Kay R. Shirley, Ph.D.

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and Author

Dr. Kay Shirley does more than advise people how to invest their hard-earned money. She also teaches them how they could make their assets last a lifetime. Her second book, The Baby Boomer Financial Wake-Up Call: It's Not Too Late to Be Financially Secure, (Dearborn Financial Publishing) gives common-sense advice to people in their 40s and 50s who are just getting started investing. Her first book, Live Long and Profit: Wealthbuilding Strategies for Every Stage of Your Life, (also published by Dearborn) gives people of all income levels the knowledge they need to financially prepare themselves for retirement.

Dr. Shirley, a former teacher and management consultant, is president of Financial Development Corporation, as well as a registered representative, registered principal and branch manager for LPL Financial, a nationwide association of independent financial planners. LPL Financial is a broker dealer and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the SIPC. LPL Financial, is the #1 Independent Broker Dealer in the country. Financial Development Corporation is a registered Investment Advisor with the State of Georgia.

Dr. Shirley is recognized as having achievements in the financial services arena over many years. Among those recognitions is the June 2010 Barron’s magazine listing Dr. Shirley among the Top 100 Women Advisors in the nation. In the February 2010 Barron’s magazine listing, Dr. Shirley was no. 14 among the Top 25 Financial Advisers in Georgia, and the only female on the Georgia list. For every year since 2004 Dr. Shirley and Financial Development Corporation have been listed by Barron’s magazine in their lists of Top Women Financial Advisers and Top Independent Financial Advisers. Registered Rep. magazine, in its November 2008 issue, lists Dr. Shirley as no. 13 on its American’s Top 100 Independent Advisors list and LPL Financial as no. 1 on its list of America’s Top 20 Independent Broker Dealers.

Dr. Shirley was featured in the July 2005 issue of Money magazine and on CNN as part of ING’s A Fresh Approach Series. Women’s Winner’s Circle, April 2004, a supplement to Research magazine, places her first in the Southeast and eighth in the nation among female financial planners. Barron’s magazine, October 2004 and June 2005, named Dr. Shirley among the nation’s top 100 financial advisors. She was profiled in the November 2004 issue of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. In the 1980s, Dr. Shirley was included on the lists of Atlanta's Top Twenty-Seven Self-Made Women, Atlanta's Fourteen Women on Top and Atlanta's Top Women Executives. The Atlanta Business Chronicle named her one of Ten Key Decision-Makers in Buckhead in 1990. She has served on the Board of Directors of the 1,000 member Buckhead Business Association since 1984, becoming the group's first woman president in 1989. She was a founding member of the Buckhead Club and belongs to The Women's Commerce Club.

Dr. Shirley hosts financial seminars and often speaks to civic, community and religious groups. In 1991 alone, she shared conference agendas with "Wall Street Week" host Louis Rukeyser, General Norman Schwarzkopf and Dr. Joyce Brothers. In 1990 BellSouth added her to the list of approved financial planners for its key managers. She has also been a management consultant for large engineering and medical organizations since 1975. She is a member of the Georgia Society of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners and is a member of the International Association for Financial Planning. She is also a licensed life, health and disability insurance agent.

She earned her B.S. in Mathematics from Mississippi State University and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Management from Georgia State University. Georgia State named her one of its twenty-four Outstanding Alumni in 1989 and asked her to serve on its Alumni Board in 1998 and 1999. She was on the MSU Foundation Board 2005-2008.

She practices what she preaches and recommends only investments where she personally is invested.