Our Team

Joel began his financial services career with the Principal Financial Group in Minneapolis. In 1985, Joel moved to Birmingham to build a practice around the many relationships he had developed while growing up in North Alabama.

He subsequently joined forces with his father, Bill McGriff, the respected CPA and founder of McGriff, Dowdy, and Associates – a leading Alabama public accounting firm. By combining their expertise in different fields, the father and son team effectively offered their clients comprehensive advisory and investment services.

Throughout his career, Joel has developed a specialty in working with retirees, and those preparing to retire, who want to protect their principal and ensure that their money lasts. He has advised retired government employees, retired teachers, physicians, and business executives approaching retirement.

Joel believes that this industry cannot guarantee the financial success of clients any more than someone can guarantee the weather. Over the last several years, Joel has searched for better alternatives for his clients. While traditional financial planning firms have said that alternative investments cannot be offered as a service, Joel wholeheartedly believes that a banker and financial planner will never tell you the information you truly need when it comes to creating a financial strategy.

As a part of a grassroots movement of agents, advisors, investors, and consumers, we are working together to take back our thinking and our money from the institutions and corporations that too often put their own best interests first.

Joel holds a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) degree and a degree in Finance from Auburn University. Joel and his wife Laurie reside on beautiful Smith Lake in Arley, AL.