Sam Wood-Bednarz is a partner and senior advisor with North Berkeley Wealth and serves as Director of Advisory Services. Sam provides his clients with a sense of confidence and calm in their financial lives and helps them make sound decisions. Sam’s talent for process development is indispensable in improving the firm’s financial planning practices.
Prior to joining North Berkeley, Sam worked as the Faculty Assistant at the Wright Institute, a graduate school of clinical psychology in Berkeley. During that time, Sam became fascinated with personal financial planning, and after completing the UC Berkeley CFP® certification program, he joined North Berkeley in 2013 on the client service team. His role quickly evolved to incorporate more of a focus on financial planning, and by 2016 he had become a lead advisor at the firm. In 2019, Sam stepped into the role of Director of Financial Planning, and in 2021 he became a partner of the firm.
Sam was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He attended Oberlin College for his undergraduate training and moved to Berkeley in 2008. Now a long-term transplant, Sam lives in Richmond with his wife, daughter, and their two black cats. Sam enjoys singing, playing music, and playing games with friends.
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Education, Certifications, & Affiliations
- CFP® (CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™) certification
- B.A. in History, Oberlin College
- Member, Financial Planning Association (FPA)
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards owns the certification marks CFP® and Certified Financial Planner™ in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete the CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.
More About Sam
I became an advisor to help people. As I entered the workforce and started to manage my own finances, I realized that, while I enjoy thinking about personal finance, many others find it stressful. The advisor role is a great combination of these two interests: I help people make decisions about their finances, and ideally, lead them to a better and more secure financial future.
Outside of work I like to play music. I sing, play guitar, and play piano. My musical genres change a little depending on the instrument. I enjoy classic rock, alternative rock, and pretty ballads like “Let It Be” and “Desperado.” I also enjoy playing video and board games, particularly strategy games. Some all-time favorites include the Civilization series, Battle Brothers, and Settlers of Catan.
The best advice I ever received was about how to make decisions. First, acknowledge that delaying a decision is itself a decision not to take action. Second, understand that you can never really know the outcome of any decision in advance, and because of that, you just have to do the best you can with the information you have. As a risk-averse person, this advice hasn’t always been easy for me to follow, but I find that I am happiest when I do.
Articles by Sam
Optimizing Your Charitable Giving
Whether you’re motivated by a passion for a particular cause, a desire to give back to the community, or you want to support a loved one’s passion or cause, charitable giving is a way that many of our clients choose to have an impact in areas that are important to them.
Illuminating the Next Chapter
In honor of our team member Ariana Alisjahbana welcoming her first child this week, we are rerunning an article from June 2022 that highlights financial considerations to keep in mind as you celebrate this next phase of life. Congratulations to Ariana and her growing family!
Planning for College with 529s
Even while tuition bills seem far off in the future, 529 plans can be a powerful tool which can help parents establish the habit of saving early and ease some of the financial and psychological stress that can arise as college enrollment approaches.