Vision
To make financial abundance a 21st century world-wide norm.
Mission
To lead our community to maximize their financial and human potential. To increase our peoples’ financial clarity, confidence, and success, through fiduciary built, easily accessible, and personalized
- Financial Advice
- Financial Planning
- Investment Management
- Business Advisory
Values
- We encourage life-long learning and expansion of your financial capabilities
- We promote creativity and innovation
- We seek improvement relentlessly
- We highly value communication, collaboration, and commitment
- We demonstrate care, compassion, and respect
- We embrace diversity among points of view, people, cultures, ideas, and solutions
Tenets
Our Philosophies/Beliefs
- Your motivations and goals are of paramount importance
- You before us; your needs before ours
- Partnering to meet your goals
Our Practices
- Through insight, guidance, and life-long relationships.
- Leave the world a better place than you found it
- We listen for, hear, and understand what is important to you
- Be thoughtful, competent, forward-thinking, grateful, and honest
- Have compassion and respect
- Maintain your privacy and confidentiality
- Continuous improvement
Team
Adam Amante
Adam is a third-generation investor who lives in Tucson, Arizona. He began investing, if only on paper, in fifth grade home economics class. Later, he transformed his investment portfolio into an income-producing machine and used the dividends to become debt-free. Adam attended the University of North Carolina and earned three degrees. His twenty-year professional career balanced financial planning, investing, and insurance through the tempered lens of a fiduciary. He established Fortress in 2000 to help clients secure their financial objectives. Adam carries out his responsibilities with honesty, loyalty, integrity, and occasionally dry humor.
Adam lives in Tucson with his wife, Kristen, and their four children, Abigail, Asher, Ava, and Alexander. He enjoys exercise, yoga, surfing, and anything outdoors.
Ken Nesler, CFP®
Ken’s financial service experience spans over forty years and includes investment management, financial planning, trust administration, and charitable gift planning. Ken combines this experience with his dedication to service, as he helps meet the unique needs of the higher-wealth clients and families of Fortress. Ken is a partner of Fortress, as well as a member of the Investment Committee.
Ken is a graduate of Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, and has been a Certified Financial Planner® since 1984. Ken and his wife Joanne like to relax by cooking, reading, and listening to music. They both enjoy visits with their five children and grandchildren.
Jody Meyer
Advisor AssistantJody Meyer
Jody Meyer was born and raised in central Illinois. Her husband’s career moved them to Tucson in the summer of 2017 and she couldn’t be happier to be here. Jody has a husband (Josh), two daughters (Haley and Aries), and two dogs. She loves to make crafts for decorations and gifts. She’s also a HUGE Chicago Cubs fan and roots for the Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks.
Jody has an Associate Degree in Applied Science/Paralegal. Prior to moving to Tucson, she worked as a commercial lines marketer for an insurance company in Illinois.
Jody comes to the firm with over 10 years of administrative experience and is hoping to become a financial advisor in the future.
Emilia Valenzuela
Advisor AssistantEmilia Valenzuela
Emilia Valenzuela was born and raised in Tucson Arizona. She has been happily married to her husband Thomas of 13 years and has their 3 amazing littles (Marisela, Delilah and Mateo) along with adult kids (Thomas, Jenice, Keiser and Pricilla). Emilia and her husband have been foster parents for 10 years now through the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. She and her family are HUGE Dallas Cowboys fans! Emilia comes to Fortress with 15 years of financial institution experience along with customer service background.
Stacey Mathis
Advisor AssistantStacey Mathis
Stacey Mathis was born in Toledo, Ohio but grew up mostly in Ware, Massachusetts, which is in the western part of the state. She has lived in Tucson since 1985 when her parents said they were moving here and she had to come! The reason for the move was that her dad hated the cold and wet weather of New England and loved the sun. She is coming up on 13 years of marriage to her husband Mike. Their favorite shared interests are reading, music, and antiquing. She really enjoy the ‘treasure hunt’ for her next fun knick-knack. She has a collection of over two hundred pairs of salt and pepper shakers and especially likes the unusual or weird ones.
She has two adult children, Connor age 26 and Kelsey age 23, and has so enjoyed watching them grow up. Stacey says that it has been such fun to see them change and grow into the people they have become, and she could not be prouder of them.
FAQs
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Who Is Fortress, and What Are Your Qualifications?
We are fiduciaries, legally bound and committed to work in your best interest, without compromise. We foster a close relationship with our clients to provide deep insights aligned with their goals. Our four advisors; two of whom are CFPs, have a combined 100 years of professional financial services experience.
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Interested in Resources?
Resources can help you get clearer on your goals, or open up questions that you want to explore. Check out our Videos, Articles, Calculators, and Reference.
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Want to Check Your Accounts?
You’re a client and you want to take a look at your portal or your accounts? Just click My Accounts. There you will find links to your personalized Fortress portal, your investment accounts, and your financial plan, if you have one. Alternatively, give us a call and we can help you.
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How Do I Find Out if You’re Able to Help Me?
Every client journey begins with a conversation. To discover whether Fortress is a good fit for you, call us to schedule a quick, completely free, low-risk call with an advisor. Please use the contact me button.
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How does the Income Engine generate income for me?
The Income Engine uses specialized, listed, bond-like, investment grade securities to
generate income. They are designed to be stable in price, carry a limited amount of market
risk, and are 100% liquid, so you can access your capital at any time. The Engine pays a
fixed rate of interest, typically 4 to 5%. -
Who do we work with?
Ten percent of our clients are business owners, 30% are working, and 60% are in or near
retirement. We have clients in more than 20 states. Through conversation we make sure that
we are a good match for each other. Please check out our Services page for more
information. -
What’s our process?
We typically follow a six meeting cycle. The first meeting is “Meet and Greet,” the second is “Nuts and Bolts,” the third is “Financial Planning,” the fourth is “Estate Planning,” the fifth is “Investment Meeting”, and the sixth is “Insurance Meeting.” From there, we have regularly scheduled reviews, set to recur quarterly, semi-annual, or annual as suits you best.