Chris Patterson

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I’m a lifelong resident of Jacksonville, FL where I attended the University of North Florida. I was a four-year letterman for the men’s basketball team from 1993-1997. I received a bachelor’s degree in business management and accounting from UNF and I’m still active with the University’s fund-raising efforts. I’ve been married to my wife Heather since 2001, we have three children, Tori (24), Tyler (19), and Cade (17). We also have two dogs, Harley & Winston!

I originally worked at a large insurance company and then a large bank for about 4 years prior to joining my Dad’s CPA firm, Patterson & Associates in July 2001. During that four-year stint I gained invaluable experience learning the inner workings of an insurance company and how financial products are built and ultimately sold to the consumer. It was eye opening. I worked for my Father for about 10 years prior to taking over the CPA practice. The CPA practice over time evolved into tax and financial planning and eventually retirement income planning. I sold that practice in 2020 and joined Lifeworks Advisors in an attempt to gain a better work-life balance for myself. It’s one of the best professional decisions I’ve made as Lifeworks is literally changing the financial services industry with its unique approach to retirement income planning.

In addition to my role as a CPA and retirement advisor I also coach the boys’ varsity basketball team at Creekside High School in St Johns, FL. Having played and coached sports all my life I’m an avid sports fan. My family has season tickets for Jacksonville Jaguars games, and I enjoy attending as many games as possible.

My middle daughter, Tyler, plays college volleyball at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke so Heather and I will try to get to as many of her games as we can. Our youngest child, Cade plays varsity basketball for me at the high school where I coach. We are definitely a sports family!

We also really enjoy the beach, we have a condominium in St. Augustine Beach, about 45 minutes south of where we live. We try to get down there as much as possible, but I feel like our kids use it a lot more than Heather and I do! It is great to get down there and relax!

As an advisor my philosophy is pretty simple. Build out the most efficient retirement distribution strategy. What does efficient mean? I want taxes and fees to be as low as possible and I want income to be as high as possible.

There is a general rule of thumb in the investment industry that’s called the 4% rule. That rule states that you can take up to 4% of your portfolio without any fear of running out of money. That rule is a little outdated, our goal is closer to 6% using the investment strategies available to us now.

Finally, market volatility is a fear for almost everyone I speak with. So, with that in mind, I want to build an income strategy that helps to alleviate that fear for clients! That doesn’t mean we can eliminate market volatility, but there are certainly ways to make it less of an issue in your retirement!

I hope this helps shine some light on who I am and what my approach to retirement tax and income planning is. I’m looking forward to speaking with you!