Our Focus Is
Always on You
Does your financial plan account for life’s twists and turns?
Life rarely follows a straight line. Financial planning usually isn’t as simple as moving your money from point A to point B. What you have on paper and what happens doesn’t always match up. Market dips, unexpected expenses and changing family needs can often throw your carefully laid plans off course.
Meet Our Experienced Professionals
Martin Shapiro has been serving clients for 35+ years. After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from UC San Diego, Martin worked in management for AT&T. There he realized that his entrepreneurial spirit and strong desire to assist people were being wasted in the corporate world.
So in 1985, Martin became a financial advisor and earned the CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) designation in 1992. Martin has a passion for learning and continued his education through the American College. He earned professional
designations as a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) on the way to getting his master’s degree in financial services (MSFS) in 2001.
Martin gives back to the community through volunteer work, having served the UCSD Alumni Association as its past president and the UC San Diego Foundation as its past vice chair, as well as the Arthritis Foundation, the Southern Caregiver Resource Center, and the Tariq Khamisa Foundation.
Martin takes an educational approach to working with his clients, and nothing excites him more than seeing “the light come on” in his clients’ eyes when they understand (maybe for the first time!) how their finances can work to get them what they want out of life.
Martin is married to the love of his life, Monica, and is the proud father of two daughters, Natalie and Erica. They enjoy going to concerts together as well as hiking and backpacking. Martin also enjoys golf, walking, yoga, basketball, and tennis for exercise and reading, meditation, and watching movies for relaxation.
Meet John Wright,
Johnny graduated with a business degree from the University of Mississippi in 2012. He has worked in the insurance business and managing a variety of small businesses. He is married to Martin’s daughter Natalie and and they were blessed with a baby girl in 2021, Martin's first grandchild. He is an avid fly fisherman and musician, but most of all he loves being a Dad.
Meet Shawn Kilmurray,
Financial Advisor
Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA®)
Working through a highly personalized financial planning process, Shawn provides clients with enhanced benefits in areas such as wealth accumulation and preservation, asset protection, tax savings, and retirement planning to deliver greater overall financial confidence and security.
Prior to pursuing a career in financial services, Shawn spent almost two decades as an executive at major record companies—Sony, Universal, and Warner Music.
Seeing first-hand how artists could go from “rags to riches and back to rags” in the blink of an eye, Shawn came to the realization that many people, not just artists and entertainers, had a very real, even critical, need for financial guidance and support.
A close friend of Martin Shapiro’s for more than 30 years, it was Martin who first encouraged Shawn to consider a career in financial services once he decided to end his career in the recording business. A financial advisor since 2012, Shawn previously worked at Wealth Advisory Group (Guardian) and Fortis Lux Financial (MassMutual) in New York City.
While these professional experiences helped strengthen Shawn’s personal finance knowledge and expertise, over time he came to realize that effectively guiding a person’s financial life goes much deeper—it’s truly an emotional process, just as much about behavioral therapy as it is about crunching numbers.
However, in the traditional broker/dealer-driven financial industry, everything all too often revolves around transactions. “In my life, in our culture, and with the things that I think matter the most in this life, it’s around the human experience. And that means the relationship must be more important than the transaction.”
Inspired by Martin’s educational approach to financial planning, Shawn is excited to leave the broker/dealer “suitability standard” and move to the Registered Investment Advisor “fiduciary standard” of care for his clients. Fiduciaries have not only a moral obligation, but also a legal obligation to always place their clients’ best interests ahead of their own. It’s a partnership, not a transaction.
Specializing in providing strategic financial guidance and counsel primarily to clients from across the entertainment world and beyond, Shawn’s clients include music artists, producers, managers, attorneys, senior executives, and entrepreneurs.
Away from work, Shawn is inspired by a great passion for the outdoors. He enjoys mountain biking, hiking, golf, yoga, travel, live music, sports, meditation, and spending time with his two children as often as possible.
Amy has been in the financial planning industry for over 26 years. She has worked with MassMutual, Foothill Securities, Securities America, and Woodbury Financial Services. Amy excels at getting things right the first time and loves interacting with clients to make sure everyone stays happy. She married her high school sweetheart, Mike, and they have a daughter, Skyler and two grandchildren.
Get a Complimentary Copy of Our “10 Steps to a Successful Retirement” Today!
Financial Planning
Martin Shapiro Financial Services
CA Insurance License #0681852
Contact Information
Phone:
Local: 858.573.1680
Toll-Free:800.956.4782
E-mail:
1315 Culbreth Dr. Suite 414 Wilmington, NC 28405
Martin Shapiro Financial Services and Martin Shapiro offer Investment advice through Brookwood Investment Group, LLC, 3930 E. Ray Road, Suite 155, Phoenix, AZ 85044 (“Brookwood”). Brookwood is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Registration with the SEC should not be construed to imply that the SEC has approved or endorsed qualifications or the services Brookwood offers, or that its personnel possess a particular level of skill, expertise or training. Insurance products are offered through Martin Shapiro Insurance. Important information and disclosures related to Brookwood Investment Group, LLC, are available at https://www.brookwoodinvestmentgroup.com/disclosures. Additional information pertaining to Martin Shapiro and/or Brookwood’s registration status, its business operations, services and fees and its current written disclosure statement is available on the SEC’s Investment Adviser public website at https://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/ .
Licensed Insurance Professional. We are an independent financial services firm helping individuals create retirement strategies using a variety of investment and insurance products to custom suit their needs and objectives. This website has been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, accounting, legal, tax or investment advice. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. No Investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in a period of declining values. Any references to protection benefits or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investment products. Insurance and annuity products are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
PLEASE NOTE: The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you click on links to any of the websites provided here, you are leaving this website. We make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these web sites.
© 2025 All Rights Reserved | Martin Shapiro Financial Services