Michael Conforto is a founder of Forefront Advisory, LLC with 20 years of diversified public and private accounting, auditing and tax experience.
His experience includes clients in manufacturing, real estate, technology, personal services, labor unions, employee benefit plans and not-for-profits.
Michael is a certified public accountant in New Jersey and New York, and he is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey State Society of Certified Public Accountants. A resident of Ramsey, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf, and coaching youth sports.
Michael holds a BS in accounting from Manhattan College.
“In a business world that is consistently more complex, we want to be your first call. Our priority is to ensure our clients have all the information necessary to make the right decisions that affect the way they run their business. Our responsibility to our clients exceeds just tax and financial statement compliance. We pride ourselves on the relationships we build to help our clients reach their goals.”
My career in financial services started with a dog.
Not the way most people find their career, I know, but stay with me for a second. I adopted her my junior year of college and named her Reagan. She was emaciated, and it looked like she had been burned on her back from something. It was clear that she didn’t take to men, but it didn’t take her one second to make up her mind about me. She immediately trusted and loved me. She went from a growling Rottweiler/Shepherd mix to a sweet and docile puppy from being in my presence. That type of trust has a way of changing someone even when they don’t realize it’s happening.
Reagan helped me through a time in my life when the real world was calling but I wasn’t prepared to answer. Reagan made me want to help myself in a way I had never felt before. Because of her, I wanted to do the same for others – positively impacting people’s lives and helping empower them to take control of their financial future. I lost Reagan in August 2017 at the age of 14. She had been with me through my mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, meeting my future wife, buying my first and second home with her, and most importantly welcoming my children into this world with me.
About me – I am a first generation American, the son of a working-class Indian family, and I lived through my parents’ struggle to find their place in this country, to put down roots that would sustain them and their children in a new land. As they encouraged me to excel in school and fostered my hobbies and interests, I was keenly aware of the dynamic between them. I understood there was a difference between where they came from individually and where we were now. They worked hard in their individual capacities, but they weren’t always on the same page about financial issues – and that can make or break a family’s future. I didn’t know it then, but this laid the groundwork for my passion for financial services and helping families succeed.
Today, I am a Bergen County, NJ resident, residing with my wife Christina, two kids AJ (9 yrs. old) and Priya (8 yrs. old), and our two dogs Murphy and Moose. After Priya was born in October 2014, I finally took control of my health. I found CrossFit in May of 2015 and subsequently lost 100+ lbs. I transitioned from CrossFit to now being an avid powerlifter, working each day towards the next personal best lift. On the weekends you can find me loudly cheering on the sidelines of my children’s various sporting events, or in the stands with them at a Yankee game. If I am not spending time with family, I love spending time in the gym, curled up with a good book, or training the dogs for obedience competitions.
Forefront Wealth Planning is changing what financial services and advice is for everyone. If you have found your way to this page and have read this far, then we are for you. We provide impartial advice with nothing but the client’s best interest and goals used to formulate the investments that make up the plan. Utilizing multiple fee structures (retainer, hourly, and % of assets under management), I can ensure that no client is paying for services they don’t need. The ever-growing world of technology allows me to communicate more effectively with my clients, and can help shield them from emotion-driven “infotainment” like CNBC and other “news” sources. By focusing on what I can control, and not what the high-flying stock of the day is, I provide my clients in depth and thorough financial plans and investment management that covers all facets of their financial life. This isn’t done alone, however. You, the client, are integral to your plan’s success or failure. I don’t just stress involvement in creating the plan from my clients; I stress commitment to the plan more than anything. Without truly committing as the client nothing will ever be accomplished.
The best way to describe the difference between involvement and commitment is bacon and eggs.
The chicken is involved but the pig is committed.
During her business career, she spent approximately 20 years in the corporate world. Her business experience began with a brief internship at Morgan Stanley working with her father in the World Trade Center in New York City and New Jersey. Shortly afterward, with her interest in automobiles, Karin decided to pursue a career in the automotive industry. She had a successful 18 year career working for Mercedes-Benz USA in Montvale, New Jersey. During her tenure at Mercedes-Benz USA, Karin advanced and held positions in Technical Training, Service and Parts Marketing, Human Resources and Public Relations. She also had the opportunity to be the personal assistant to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and the President of Mercedes-Benz Manhattan. Karin finalized her employment with Mercedes-Benz USA as the Jacksonville and San Francisco Regional Liaison in the National Distribution Department when her first child Caroline was born.
In her free time, Karin enjoys snow skiing and ice skating in the winter months, and water skiing and spending time at the beach during the summer. She loves watching her sons play baseball and football, and her daughters playing field hockey and soccer. She enjoys cooking and creating new and exciting recipes to share with her children. Karin and her children enjoy their three year old Bichon Frise, Frankie, who loves to just hang out with the family.
Karin is a graduate of Katharine Gibbs Business School and attended both Bergen Community and Ramapo College.
ACM was formed under the principles that each client deserves inexpensive, tax efficient, customized and transparent portfolios. As importantly, these portfolios should work seamlessly with a client’s ongoing financial plan.
We handle planning for trusts, estates, taxes, social security, business, insurance, education, and more. We also have team members that specialize in stock option strategies, retirement income, financial planning software!
Our team of investment research specialists who assist us in our efforts to provide you with the best possible service. Each of the professionals on this team brings a breadth of experience in the industry and within his or her own specialization in asset allocation, fund selection, fixed income portfolio construction and design, evaluation, selection, and dissemination of research, and more!
Our retirement consulting specialists assist in the best possible service for managing qualified retirement plans, including data architecture, data management, and associated product testing, retirement plan participant education campaigns and collateral, and best practices related to building and supporting a successful retirement plan practice!