lahcenBorn and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, Lahcen went to a French high school where he majored in math and physics, as he particularly enjoyed dealing with numbers and formulas. He spent his first two college years at the American University of Paris, majoring in International Business with an emphasis in Finance.

There were too many distractions in Paris, so Lahcen transferred to Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California where he was better able to focus on his classes. He spent his junior and senior years there, and was delighted by the wonderful campus life and the outstanding teachers.

During his senior year at SMC Lahcen interned with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, A. G. Edwards, and Just Plans Etc., doing various research projects. Offered a job from all three, Lahcen decided on Just Plans Etc. There were many reasons for selecting a smaller, independent firm over a multi-national company: there is no conflict of interest, no office politics, you always have management’s ear, there is a less formal working environment, and most importantly, Jim, the professor, is always available and delighted to share his knowledge.

Lahcen was hired as a Financial Research Analyst in July 1999. “What a way to start a career. Six months before Y2K, followed by three of the most rugged years the stock market has experienced in a long time.” He considers it fortunate to have had the experience and believes it has been a valuable lesson as he moves forward in his career.

His tasks at Just Plans include portfolio management, stock and mutual fund research, and monitoring the firm’s trading program that takes advantage of over-bought and over-sold situations on a select group of stocks. In addition, he monitors clients’ portfolio performance.

Lahcen enjoys reading biographies of world leaders, successful CEO's, and famous economists (like Alan Greenspan). He is a big tennis fan, and actually was a tennis coach at Club Med during his high school and college years.

 

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jim

Jim Ellman is the founder and President of Just Plans Etc.

Though a native Californian (born in Glendale) Jim grew up in Oregon, returning to California in 1951. From Berkeley High (class of '59) Jim headed off to the University of California to pursue a degree, and then a career in Engineering. He had no idea that five years later he would graduate from Cal's School of Business, having majored in Finance.

The next two years were spent with the U. S. Army in Okinawa. Jim's Finance degree landed him a position as Assistant Brigade Finance Officer. A year later he was asked to serve as the Brigade General's Aide de Camp. Those twenty four months provided him an opportunity to travel to Bangkok and Cheng Mai Thailand, Hong Kong, Taipei Taiwan, Seoul Korea and Tokyo. "It was a wonderful two years", Jim says.

Back to California in 1967, Jim started his career as an insurance agent. In the early 1970’s he shifted his focus to retirement and health plans for small businesses. Nine years later he was handling plans for 85 clients. At the urging of his clients, Jim obtained a securities license in 1982, affiliating himself with Integrated Resources Equity Corporation (predecessor to Royal Alliance Associates). His activity focused on providing investments for his clients' retirement plans.

A year later Jim founded Just Plans Etc. He wanted to help clients identify financial goals and implement a strategy to achieve them. His focus was on investment and insurance advice with an emphasis on planning for retirement. In 1991 he opted to replace commission based securities and insurance sales with a fee based relationship with clients. Jim selected the institutional side of Charles Schwab & Co. as his back office and started to manage client money for a fee. By December 1999 the transition was complete. He retired from Royal Alliance to commit 100% of his resources and business time to fee based investment management.

It was also in 1967 that Jim met his wife, Linda. Married in 1969, they have one son, Zach. "I may have a passion for what I do, but -honestly - life would be a bore without my family", Jim says. Other interests include photography, gardening, travel, and almost any sporting event, especially baseball. "Fortunately, Linda loves baseball more than I do."


carolynCarolyn joined Just Plans in September 2004. She returned to the workforce after taking time off to raise her family. Previously she spent 15 years in the Financial and Data Processing field, managing customer service groups. Carolyn is responsible for maintaining our databases, opening new accounts and providing customer service to our client base. She's normally in the office Monday through Thursday.

In her free time Carolyn stays busy with family. She leads her daughters' Girl Scout troop, is active with her children's sports teams and enjoys any opportunity to just get away with her family.
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