Profile
For Chad Waters, financial planning has never been about the numbers on a page. “My clients don’t just want a financial plan,” he says. “They want a vision for their life. My job is to help them build it.” It is a simple belief, but at Trifecta Wealth Management, the boutique firm he built from the ground up, it shapes every single decision.
In practice, that means serving under 100 households by design. Every decision, from the technology used to the planning areas the firm specializes in, has been guided by a single question: what gives clients the best possible experience. Building a practice where clients feel “genuinely cared for, comprehensively planned for, and confident about their future” is what he is most proud of, and he is candid that scaling that experience without diluting it remains his biggest challenge.
Relationships and trust, Waters says, are what enabled his early success. He often cites Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This same standard extends to his broader reputation.
Consistency, adaptability, and “an obsession with delivering a world-class client experience” define his approach, alongside a practice integrating tax planning, estate considerations, risk management, and charitable giving rather than investment management alone. He holds the CFP® certification and continues studying the advisors he admires most.
Mentorship has shaped Waters just as directly. Early in his career, working at a large firm gave him access to accomplished advisors he could learn from, watching how they built relationships and delivered advice at the highest level. He still cites Jim Rohn’s line that “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” The guidance he received early on is precisely why giving back matters so much to him today. When newer advisors or college students reach out, he shows up for them the same way others showed up for him.
Waters treats his relative youth, despite more than a decade in the industry, as an advantage rather than a limitation. “I think being a younger advisor with over a decade of experience is genuinely my greatest strength,” he says. “My clients know that I will be here for the long haul. Continuity matters enormously to them, especially those in their 50s and 60s who are thinking about the next 20–30 years of their financial life. I am not going anywhere, and they know it.”
Being named as one of IN’s Rising Stars for 2026 has not shifted his direction so much as confirmed it. Waters says his focus remains where it has always been: delivering an exceptional client experience, giving back to the industry, and continuing to grow as an advisor and as a person. He adds, “The award is a reflection of the clients who trusted me, the mentors who guided me, and the team that shows up every day. That is what I am most grateful for.”
12625 High Bluff Drive, Suite 311, San Diego, CA 92130
858 703 6033
nathanj@realbreakthru.com
linkedin.com/in/chad-w7
trifectawm.com
Chad Waters
Owner
Trifecta Wealth Management
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Bio
Milestones
2026
2025
2018–2021
2021–present
Present
Five-Star Wealth Manager
2026
Director, Relationship Development at The BREAKTHRU Multi-Family Office
2025
Financial Advisor at Fitzgerald Wealth Management
2018–2021
Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor at Wealth Enhancement
2021–present
President of Richards, Lathrop & Associates
Present
Milestones
“I know this seems pretty simple, but [my philosophy] is always doing what’s right for clients and not what is best for me”
Collin Bruce,
Dominion Lending Centres
“I had to crawl my way out of debt and build up my mortgage business. I never forget that feeling, and I try to never take a new lead for granted. Every deal counts”
Collin Bruce,
Dominion Lending Centres
The professional philosophy that underpins all of it is strikingly basic – and Bruce knows it. “I know this seems pretty simple,” he says, “but always doing what’s right for clients and not what is best for me. I never have to worry about something coming back to me from a previous client.”
He has helped clients through years-long credit rehabilitation without earning a cent along the way. He has never placed a client in a product he wasn’t prepared to fully stand behind. The result is a practice built on trust generating its own momentum: repeat business and referrals that arrive without prompting, from clients who know the difference between a broker who serves them and one who services a transaction.
In Alberta, where Bruce has built a particularly strong market presence, his name is amplified by a heavy advertising campaign across television and radio – channels he values not simply for reach but for credibility. The ads, he notes, help legitimize him in a market where clients are choosing who to trust with some of the largest financial decisions of their lives. Alongside that visibility, he has cultivated deep relationships with builders and financial planners, creating a diversified pipeline of leads that insulates the business against the inevitable swings of the rate cycle.
The operational side of the business has evolved with equal deliberateness. The appointment of a dedicated ‘Director of Wow’ – a role conceived to ensure every client interaction exceeds expectation – and the adoption of Dominion Lending Centres’ Gold Rush CRM platform have together driven a meaningful uplift in repeat client business over the past year.
The present year of 2026 brings its own complexities. With clients emerging from a period of historically low rates and confronting sharply higher mortgage costs, Bruce has tilted his focus toward refinancing – helping existing borrowers navigate a transition that, for many, has been genuinely painful. He is also investing in AI tools to sharpen lead generation and streamline internal processes, a measured embrace of technology from someone who has never confused efficiency with the thing it is meant to serve.