A Letter from Tricia...

Like many children, I grew up dreaming of becoming a top level athlete - in my case a swimmer. The reality, however, was different. Another early interest was investing, when I bought my first stock in 4th grade with my own hard earned savings. Over time, that interest turned into a more achievable passion - helping clients reach their financial goals.  Although I continue to be an avid swimmer, the discipline I acquired from this pursuit, is applied today towards helping individuals and families invest wisely and keep their finances in order.  

My financial career began in 1984 in New York with Merrill Lynch and later Lehman Brothers. Eight years later I joined Dain Bosworth as an equity analyst and two years following that I became a senior portfolio manager and wealth advisor at Bank of America before becoming the head portfolio manager at Northern Trust in Seattle. In 2002, I was hired by Washington Capital Management to co-manage the Small Cap Growth fund and helped grow that fund from $80 million to over $1 billion under management. In 2007 this fund was the #1 performing small cap growth fund in the United States as measured by Pension & Investment magazine.

Although I enjoy the professional challenges and rewards associated with institutional investing, I began to realize that a personal facet was missing. Wanting to best apply the knowledge gleaned in the institutional space towards helping individuals, in 2001 I formed Pacific Horizon Investment Management to manage the investments of family and close friends. In 2010, I retired from my position at Washington Capital Management in order to devote my full-time attention solely towards providing personalized investment management and financial coaching for a growing number of individuals and families. I haven't looked back since.

As an outgrowth of my financial advisory services, and to meet a growing need, I decided to offer another service providing individuals, couples, attorneys, and mediators my financial expertise as related to divorce. Helping individuals and couples best navigate the often intricate financial aspects during a divorce is what Creative Divorce Solutions, LLC is all about. 

Although I have been happily married for 25 years, having witnessed many of my clients go through an emotional divorce, and having personally gone through a painful and difficult divorce early in my life, this is an area particularly close to my heart. It is also an area that underscores the importance of having a trusted and skilled financial advisor who will look out for your best interests during this challenging time and provide the necessary tools so that you can make the best decisions possible. It is why I like to think of my work "as a thinking partner" in helping individuals and couples define what is important to them, identify their goals and create a strategy to meet those goals in their divorce process.

Regardless of the type of transition you are facing, as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA®), my goal is to help you focus on the big picture during the emotional upheaval of a divorce, make sense of financial proposals and negotiate with confidence to ensure solid long-term decisions in receiving the best and fairest possible financial settlement.

I look forward to the possibility of speaking with you.

Tricia Elmer
Founder and President