Area financial planners to give free advice to callers

What's the best way to finance a new car? What's the best way to save for college? Should I do anything as a result of the market's all-time high?

The numbers can get confusing and it's sometimes tough to know the best decisions that will help us meet our financial goals.

As part of Financial Planning Week, more than a dozen certified financial planners have volunteered to answer your questions today during a free call-in sponsored by the Daily Herald.

Volunteers from the Financial Planning Association of Illinois will take your questions. They are:

• Dorothy Bossung has more than 30 years of investment and financial consulting experience with high net worth individuals. Before joining InterOcean Wealth Management where she serves as managing director, she led the Deloitte & Touche Investment Advisors.

• Alan S. DeMar is founder and president of DeMar Financial Planning Services, an Itasca-based firm specializing in investment advisory services, tax and retirement planning. He has been in financial services practice for 21 years.

• Patrick L. Doland is president of Northbrook-based Reason Financial Advisors Inc. He produced and hosted the cable access show Financial Solutions that aired in 225,000 suburban households.

• Francine Duke is the founding principal of Aqua Financial Planning, a fee-only financial advisory firm in Vernon Hills. She has more than 20 years of high level experience in the financial and insurance industries.

• Martin I. Friedman founded Northbrook-based Friedman Financial Strategies in 1992 after tours of duty in public accounting and corporate finance. He specializes in financial planning, business succession planning, estate conservation and asset management.

• Ed Gjertsen II of Winnetka is vice president of Mack Investment Securities where he has worked since 1993. He's the founder of The Mutual Bond Group, an organization dedicated to guiding surviving spouses to financial independence.

• Thomas L. Howard is a financial adviser for Harris Bank in Hoffman Estates. Starting in the industry in 2004, his goal is helping clients manage risk and taxes while achieving their needed investment goals.

• Jim King is a financial adviser with Balasa Dinverno & Foltz. He is also an instructor for Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies where he teaches income tax planning.

• Mark La Spisa co-founded Vermillion Financial Advisors, a South Barrington financial planning firm specializing in assisting clients between the ages of 50 and 70 who have acquired wealth in excess of $1 million. His firm focuses on the concerns facing clients who are approaching retirement or have been retired for 10 years or less.

• Kevin J. Meehan of Arlington Heights has been with Raymond James for more than seven years. For about two decades, Meehan has been serving individual and business clients providing fee-based financial planning and pension and profit sharing services.

• James R. Platania has helped clients with retirement planing for more than 15 years. He opened his Financial Network Investment Corp. office in Mount Prospect in 1991.

• Agnes A. Roach founded Northbrook-based AA Roach Financial Planning in 1985. She recently co-founded the Chicago Women's Alliance.

• Sean Sebold, with more than 10 years of experience in the industry, specializes in wealth management. He's the past-president and chairman of the Financial Planning Association of Illinois, the largest FPA chapter in the country.

• Sara Stolberg is a certified financial planner, certified divorce financial analyst, forensic accountant and a divorce mediator with more than 15 years experience helping individuals, couples, and their advisers to focus on the long-term financial consequences of their decisions. Her practice is in Lincolnshire and Chicago.

• Lawrence P. Strzelecki is a partner with Assured Concepts Group in East Dundee. He works primarily with clients who are either planning for or in retirement.

Planners won't promote particular firms or products. People needing specific, detailed assistance can visit www.fpaillinois.org for a referral to a financial planner.

To participate in the free event, call (800) 430-4237 between 6:30 and 9 p.m. today.

How to participate

Get free investment advice from members of the Financial Planning Association during the Daily Herald's fourth annual Financial Planning Night:

When: Today

Time: 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Call: (800) 430-4237