Ross Marino CFP®, CeFT®
Creator of Human-First Financial Guidance®
Ross Marino founded Dovetail Financial and serves as its CEO. He is a financial planner, educator, and author with more than 30 years of experience.
Ross works primarily with people planning to retire within the next five years or already retired. His clients include married couples and single women, including widows. People often contact him when a life change creates new retirement decisions or makes existing choices more complex.
He begins by learning what happened, why the decision matters, and what the person wants the money to support. He evaluates the financial choices and recommends a path, explaining his reasons, important assumptions, and what remains uncertain. The person has room to ask questions, disagree, or correct his understanding.
Ross’s work is part of Dovetail’s ongoing retirement planning and investment management relationship. Decisions are carried out, monitored, and revisited as circumstances change.
What Shaped Ross’s Approach?
Ross created Human-First Financial Guidance® after seeing how often a technically sound recommendation still depends on understanding the person it affects. A retirement date can look different once an advisor understands the life the person wants and the responsibilities the person needs to meet.
Human-First Financial Guidance® brings that personal understanding together with financial analysis. What matters to the person shapes the questions Ross examines, and the findings can change how the person sees their options. He speaks candidly when a preferred choice puts something important at risk.
He holds the CFP® and CeFT® credentials. He is the co-author, with Susan Bradley, of Shaping Change: How to Respond When Life Disrupts Your Retirement Plan.
Ross taught Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits in the CFP® curriculum at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He has also spoken at national financial conferences and on industry podcasts.
Professional Memberships and Networks
Ross is a member of the Financial Planning Association and a NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor. He is also listed on FeeOnlyNetwork.com, an online directory of fee-only financial advisors.
What Does Ross Enjoy Outside of Work?
Ross enjoys staying active with his family in Wilmington. He plays pickleball, walks the Loop at Wrightsville Beach, and works out.
He also reads science fiction and studies artificial intelligence. Family time often includes Lexi, the family’s overly protective and thoroughly spoiled Blue Merle Pomeranian.
Individual Recognition
Ross has received or been named a finalist for the following industry recognitions:
2026 — Finalist: ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES, AI Innovator of the Year (Individual). Official record
2026 — Finalist: WealthManagement.com Industry Award (Wealthies), Innovator of the Year, Individual RIA Firm Leaders (announced June 3, 2026). Official record
2026 — Finalist: WealthManagement.com Industry Award (Wealthies), Thought Leader of the Year, Individual RIA Firm Leaders (announced June 3, 2026). Official record
2024 — Winner: ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES, Individual Award — Thought Leader of the Year, RIA/IAR Firms (announced December 12, 2024). Official record
2024 — Finalist: WealthManagement.com Industry Award (Wealthies), Innovator of the Year, Individual RIA Firm Leaders (announced June 4, 2024). Official record
2023 — Winner: ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES, Thought Leadership and Education, Individuals, RIA/IAR Firms (announced November 30, 2023). Official record
2023 — Finalist: WealthManagement.com Industry Award (Wealthies), Thought Leader of the Year, Individual RIA Firm Leaders (announced June 1, 2023). Official record
2022 — Finalist: ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES, Thought Leadership and Education, Individuals, RIA/IAR Firms (announced June 22, 2022). Official record
2021 — Winner: ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES, Thought Leadership, Individual (announced August 16, 2021). Official record
Historical note. Transitus Wealth Partners was later rebranded as Dovetail Financial and is the same firm. The 2021 ThinkAdvisor record also names Advisor2X, a separate financial-advisor training and education company that is not affiliated with Dovetail Financial.
Recognition Disclosures
Wealthies. The WealthManagement.com Industry Awards, known as the Wealthies, are produced by WealthManagement.com and Informa Connect. The 2026 awards evaluated accomplishments during the preceding 18 months; contemporaneous 2024 program materials describe the same 18-month evaluation period. The available 2023 provider record confirms independent judging but does not state a separate lookback period. Independent judges evaluate innovation, scope, and impact. Nominations were free. Ross Marino and Dovetail Financial, including when the firm operated as Transitus Wealth Partners, paid no direct or indirect compensation to enter or obtain these recognitions.
ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES. The annual program evaluates qualitative and quantitative evidence of accomplishments described in nomination materials. The program materials available for the 2021 through 2026 recognitions do not state a more specific calendar lookback. ThinkAdvisor’s editorial staff and Luminaries advisory board select finalists, and independent industry judges select winners. Nominations were free. Ross Marino and Dovetail Financial, including when the firm operated as Transitus Wealth Partners, paid no direct or indirect compensation to enter or obtain these recognitions.
Would You Like to Speak With Ross or Another Dovetail Advisor?
Your introductory call will be with Bryant Lester, CFP®. He will learn what prompted you to reach out and answer your initial questions about Dovetail.
If it makes sense to continue, Bryant can arrange a conversation with Ross or, if you prefer, another Dovetail advisor.
