Unconventional success
requires a tailored
financial blueprint.
You followed your own playbook to get here. Applied Wealth Management was created to engineer what comes next.
“You are not hiring us to pick stocks. You are hiring us to be accountable for the outcome of your financial life.”
Applied Wealth Management is an independent, fee-based Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) serving clients nationwide from Bakersfield, California. Founded by Jermaine Carter, CFBS, MSFS, AEP®, we coordinate financial planning, retirement income strategy, investment management, independent insurance, and estate planning under one fiduciary standard — through our proprietary process, The Vantage Formula.
Built for people whose path to success
didn’t follow the template.
Unconventional careers create unconventional finances. We plan for the clients other firms aren’t built to understand.
Full service financial planning engineered for you.
Your whole financial life, engineered into one clear view.
The Vantage Formula
Our proprietary process moves you from the ground — where every account lives in isolation — to the vantage point, where every decision is visible at once.
Discovery
Understanding the terrain you are standing on.
We listen first — your income, goals, family, and timeline, before any advice.
Analysis
Mapping the landscape — and what is at stake.
An honest assessment of your investments, taxes, insurance, and estate readiness.
Engineering
Building the path to the vantage point.
A written financial plan and action checklist, coordinated with your CPA and attorney.
Stewardship
Staying at the top, watching the landscape change.
Quarterly reviews and ongoing coordination — so nothing falls through the cracks.
The measurable value of advice
Planning, investments, rebalancing, and taxes aren’t separate jobs — they’re one engineered system. Coordinated rather than siloed, each advantage compounds on the last.
Independent research estimates an advisor-integrated plan can add up to 3% a year to net returns.
Where the value comes from
- Tax Management
- 1.00%
- Investment Selection
- 0.82%
- Financial Planning
- 0.50%
- Systematic Rebalancing
- 0.44%
- Asset Class Selection & Allocation
- 0.28%
- Total Value Added
- 3.04%
Source: Envestnet, Morningstar & Vanguard research. Illustrative potential value of advice; varies year to year and is not a guarantee of future results.
The people behind your plan.
One coordinated team — and a single point of contact for everything you’ve built. Open any profile to read the full bio and reach out directly.
The questions worth asking — answered honestly.
The truth is more useful than the comfortable version of it. If a question here isn’t covered, ask it in your first conversation.
- What is a fiduciary financial advisor?
- A fiduciary financial advisor is legally and ethically required to act in your best interest at all times — the highest standard of care in financial services. Most advisors follow a lower “suitability” standard, which only requires a recommendation to be appropriate. Applied Wealth Management is a fee-based fiduciary Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) regulated by the SEC, with no commissions on investment management and no proprietary products.
- How is Applied Wealth Management different from other advisors?
- Three differences. First, we are independent — no proprietary products, no captive insurance carriers, no broker-dealer affiliations, no quotas. Second, our only revenue from investment management is the fee you pay us, so our incentive points at your result. Third, we coordinate every dimension of your financial life — investments, taxes, insurance, estate — through The Vantage Formula, rather than managing a portfolio in isolation.
- How do your fees work?
- Applied Wealth Management is fee-based. For investment management and planning, you pay a transparent, agreed-upon fee — no commissions and no proprietary products on the investment side — so our only incentive is your result. Where we coordinate insurance, we act as a carrier-independent broker and may earn a commission from the carrier; we disclose that plainly and recommend coverage only where it closes a real gap. Every cost is laid out in plain English before you decide anything.
- Who does Applied Wealth Management serve?
- Families, business owners, professionals, and athletes facing genuine complexity — typically clients approaching or in retirement, owners planning a succession or sale, professionals with significant equity compensation, and athletes managing a short earning window against a long financial timeline. Headquartered in Bakersfield, California, we serve clients nationwide.
- Should I use a robo-advisor or a human advisor?
- A robo-advisor can manage a simple portfolio cheaply and works well for straightforward situations. A human fiduciary earns its place when your financial life has moving parts that must be integrated — retirement assets across accounts, business ownership, multi-state tax exposure, estate planning, and the real decisions you face as life unfolds. A robo-advisor manages your portfolio in isolation; we coordinate it with everything else.
The hardest part is starting the conversation. We’ll take it from there.
Tell us where you are and what’s worrying you. We’ll ask questions, listen, and tell you honestly whether we can help.
- A fiduciary, legally bound to act in your interest
- Fee-based planning with transparent, plain-English costs
- Investments, tax, retirement, and estate — coordinated under one roof
- A 45-minute first conversation, with no obligation
Prefer to speak directly? Skip the form and call us — no gatekeepers.
Call (661) 487-1020