Petra Financial Advisors

Petra Financial Advisors

Founded in 1976 by Ben and Dave (whose surnames the firm does not disclose), Petra Financial Advisors reached its 50-year mark in January 2026 under owner-partner Jon Forbes. The firm operates from a single office in Colorado Springs and serves clients across the United States through a fee-only model that combines financial planning, education planning, and portfolio management. Its team includes certified financial planners, an enrolled agent, a certified kingdom advisor, and a dedicated compliance officer — an unusually credentialed group for a firm of this size. Petra’s deployment centers entirely on individual and family wealth management rather than institutional asset allocation or direct investing. Its planners construct customized portfolios, likely using third-party managed products given the firm's fiduciary structure, and emphasize retirement-income modeling, tax-aware withdrawal sequencing, and estate-coordination work. The firm does not publish specific portfolio holdings, but its CFP-heavy team suggests a planning-first rather than manager-selection-first philosophy. Geographic reach is national — though Colorado and Arizona are served by named teams — and the firm’s 2025 hiring of an Arizona-based planner signals intent to deepen that regional presence. Team size is not publicly stated, but the firm’s website lists nine professionals across partner, planning, client-service, and Arizona units. Forbes, who holds both CFP and CFA designations, took over leadership after decades of low-turnover stewardship by the founders. The firm’s compliance function sits under Crystal Karstens, who has been with Petra since 2004 and wears both compliance and planning hats — a lean structure typical of independent RIAs. In July 2025, the firm hired Cleo Blankinship as a financial planning analyst, reinforcing its operations and planning bench. Petra’s structural differentiator is a half-century track record of internal continuity paired with an explicit values-based ethos: Forbes references a culture of “unequivocal care” built by the founders and carried forward by a team with “very limited turnover.” The firm’s Certified Kingdom Advisor designation, held by planner John Pfaffmann, introduces a faith-aligned planning capability that distinguishes it from most secular RIAs. Succession appears deliberate rather than reactionary — Forbes frames his leadership as a privilege and a responsibility to protect that legacy.