Good friends recommended Asti Financial and they were completely right about Asti's excellent work. The pre meeting call and the 90 minute session were extremely helpful. Worth every penny for peace of mind and financial stability. I look forward getting more practical advice from Asti. read more

Julie gives great advice and is very patient. My issue is with her is the billing. My advice would be to be super clear with Julie about how much you want to spend on her advice. We were partially at fault for not checking and rechecking how much we were going to be billed. She sent a pre-meeting form to be filled out. When we filled it out, she asked if we wanted her to look at it. I said yes. When I did that, I was, in effect authorizing her to charge us for looking at the form that she asked us to fill out. What we really should have done is ask her to ONLY look at our finances during the 1 hour meeting we had, NOT ask for a follow up to our meeting and state clearly that we could only afford to pay for 1 hour. Her fee of $900 is way morre than what we will make on the interest on the money we are investing. Lesson learned. For you, make sure the billing is SUPER clear and repeat your budget before any meeting or email. Other than that, she is super nice and very skilled. read more

I was deeply distressed and disappointed by the advise I received from Julie during the financial crisis. Based on my experience working with her, she is skillful and 'quick-on-her-feet,' yet over confident and too quick in making recommendations without a thorough and thoughtful discussion. And perhaps not sufficiently experienced in retirement planning to advise clients without thinking through the scenarios, options and caveats. I offered this feedback to here in the spirit of being helpful to her and her other clients. She never replied. read more

My previous review was removed by Yelp! so I am reposting it. I have been working with Julie for 5 years. Here were my previous comments, which definitely still apply: Julie has literally changed my life. As a physician, you'd think that I would be "financially stable". The truth is, three years ago my finances were a mess. I wasn't budgeting properly for my income and was clueless with regard to managing my investments and planning for the future. I was living in a one bedroom apartment barely making my rent and had a car that needed CPR. I dreamed about buying a new car, having my own home, and saving towards retirement. For those who like objective evidence, Julie has managed to keep my investments growing even in the face of a recession. I now have a reliable car, a new home and I am able to budget properly in order to save for retirement. What's more, I am proud to say that I now have a credit score in the 790's (big improvement over my past...). Lastly, she has been a great resources for referrals; I found my mortgage broker, tax preparer and insurance agents through Julie. On a subjective note, Julie is incredibly patient, kind, detail oriented and trust worthy. She never judges me for naivete around money issues; instead she breaks down the issues into language I can understand. She seems to enjoy seeing her clients learn and become more independent over time. I truly believe that she loves her job because she likes seeing people achieve their personal goals. It's my honor to write this recommendation on behalf of Julie's tremendous work. read more

The thing is, it is not that easy to find an unbiased opinion as to what is and what really isn't so in the financial world. Sure, there is always Wikipedia, but a lot of the questions that come up are more complicated than what Google Investments can come up with. This is why I am so glad that I found Julie. She has no axe to grind, no commission to make, no sales goals to achieve. I write her a check, and she cuts through the BS and tells me how it is. No spin, no angle, just reality. I can totallly read a sales piece from mutual fund de-jour on Mad Money, but Julie tells me what it REALLY means to me. Julie, you rock. read more

I met with Julie Asti recently to do some retirement planning and to evaluate my asset allocation. Although I have an MBA and have a basic grasp of investing fundamentals, I didn't specialize in finance and it's not a favorite topic, for sure. Julie was great- she was able to quickly evaluate my financial situation and make practical, easy to implement suggestions for improving my mix of investments and modeling different scenarios for funding my retirement. I left after two highly efficient hours with detailed and well documented advice and the good feeling you get when you have improved your understanding and control of your personal finances. Great return on my investment! read more

Just an update to my review of this company. I have been working with Julie for more than seven years now, and have continued to be very happy with the service she provides. Her billing policies and business model are very fair and ethical and she has always been very quick to respond to my email questions. I have also had great experiences during our consultation meetings. As would be expected in the profession, Julie is a quick thinker who keeps appraised of market conditions. But just as important, she will listen to you regarding your own philosophy and approach, and will incorporate this into all of her guidance. As such, I find that she makes helpful advice and suggestions that integrate well with your management strategy, without trying to push you in any particular direction. Her payment options include hourly rates, which is key if you don't want to have to pay an "assets under management" fee structure. Based on my experience, Julie is an outstanding financial advisor for anyone who wants to be involved in managing their own finances, and wants advice and counsel along the way. read more

My wife and I were totally satisfied with the services of Asti Financial. The hourly advising with Julie was just what we needed. I think we are pretty savvy with our finances and taxes in general, but now that I'm starting a new self-employed business, we decided to seek out professional guidance. This is new territory for us. Our meeting with Julie was efficient, organized, and on point. We provided our financial overview and rough questions in advance, and Julie took all that, assimilated it, and enabled us to hit the ground running from the first minute of our meeting. Each bit of concrete, actionable advice was tied into our overall financial picture, and she went through topics with us that we didn't even know we ought to address coming into our meeting. She's easy to work with, and has a great ability to break things down, and explain and elaborate where relevant. I feel Julie has set us up for success. Now we approach this new chapter in our financial lives with much greater confidence. We have a tangible vision for how to operate and grow my business in the coming months and years. I intend to return to Julie for subsequent advising with future business milestones. read more

We've been using Julie as our financial advisor for a few years now. She is detailed, considerate, and incredibly knowledgable about mutual funds. Also her fiduciary responsibility is definitely to you and not to some funds she's trying to promote, which we love. I've already recommended her to friends and will continue to do so. read more

My husband and I met with Julie Asti to discuss some new financial changes on the horizon. I was very impressed with the introductory consultation we just had with her. She spent several hours evaluating our current situation and really getting to know us. All this was complimentary and her proposal was comprehensive and reasonable. I love the idea of working with an independent financial advisor, who is NOT pushing particular investments because of any back-room obligations. read more

I used Yelp to choose this person and now I'm posting my feedback on Yelp. I was excited to start working with Julie, but she cancelled/rescheduled our appointments several times which I found extremely annoying and disrespectful of my time. She didn't make any concessions for inconveniencing me either by offering a discount for her services or freeing up a Saturday to make amends. Ultimately, I wasted too much time, energy, and money waiting around for her to become more organized. read more

Using Asti Financial has been one of the smartest moves I've made in my business and home finances. To be able to get an outside perspective and expert guidance in financial matters has been FANTASTIC. Julie made me feel at ease opening up my books and allowing her to see the big picture. She is extremely professional and non-judgmental and always sees a solution. I'm not sure why I didn't do this sooner... read more

We were faced with a very difficult financial decision (long story, but new job in San Diego, own a house here that we bought at the peak of the market, and lots of potential tax consequences). We saw rave reviews about Asti Financial at (of all places) the Berkeley Parent's Network, and we knew that we wanted someone who did hourly consultations (so no commissions etc). Julie was fantastic - she quickly walked us through several potential scenarios, thinking of things we would never have even known to consider, and helped us come to a decision about what we should do. She even answered several questions unrelated otto e house, and did it all in well under the time she had estimated, saving us money! We were not thrilled with the ultimate answer to our problem (we will lose a good bit of money due to the move), but we WERE thrilled with Asti Financial Management. read more

Julie is extremely knowledgeable and very easy to work with. She's paid by the hour or by the project, not on commission, so she can help you figure out what's best for your situation, independent of her bottom line. I needed help running income and expense projections, and I could not imagine someone being more supportive --sympathetic and clearheaded -- and efficient at the same time. To the five stars, let me add an enthusiastic "two thumbs up!" read more

I wanted to thank Julie for her time and effort. I have been reluctant to work with an advisor as the finance world can be intimidating. I contacted her based on her yelp reviews and she was extremely flexible in scheduling a time that worked for me since I was coming for nearly an hour away. Her demeanor made me very comfortable. Julie's professional attitude and her wealth of knowledge validated that I had made the right decision to contact her. I will continue to use her services in the future and would highly recommend her. read more

Julie is amazing--really smart, professional, pleasant. I received huge peace of mind after talking with her for just 1.5 hours. I'd recommend her without hesitation to anyone and everyone looking for sound financial advice. read more

I highly recommend Julie. I found her on Berkeley Parents Network and am so grateful for the service and Yelp to help me find good people. Julie has helped me both personally and with my small business. I love that she charges a project fee and does not "sell" you anything. Julie worked on a budget for me for the next 5 years. Helped me choose a 529 plan, disability insurance, 401K as well as a plan to pay off my equity line of credit. She also helped me re-distribute my funds in my Vanguard account. She is fast, helpful, and positive. It has been a great experience. read more