# Petra Financial Advisors

Petra Financial Advisors is a Bank / Wealth / Trust based in Colorado Springs, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Bank / Wealth / Trust
- **Headquarters:** Colorado Springs, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 2 N. Nevada Ave. Suite 1300, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, United States
- **Founded:** 1976
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** petrafinancial.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/petra-financial-advisors

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 107196
- **SEC file number:** 801-39169
- **Registration status:** APPROVED
- **Latest Form ADV filing:** 2026-03-02T06:00:00.000Z
- **Reports private funds:** No
- **Private funds reported:** 0
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/107196

## About

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. 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.

## People

- Jon Forbes — Owner and Partner, CFP®, CFA
- John Pfaffmann — Financial Planner, CFP®
- Jenn Hernandez — Financial Planner, CFP®, EA
- Kyle Householder — Senior Associate Financial Planner, CFP®
- Crystal Karstens — Chief Compliance Officer, Associate Financial Planner

## Questions

### What is Petra’s posture on faith-based planning?

Petra offers a faith-aligned planning path through John Pfaffmann, a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) and former board member of the Central Arizona Estate Planning Council. The CKA designation signals that the firm can integrate biblical stewardship principles into financial plans for clients who request it, a capability not universally available among RIAs.

### How long has Petra’s current leadership been in place?

Jon Forbes assumed the owner-partner role in a transition from founders Ben and Dave, whose tenures spanned the firm’s first five decades. The exact succession date is not disclosed, but Forbes’s published remarks frame 2026 as both the 50-year milestone and a renewal of commitments established by the founders.

## Related profiles

- [Petra Capital Partners](https://altss.com/profile/petra-capital-partners)
- [Petra Opportunity Pension Scheme](https://altss.com/profile/petra-opportunity-pension-scheme)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

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