McClarren Financial Advisors

McClarren Financial Advisors

McClarren Financial Advisors opened in 1999 when founder Jeff McClarren, who had been running a side tax-preparation business while employed at a local investment firm, formally moved his practice out of the back of his tax office. The early days were lean — McClarren drew on personal savings and rented Harrisburg office space by the day to build a client base. The firm joined NAPFA in the early 2000s, becoming the only fee-only advisory firm between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and deliberately targeted middle-income households at a time when most independent planners pursued high-net-worth clients. The firm’s standard retainer model, priced between $6,000 and $75,000 annually based on income, net worth and complexity, covers tax preparation, cash-flow budgeting, retirement projections, portfolio construction, estate-planning review, small-business planning and insurance analysis. The practice does not custody assets, earn commissions or sell financial products — investment implementation is directed by client instruction rather than in-house discretion. Clients receive three to four meetings during the initial engagement year and unlimited phone and email access thereafter. The geographic footprint is concentrated in central Pennsylvania, with primary operations in State College and a satellite office in Harrisburg. Daily operations are run by a partnership that includes CFP®-designated advisors Greg Reeder, Brandon Redmond, Josh Purdy and Alexis Cunningham, alongside CFO/CCO Jennifer Anderson. The firm has gradually transitioned from founder-led leadership — Jeff McClarren has stepped back from day-to-day involvement — without instituting an external sale or private equity transaction. A recent addition, Kyle Zentner, joined as a paraplanner in October 2025, signaling modest capacity expansion as retainer agreements grow. McClarren’s architecture stands apart from most RIAs in its refusal to accept asset-based fees. Every client engagement is governed by a flat annual retainer with no linkage to portfolio size — a structure that historically constrained firm revenue but removed the incentive to prioritize accumulation over drawdown strategy. This governance model, combined with the tax-preparation integration embedded in the retainer, makes the practice closer to a multi-year household CFO engagement than a traditional wealth manager.