About Us

Katie Van Wyngarden Associate

Katie Van Wyngarden is a Fearless Finance Associate and Enrolled Agent located in Eastern Washington.  Before starting at Fearless Finance, Katie worked as a tax accountant helping individual’s and small businesses understand their taxes and stay in compliance with the IRS. A self-proclaimed finance nerd from a young age, Katie has enjoyed learning about all aspects of personal finance, and helping to apply them to the finances of friends and family. 

After hearing many friends and peers struggling with understanding their finances, Katie decided to start a blog to help people understand their finances and reduce their stress or anxiety over finances.  Katie believes by following a few base principals, everyone can feel in control of their money and look forward to building wealth. 

• Spend less than you earn
• Give your excess money a “job”
• Spend according to your personal values

Katie realizes that financial planning can seem scary and overwhelming at the start. Using the Fearless Finance proven process, Katie is able to take the mystery out of your finances to give you relevant financial guidance based on your goals and values. She specializes with helping women who are just starting out on their finance journey. 

Katie is originally from the Seattle area and received undergraduate degrees in Accounting and Finance from Washington State University. When Katie is not helping people with their finances, she enjoys traveling, cooking, gardening, and cheering on the WSU Cougars! 

Like all members of the Fearless Finance team, Katie is a fiduciary, who charges by the hour only. She has no affiliations, and collects no commissions for her work. 

Get in touch with Katie at (509) 903-5990 or katie.vanwyngarden@fearlessfinance.com 

Katie Haynes Associate

Katie Haynes is a Fearless Finance Associate in Colorado. Before starting at Fearless Finance, Katie worked independently as a financial coach. She has also worked in sales and marketing for the solar energy industry, and in international development and education. With a BA in psychology and a background in financial coaching, Katie takes a holistic approach to your financial well-being and will help you prioritize your money decisions and feel good about the future without feeling deprived in the present.

Katie spent her 20s working in international education and exploring the world. Wanting to make a difference in a more direct way, she moved to Fort Collins in 2012 to pursue a degree in Global, Social & Sustainable Enterprise at Colorado State University. Katie completed her MBA in 2013 and worked in international development and renewable energy for the next 5 years. Along the way, she got serious about paying off debt from her adventurous 20s and discovered the unexpected freedom of budgeting. Katie began coaching friends and acquaintances on financial principles and completed the Financial Coach Academy course before transitioning into financial planning.

Like all members of the Fearless Finance team, Katie is a fiduciary, who charges by the hour only. She has no affiliations, and collects no commissions for her work. 

Get in touch with Katie at (970) 279-1695 or katie.haynes@fearlessfinance.com.

Kimberly Weihbrecht, CSLP®

Kimberly Weihbrecht is a Fearless Finance Associate and a Certified Student Loan Professional®. For many years she has had an avid interest in personal finance. Once she found herself on her own in a new city with many financial responsibilities, she started to realize she didn’t have the foundation she needed to meet her goals and set herself up for success. By diving into the online personal finance blogging community, she discovered there was a lot she could learn and has focused on building a financially strong life ever since.

Kimberly has spent many years applying her knowledge and experience to her own finances and those of her close family and friends. She realized that there were many around her who could benefit from her guidance and has been helping people get a handle on their cash flow, debt/savings and retirement planning ever since. Kimberly believes personal finance is exactly that – personal. She is looking forward to helping clients navigate life’s many financial hurdles and build a strong foundation in a way that’s meaningful to them.

Kimberly grew up in the Hudson Valley region of New York and graduated with her undergraduate degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She also received her Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University. In her spare time, Kimberly enjoys weight training, reading, and learning new sewing skills.

Like all members of the Fearless Finance team, Kimberly is a fiduciary, who charges by the hour only. She has no affiliations, and collects no commissions for her work.

Get in touch with Kimberly at (845) 803-3994 or kimberly.weihbrecht@fearlessfinance.com. 

For more about CSLA Board, visit www.cslainstitute.org.

Jason Ross, CPA

Jason Ross is a Certified Public Accountant and a candidate for CFP Board certification. He has worked in finance for more than 13 years, most recently as a partnership, investment and business advisor for six years at a global advertising technology company. While having enjoyed his career in the corporate world, he realized that his calling is applying his big picture thinking and analytical skills to helping individuals and families reach their financial and life goals.

Jason believes that the basics of wealth building are, in fact, simple;

• Spend less than you make
• Save and invest the difference

While the path may be simple, sticking to it may not be. Jason can help you follow the golden brick road.

To succeed financially, you must navigate the typical household challenges: those of employers (or clients) trying to pay you the minimum; marketers and peers pressuring you to part with your money; and making sense of an investment and insurance marketplace that are often designed by experts to confuse.

Jason applies his corporate experience from public accounting, professional sports and advertising to help his clients treat their financial life like a business. He believes every household should have a business plan (aka goals) and a set of financial statements that are updated and reviewed regularly. Don’t worry, if spreadsheets are not your thing, he’s happy to set them up for you. What else would a certified money nerd do for fun?

Jason is a CPA licensed in the state of New York. He’s also a candidate to become a CFP® Professional, having already completed the required education and passing the exam in November 2018. He has an undergraduate degree in accounting from Binghamton University.

In Jason’s free time, you can find him skiing anywhere from California to Switzerland or biking around his neighborhood with one of his sons enjoying the breeze from the back of the bike. When playing outside is not an option, he enjoys the challenge of playing competitive analytical games. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two young sons.

Like all members of the Fearless Finance team, Jason is a fiduciary, who charges by the hour only. He has no affiliations, and collects no commissions for his work. 

Get in touch with Jason at (917) 620-4217 or jason.ross@fearlessfinance.com

Elizabeth Pennington, CFP®

Elizabeth Pennington, CFP® is a Fearless Finance Associate in Northeastern Ohio. She has long been passionate about personal finance. After graduating from college with an International Economics degree, she had to learn how to make smart money decisions. As she started on her own financial journey, she realized that she could combine that interest with her strong desire to help others. She spent several years writing a personal finance blog and talking about finance with friends and family, before she decided to pursue a career in financial planning, where she can work with clients to help them with their financial future. She specializes in working with young professionals to help them start financially strong and meet their goals. She also firmly believes that effective financial planning incorporates behavioral science and an understanding of the important role of emotions and mental health.

With traditional financial planning models often excluding Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z clients, Elizabeth is excited to be part of the progressive trend in the financial industry that is fee-only hourly planning. She can help you manage your spending, pay off student and consumer debt, and plan for retirement. She meets with clients around the country virtually.

Elizabeth is originally from Iowa. She received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, where she took her first class on personal finance. She’s traveled to 31 countries, and aside from travel, her hobbies include photography and gardening (aka yelling at the deer to stay away from her tomatoes). She currently lives in University Heights, Ohio, with too many pets.

Like all members of the Fearless Finance team, Elizabeth is a fiduciary, who charges by the hour only. She has no affiliations, and collects no commissions for her work. 

Get in touch with Elizabeth at (715) 456-9794 or elizabeth@fearlessfinance.com.

Amaka Onyekelu-Eze

Amaka Onyekelu-Eze is a Fearless Finance Associate in New York.  As the eldest child in a Nigerian household, Amaka grew up closely shadowing her mother in the management of the household’s finances and learned how to budget and save from a young age.

Amaka attended Queens College in New York, where she majored in Sociology & Urban Studies. After graduation, she started working in public health with participants in a nationwide occupational cancer screening program. In her role, she often found herself operating in a socially supportive role to the patients. It became important to Amaka to become knowledgeable of the patient’s journey to empower them with resources available to assist them along the way, and she carries that goal through to her work with financial planning clients.

Amaka’s aptitude for numbers and her experience in managing her own finances led her to the field of personal finance, and she began reading books, attending seminars, and completed post-baccalaureate courses in Finance to expand her knowledge. She soon realized she had a talent for it and started helping friends and family members with their finances and has hosted financial seminars for a local faith-based organization.

Using a compassionate and culturally sensitive approach, Amaka works closely with her clients to assess their individual financial needs and develops personalized strategies to achieve their financial goals. Whether it’s creating a budget, managing debt, or building wealth through investments, Amaka is dedicated to empowering her clients with the knowledge and tools that they will need to take control of their finances and achieve financial security.

In her free time, Amaka enjoys her morning hikes, reading, flexibility & mobility training and spending time laughing with her loved ones. She is currently taking classes towards the Certified Financial Planner designation.

Like all members of the Fearless Finance team, Amaka is a fiduciary, who charges by the hour only. She has no affiliations and collects no commissions for her work.

Get in touch with Amaka at (516) 847-5184 or amaka.onyekelueze@fearlessfinance.com.