Jéan-Paul Afif serves as the Founder and CEO for Star of the Sea Wealth Management located in Orange County, California. He works with clients to help ensure they keep the promises they make to God, their families, their communities, and themselves each and every day. He takes a distinct approach to first help identify what is most important in his client’s life and more crucially, why. Jéan-Paul’s ultimate goal is to understand what each client’s “mission” is: what they would like their money to accomplish in their life and the legacy they want to leave behind for the next generation. By understanding the “why” for his clients Jéan-Paul is able to work with his team to help ensure client portfolios and overall wealth plan are a perfect reflection of client needs, goals, and values.
Jean-Paul launched his career in financial services in 2008 at Citibank during the height of the financial crisis and quickly realized that no single solution works for everyone. In 2009 Jean-Paul joined Wells Fargo as a Business Development Officer where he learned all 84 different lines of business that the bank offered, increasing his acumen and ability to be a true financial consultant to his clients, their families, and the businesses they owned. After 5 years of successfully working with business owners who operated companies doing $20-$150MM in gross annual sales, Jean-Paul moved into Wealth Management as a Wealth Advisor with Wells Fargo Private Bank as part of the leadership team working exclusively on investment accounts greater than $10MM, and as high as $160MM; specifically business owners who he helped guide through the process of selling their companies. After a total of 9 years all together at Wells Fargo, Jean-Paul joined Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor with the Pluta/Katz team which managed a $2 Billion book of business from Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan New York and obtained his CEPA accreditation as a “Certified Exit Planning Advisor” once again fortifying his focus on working with Business Owners, and helping them navigate all the facets of preparing their companies to bring them to market, he is known for his personal advice, knowledgeable insight, and guidance in managing diverse financial backgrounds. Jean-Paul has worked with affluent individuals and their families, entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals, executives, pro-athletes, entertainers and real estate investors alike to facilitate strategies and guidance to meet their individual financial needs. Today, Jéan-Paul operates Star of the Sea Wealth Management as an independent advisory firm, which has a custodial relationship with BNY Mellon | Pershing, & Schwab.
Jéan-Paul earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University (“LMU”) in Los Angeles where he also played NCAA division one basketball for the Lions while on athletic scholarship. After graduating from LMU, Jéan-Paul played professionally including a short stint in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings and international stays in Lebanon, Turkey, and Italy. After his playing days were over, Jéan-Paul began coaching and in a short period of time became a general manager of a minor league franchise.
Prior to banking, Jéan-Paul started two of his own companies and was involved as both an owner and manager for a number of other start-ups where he served on their boards. These “life” experiences have helped to provide him with the necessary background to anticipate his client’s needs for any venture they may choose. Jéan-Paul is very active in the southern California community, formerly sitting on the Board of Directors for the Orange County YMCA, Connections for Children in Los Angeles, & Divine Mercy 4 Life. He currently sits on the Board for Obria Medical Clinics, a national Pro-Life women’s crisis pregnancy center, Tepeyac Leadership Inc, a non-profit organization dedicated to civic leadership development for lay Catholic professionals, and the Santiago Retreat Center, a 501(c)(3) corporation, that exists to serve the Catholic communities of Southern California by providing facilities for retreats, marriage encounters, summer & science camps, and special events in a safe & secure; stunningly beautiful 500 acre setting.
Jéan-Paul is heavily involved with his church – St. John Maron in the city of Orange as part of the stewardship committee and leads the church youth group. Jean-Paul is also an Opus Dei cooperator, and involved as a member of Legatus, Catholics@Work OC, the Order of Saint Sharbel, Order of St. Lazarus, Knights of Columbus, as a baptism catechist, and spiritual formation volunteer. Jéan-Paul lives in North Orange County with his wife, a school teacher and eight children, who they homeschool, all age fourteen and under.