growth is the same thing that started it: the belief that a well-built team produces better outcomes than any single advisor working alone.

How We Work With You

How We Work With You

We meet with you multiple times each year, and that cadence is how we stay current with what's happening in your life, catch things before they become problems, and continue refining a strategy as your circumstances change. The conversations we have in those meetings are the foundation on which everything else is built, and we take our end of them seriously.

We ask a lot of questions, and not all of them are strictly financial. A job change, a new grandchild, a health situation, a business decision you're wrestling with. These are the kinds of things that shape what good advice actually looks like for you specifically. The better we know what's going on in your life, the better positioned we are to be useful when it matters most.

Who We Work With

We don't have account minimums, and we don't select clients based on net worth. We work best with people who stay engaged, ask questions, communicate when things change, and want a real working relationship with their advisory team. That kind of engagement is what allows us to do our best work, and it's the standard we hold ourselves to as well.

When you bring us a situation that doesn't fit a standard solution, that's when this work gets genuinely interesting. We draw on the full range of the team's experience and, when the right answer lives outside our own walls, we know where to find it. No problem that comes through our door goes unanswered.

Backed by Established Firms

Pivotal Financial operates under the umbrella of IHT Wealth Management, with LPL Financial serving as our broker-dealer. That structure gives our clients access to a wide range of resources and investment solutions while we remain focused on delivering the kind of personalized, team-based advice that a larger institution alone cannot replicate.

What We Do Meet Our Team

Jay Warren

Jay Warren

Partner and Financial Advisor

When I was young, my father died unexpectedly. What could have been a financially devastating moment for our family wasn't, because my father had the right life insurance in place. That coverage meant we could stay in our home and that...
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Alona W. Anspach

Alona W. Anspach

Partner and Financial Advisor

Growing up, the decision that shaped my career happened in my mother’s kitchen. I was in college and asked permission to visit friends in New York. Her answer was firm: as long as she was paying the bills, I would do things her way. In...
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Peter Hass

Peter Hass

Partner and Financial Advisor

Growing up in Detroit with a father who spent his career as an automotive engineer, I absorbed something early about the value of building things carefully and making sure they hold. That sensibility followed me into finance, where...
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David R. Smith

David R. Smith

Partner and Financial Advisor

Numbers came naturally to me early on. Growing up in Evanston, I was drawn to statistics, probabilities, and the logic of how things work when you apply the right framework. When I ran a small business during high school and college, I...
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Margaret Schulze

Business Manager and Client Services

Growing up on Chicago's North Shore, first in Winnetka and then in Northfield, I developed an appreciation for community, for doing things well, and for the kind of relationships that form when people genuinely look out for each other....
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Talia Block

Special Projects

My background doesn't follow a straight line, and I've come to think of that as an asset rather than a footnote. I spent years teaching elementary Spanish, then transitioned into organizational development consulting, where I helped...
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Contact Us Ready to Have a Real Conversation About Your Financial Life?

We would like to hear where you are, what you are working toward, and what questions have been on your mind. Reach out to schedule a meeting, and let's figure out together how we can help.

Let's Talk