ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Lisa Ditkowsky, Certified Financial Planner
GFBI™, GPBI™

PLLUSH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, Lisa Ditkowsky, President
Wealth & Estate Planning, Baby Boomers & Business Owners, The Aging

Summary

Our Strength - As 18+ year securities industry professionals, we aim to find you wealth that you did not even know you had. We will help you implement growth and protection strategies to try and compound your wealth legacy. In addition to cultivating your Financial Legacies, we are skilled in Financial Planning for Cultural and Philanthropic Legacies as well. We work with Foundations, Endowments and Not-For-Profits, when presented with promising Legacy work. We also have Financial Planning experience and skill in servicing the Family Office Market through offering a Multi-Family Office Practice to families that meet the ultra-high net worth standards of a Family Office. Our tried and true, close-to-in-house professionals' network allows us to service ultra high net worth clients through a collaborative, team approach with the most seasoned, high-level legal, healthcare, eldercare and accounting professionals. We believe in collaborating with your other professionals, and fostering a positive communication loop with your other service professionals. Should you need referrals, we provide our best referrals on a case-by-case basis, as every family or business is different and needs different types of ancillary services. Our Rolodex extends far and wide to best serve you!

Experience

Chicago Financial Planning Firm to Business Owners, Baby Boomers & Aging Parents,
Family Businesses at PLLUSH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC.
February 2007 - Present

PLLUSH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. and Lisa Ditkowsky, 18+ year securities industry and financial planning veteran, focus on wealth-growing and legacy building strategies for Business Owners, Baby Boomers and their Aging Parents. Preventing Financial exploitation of the aging has been our firm's passion since we started in Financial Planning 11 years ago. The more money we accumulate as we age, the more places our wealth ends up, and the more "interested parties" want to get their hands on our hard-earned and hard-saved money. It often takes a lifetime to earn one's retirement savings and retirement nest egg, and if we trust the wrong people, everything we worked our whole lives for can be gone quickly. This is exactly what PLLUSH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT and Lisa Ditkowsky, its President, work hard every day to prevent. Many of our Financial Planning clients are Baby Boomers and Elderly. Often, these Aging Investors are also business owners. Many of our clients are matriarchs and patriarchs of long-established Family Businesses. Our clients’ needs include 1) Proper Insurance Planning through Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, and Long Term Care Insurance 2) Proper Investment Plan Implementation with appropriate risk management for each investor's risk-reward goals 3) Estate Planning and Business Succession Planning Reviews and Check Ups 4) Extensive Written Financial Plans and Consulting Services 5) Tax Planning Strategies to Minimize Taxes and Grow Wealth in the right Investment Vehicles and Types of Non-Qualified and Qualified Investment Accounts 6) Family Meetings to help prepare the next generations for the wealth they will one day inherit. The majority of our clients come to us already having experience using another Financial Planner. Often the Financial Planner, Insurance Agent or Securities Broker does not have our extensive and highly credentialed background. You can call us, as well as checking for licenses on FINRA.ORG's "BrokerCheck" and the SEC's (SEC.gov) "Investment Adviser Search".

Pllush Capital Management Inc. - Chicago Financial Planning Firm to Business Owners, Baby Boomers & Aging Parents, Family Businesses
Lisa Ditkowsky, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, President
Wealth Management/Insurance
LPL Financial, LLC February 2007 - May 1, 2023

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificants are individuals who have met CFP Board’s education, examination and experience requirements, have agreed to adhere to high standards of ethical conduct and who complete CFP Board’s biennial certification requirements, including continuing education.

UPDATE August 2023:

Lisa Ditkowsky, CFP® (2008-2023)*

* It is important for my valued clients and followers to know that in 2007-2008, I embarked upon 2 extra years of college coursework through Northwestern University, my alma mater (I completed it in 10 months). The Financial Planning curriculum was stellar, approx. $60K at the time, and back then the coursework exam was a 2-day, 10-hour test, which only about half of test takers passed.

For 15 solid years, I proudly paid the Washington DC CFP Board exorbitant dues and reported my CE to them for use of their claimed trademarks with the ® and ™. US Government records show doubt about actual ownership of those trademarks by CFP Board during those 15 years (USPTO shows it is very spotty), but regardless, it became clear to me starting in recent years that this self-appointed regulatory body is dangerous and politically weaponized. CFP Board is protecting the Chicago criminals who did unfathomable actions in my clients' accounts while I spent 16 years and 3 months at LPL Financial. 

CFP Board published a wholly untrue and defamatory press release saying that I used their trademark on my personal "Journalism-only" LinkedIn. This is 100 percent false, I stopped using the CFP® on my LinkedIn in 2021, plain and simple. Furthermore, I never published anything personally identifying about my deceased client. Quite the contrary, I went public with the lies and weaponized political fundraising two 70-year-old Chicago criminals (found guilty of disgorgement by the SEC) with my deceased clients' good name. The two 70-year-old men were using the CFP® trademark while hiding her death from all of her financial and legal professionals, but coordinating with Governor Pritzker and his Democratic operatives to literally use her name and image to raise money for Brandon Johnson for Mayor. It does not stop here, the CFP Board is protecting the CFP® practitioner who had a false Substance News article written, a careless House Bill and an equally dense and self-serving Senate Resolution. So, these 70-year-old twins hid my client of 12 years' death from all of her professionals to meddle in State elections, Federal elections (because of my relationships with Congressional candidates) and to illegally take from her estate and from her Special needs beneficiaries, all while hiding her death. 

DC and Chicago political corruption runs deep. My colleague, Joseph Severino (IL, R-10th) is taking control of the entire Illinois Republican Party with Illinois Freedom Alliance. The IL GOP and Washington DC Federal GOP are all RINOs. I am part of the movement that President Donald J. Trump started to take our country, the USA back. I stand with our President, Donald J. Trump 2024, Darren Bailey (IL, R-12th), Joseph Severino (IL, R-10th), Vivek Ramaswamy (R, Presidential candidate), Tulsi Gabbard (Independent, USA), etc. 

I strongly believe that Kevin Keller and Leo Rydzewski of the Washington DC CFP Board need their $1M+ salaries cut, they both need to be put under investigation by The Justice Department (Trump's DOJ), and tax-exempt status needs to be immediately removed from the CFP Board. They are part of an offshoring operation for United States Broker Dealers, Federal Credit Unions, Investment Banks, and Financial Institutions, They act as a dirty intelligence agency and dirty enforcement arm of  whatever suits their criminal intent. CFP Board is in cahoots with weaponized home office supervisory structures of major USA Broker Dealers and part of an illegal surveillance operation of both advisors and certain clients that can then be used for weaponized business and political purposes. 

It is unconscionable that I acted in good faith exactly in accordance with the CFP Board Code of Ethics in reporting the massive criminality in my deceased clients' accounts and estate, and CFP Board, within days, began illegally retaliating against me for whistleblowing. Furthermore, nothing they email me has a name or signature on it. They did not allow me and my representation on a Zoom call to resolve this, and neither Kevin Keller or Leo Rydzewski would ever take my call or return a call. Barron's, FORBES, Wall Street Journal have all called CFP Board out for political weaponization and protecting criminals. Yet, it is almost 2024, and CFP Board is still getting away with pretending to be one of Joe Biden's 3-letter agencies. 

*Broker Dealers, RIAs and Academic Institutions should take the reigns of creating the community for CFP Board Professionals. The Washington DC CFP Board is an illegal law enforcement and surveillance agency and must be thoroughly investigated. I have asked CFP Board for months to take down their false and defamatory press release about me, and they refuse. The past 15 years has been a colossal waste of money on their MEANINGLESS CREDENTIAL and QUESTIONABLE TRADEMARK. I have absolutely no desire, nor any intention, of ever using CFP® or CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ after my name! 

However, I am a Journalist and Published author with media that is professional published and produced over the past 15 years, that all is proper. It is highly disturbing that CFP Board removed two of my Professional YouTube videos this week that were made in 2016 and 2021, with Copyright and Disclosures. 

Kevin Keller and Leo Rydzewski, I demand you reinstate my YouTube videos immediately, as there was assuredly no trademark issues. I was absolutely using the trademark properly between 2008-2023.

Financial Consultant / Financial Planner / AAMS (Accredited Asset Management Specialist) at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. (became Wachovia Securities and then Wells Fargo Advisors)
December 2004 - December 2006 (2 years 1 month)

In December 2004, I began one of the most comprehensive and hard-to-get-into Financial Consultant Training programs in the nation. During the years I worked for A.G. Edwards & Sons, the branding and ownership was still A.G. Edwards, and the company had no investment banking operations. Likewise, similar to my current firm, A.G. Edwards & Sons had NO PROPRIETARY PRODUCTS, so the Financial Advisor was always free to offer 100 percent objective, conflict-free advice. It is through A.G. Edwards professional cold-calling and prospecting training that I uncovered many prospective clients' stories of the many gray areas of Financial Abuse and Financial Exploitation. It is during my numerous training sessions at the company's St. Louis HQ and in-office training in Illinois that I decided to make it my passion and mission in life to protect the great wealth that The Greatest Generation has earned, grown and held onto. I spoke to aging investors with sad stories of exploitation daily. Many Baby Boomers hired me to oversee their Aging Parent's wealth. Even within the Financial industry, there are varying levels of qualifications and integrity. I take the CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility seriously. My big clients come to me from another Financial Advisor at another name firm. Just because you have a Financial Advisor does not mean you are getting good Financial Advice! I developed a niche in working with Holocaust Survivors and the children of Holocaust Survivors. I inventoried estates of elderly investors AND uncovered assets that even they did not realize they had. Often times, their children were shocked that the estates had hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions more than they thought. To tell a Holocaust Survivor or any elderly investor that due to stock splits, forgotten annuities and insurance policies, bonds, etc. that they often had a million dollars was and is priceless.

Marketing and Business Development at The Digital Service Bureau, Inc.
September 2001 - November 2004 (3 years 3 months)

Business and Financial Journalist at Zone Communications, Inc.
1999 - 2001 (2 years)

I worked as a Staff Business and Financial Journalist for a start-up, venture capital-funded magazine in downtown Los Angeles. The magazine was funded by Zone Ventures (Zone Venture Capital) and DFJ (Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson). The magazine's tagline was "Covering the Entrepreneurial Growth Engine in Southern California - From Santa Barbara to San Diego". My job was to write for the print magazine and author "The Zone Daily File". In authoring a daily business/finance/technology newsletter, I distilled all the news stories in Southern California into an easily digestible e-newsletter format linking to the main source stories. Each day, I sourced all the local business, technology and financial news in Southern California to find the most newsworthy stories relating to local companies and their developments. It was my job to come up with creative headlines and summaries for each newsworthy story. During my tenure at "The Zone News", I was also responsible for a segment of our print magazine called "Entrepreneur's Life". "Entrepreneur's Life" followed tips and advice from the region's top CEOs and business owners. Eventually, our publisher lost his advertising revenue as the dot-com and tech bubble burst. At the time, he had three print magazines in three different states, and the technology and dot-com bubble bursting affected all of the publications. It was after this wonderful experience working for a well-funded start-up publisher that I moved from Los Angeles, CA back to my hometown of Chicago, IL and took a deeper interest in the stock market, world economies and Personal Financial Planning.

Education

Northwestern University

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP®, Financial Planning - Estate, Tax, Insurance, Investment, Retirement and Employee Benefits Planning, 2007 – 2008

Grade: A+. earned CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation (CFP®)

Northwestern University

Bachelor’s Degree, Communication and Media Studies, Writing for the Media, 1993 – 1997

Activities and Societies: Dean's Advisory Council, Produced Film Projects, Participated in 2-year, exclusive, invitation-only, famed Creative Writing for the Media Program.

Interests

Personal Interests include family and children (there is no joy like watching children develop, discover, observe and comment on the world!), creative writing, business writing and book writing, professional photography, travel for work and pleasure, nutrition, physical fitness, fashion, arts and culture. Money is a basic need, and money is POWER. So, Financial Knowledge and Passion is the foundation of everything I believe in. My biggest personal interest in life is PROTECTING THE WEALTH AND LEGACIES OF BABY BOOMERS AND THEIR AGING PARENTS. My grandmother was my best friend, and I observed first-hand how a legacy and nest egg takes a lifetime to build, yet can be gone quickly if we trust the wrong people. Therefore, it is my most profound personal interest to protect and grow the wealth of our aging population. The Greatest Generation should be celebrated, respected, and their hard work and diligent investing and saving should benefit their heirs as they intend(ed)!

Skills & Expertise

Financial Planning

Family Offices

Small Business Financial Management

Insurance Planning

Tax Planning

Inheritance Tax Planning

Estate Tax Planning

Estate Planning

Real Estate Planning

Wealth Management

Long Term Care Insurance

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

Social Security Disability

Social Security

Social Security Law

Family Office Investment and Insurance Planning

Understanding Annuities

Understanding Complicated Life Insurance Products

Bonds

Stocks / Equities

Mutual Funds

Alternative Investments

Financial Plans

Journalism

Writing and Editing

On-camera Interviews

Retirement Plan Consulting

Qualified Retirement Plans

Retirement Income Strategies

Retirement Planning

Retirement Communities

Business Continuity Planning

Continuing Care Retirement Communities

Market Research

In-depth Analysis

Physical Fitness

Nutrition

Parenting and Family Values

Wine Appreciation

Art and Culture

Professional Photography

Book Writing

Distilling Complicated Concepts Into Layman's Terms

Communications

Growing Wealth

Risk Management

Free Portfolio Reviews

Cardio Kickboxing

Divorce Financial Analysis

Publications

Reading Between The Lines of DoubleLine
FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE June 22, 2015
Jeffrey Gundlach (DoubleLine Capital) talks bonds, interest rates, inflation, GDP, quantitative easing and his take on the markets.
Author: Lisa Ditkowsky, CFP®

VIEWPOINT: The Fed - TMZ?
FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE November 3, 2015
LEADING ASSET MANAGERS turned on the TMZ in Boston, talking about "The Fed", its LADY of the LEFT, and what a worldwide defaulting credit bubble means for U.S. consumers and investors.
Author: Lisa Ditkowsky, CFP®

Organizations

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (www.CFP.net)
November 2008 to Present
Lisa Ditkowsky, CFP®

PLLUSH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT - Wealth & Estate Planning, Baby Boomers & Business Owners, The Aging
Lisa Ditkowsky, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™

Contact Lisa on LinkedIn