Jon Forbes is currently the president of Petra Financial Advisors, also serving as a Senior Financial Planner and Investment Manager there.
His time at Petra began in 2013 when he was hired as a paraplanner. Over the course of the next few years, Jon sat in every role within the organization, learning the contributions each role brings. This bottom to top experience within an RIA brings valuable perspective to what each team member needs to make their best contribution. He views his responsibility as president to be ensuring that each employee is put in a position to thrive.
In July 2019, Jon became Petra’s third president since it began in 1976. The previous two presidents were pioneers in the industry, with both among the first Certified Financial Planners™(CFP®). Petra also was an early adopter of the fee-only model, transitioning to that in 1987. In the two years since Jon became president, Petra has more than doubled its assets under management from $115 million to $235 million. In 2021, Petra completed its first acquisition of another RIA, having great success in its client retention and satisfaction.
Jon’s desire in the business is to see clients genuinely cared for as people. His belief is that this requires high level conversational facilitation – to draw out what each client wants – alongside a deep base of financial knowledge. To pursue that knowledge, Jon became a CFP® and followed that to become a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®), successfully passing each level of the CFA on his first attempt and finishing among the top 10% of exam participants on each level that was reported.
Prior to joining Petra, Jon worked in research and analysis for a small private commodities fund while he attended the University of Denver. While at DU, he met his wife and they now have two children. Jon loves sports generally, but particularly has a soft spot for baseball, enjoying the analytical side of the game. Since his athletic profile kept him from participating as a professional player, Jon dreams of one day having some ownership in a baseball team.
Jon’s belief is that the best way to meaningfully impact financial lives is to do it as a team – encouraging, sharpening, and strengthening each other to make progress in the work we do for clients. He loves sharing his experience with others either in or interested in the industry, regularly engaging with other advisors and college students to help them improve.
