Bill Hammer Jr. CFP®

Founder & CEO

At a Glance

  • 18 years working with high-net-worth founders, owners, and senior executives
  • Focus on pre- and post-liquidity planning, concentrated equity, and business-driven wealth
  • Provides ongoing investment management plus coordinated tax, estate, cash flow, and deal planning

Bill is the founder of Hammer Wealth Group. He provides wealth and investment management for clients whose balance sheets are dominated by a business, real estate, or a concentrated equity position. His work centers on helping them make sound decisions across taxes, estate planning, cash flow, portfolios, and deal structure so a small number of big choices don’t undo years of work.

Many of Bill’s clients engage 6–24 months before a major liquidity event or right after one. He helps them think through deal terms, timing of liquidity, tax and estate implications, and how to translate a concentrated business or equity position into a long-term plan and investment portfolio, in coordination with their CPAs, attorneys, and other advisors.

Before founding Hammer Wealth Group, Bill was a classical conductor and two-time Grammy Award winner (Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance). His work today shares many of the same demands: bringing together specialists, managing complexity, maintaining attention to detail, and guiding important decisions from planning through execution.

Chris White CFP®, CEPA®

Senior Advisor

At a Glance

  • Certified Financial Planner™ & Certified Exit Planning Advisor focused on founders, owners, and senior executives with business-driven wealth
  • 10+ years in wealth management as a principal leading an advisor services dept before moving into direct client advisory
  • President of the Financial Planning Association of Central California
  • Known for navigating complex tax, trust, and legal structures for multi-million-dollar decisions

Bio
Chris is a Senior Advisor at Hammer Wealth Group. He works with founders, owners, and senior executives whose balance sheets are dominated by a business, real estate, or concentrated equity position, helping them turn complexity into clear, durable wealth plans.

Before moving into direct advisory work, Chris spent nearly a decade on the inside of a national broker dealer and RIA platform, leading a service department that removed obstacles for financial advisors & high net worth clients across planning, investment, tax, and complex trust projects. He has been closely involved in multiple seven-figure tax moves, advanced trust company work, and coordinated strategies that require CPAs, estate attorneys, and corporate trustees all pulling in the same direction.

At Hammer Wealth Group, Chris is often in the weeds on the hardest parts of a client’s situation: modeling options, navigating tax and legal complexity, and translating it all into decisions a founder can actually make. He leads and supports wealth plans, runs ongoing reviews, and coordinates directly with clients’ other advisors so the plan on paper is the plan that gets implemented.

Outside of client work, Chris serves as President of the Financial Planning Association of Central California, advocating for fiduciary, client-first financial planning across the state.
 

Our Extended Network

We work closely with your existing advisors—including CPAs, estate attorneys, bankers, and coaches—to ensure your strategy is aligned across every part of your financial life.

If you need additional specialists, we can also introduce trusted professionals who regularly work with clients in similar situations.