Family. Wealth. For generations

Decision Point Wealth Consulting

At times, the complexity of today’s global economy may feel overwhelming. Whether you’re a working professional who is building wealth, a successful executive or business owner contemplating your next act, or the head of a multigenerational family looking to preserve your family’s future—you have questions. You expect clear answers from an advisor with worldwide experience who understands you, your family and your community.


Our highly credentialed team offers the thoughtful perspective and proactive service your family needs to help meet their goals. With a team of advisors spanning decades of experience, we strive, relentlessly, to make sure you feel well taken care of. By putting financial planning at the core of everything we do, we offer the capabilities to help you, your business and your family unlock opportunity, preserve wealth and create continuity.

Decision Point Wealth Consulting

A focus on personalized access and service

Working with diverse clients with specific needs, our team sees it as our top responsibility to understand each aspect of your unique and often complicated financial life.

Multigenerational planning

Business transition and succession planning

Helping women take charge

Retirement Couple

Retirement readiness

Estate planning strategies

At which decision point are you in life?

The more successful one is, the more complex life becomes. Along the way, we all experience transition points. Marriage, children, divorce, selling a business, retirement, death of a loved one are just some of the points in life where important decisions are made. That is why we chose the name, "Decision Point Wealth Consulting". We help uniquely successful families make better financial decisions at the crucial decision points in life.

  • Michael Pearson

    M. Chad Pearson, CFP, CEPA, CPWA

    Senior Vice President–Wealth Management

    Financial Advisor

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    • AL
    • CA
    • CO
    • CT
    • DC
    • DE
    • FL
    • GA
    • HI
    • MA
    • MD
    • NC
    • NH
    • NJ
    • NY
    • OK
    • PA
    • SC
    • TN
    • TX
    • VA
    • VT
    • WA
    • WV

    Chad Pearson leads Decision Point Wealth Consulting in providing wealth management and succession strategies for small business owners and their families.

    Chad assists clients in integrating an exit strategy into the individual and financial goals of the business owner, while focusing on the components of maximizing business value and worth, individual financial planning, and life after business.

    He began his finance career with Merrill Lynch in NYC in 1992, after attending UNC-Chapel Hill's Business School and the University of Manchester, UK. Chad is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) since 2004, and became a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) in 2018. 

    Chad currently serves on the board of First Tee. He is a past board member of the Landfall Foundation Board and the NHRMC Foundation Board. He enjoys golfing, traveling, fishing, and is a private pilot. Of the 22 countries Chad has traveled to, his favorite destination has been Italy because of the unique culture and cuisine. Chad lives in Wilmington, NC with his wife April and children Megan and Anna-Hayes.

      • UNC-Chapel Hill's Business School
      • University of Manchester, UK
      • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
      • Certified Exit Planning Advisor
      • Certified Private Wealth Advisor®
      • Senior Portfolio Manager
      Financial planning
      Exit planning
      Custom portfolios
      Structured products
      Executive compensation
      Lending services
      Business owners
      Corporate executives
      1985 Eastwood Road
      Landfall Park North, Suite 110
      Wilmington, NC 28403
    • Donis Smith

      Donis Smith, CFP, CDFA

      Senior Vice President–Wealth Management

      Financial Advisor

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      • AL
      • CA
      • CO
      • CT
      • DE
      • FL
      • GA
      • HI
      • MA
      • MD
      • NC
      • NH
      • NJ
      • NY
      • OH
      • OK
      • PA
      • SC
      • TN
      • TX
      • VA
      • VT
      • WA
      • WV

      Donis Smith oversees the financial planning process for Decision Point Wealth Consulting, and works closely with clients and their families to assist them in reaching their fiscal goals for the future.

      Donis graduated from the UNC-Wilmington in 1986 with a B.S. in marketing. After completing her MBA degree in 1994, she began her financial career with the predecessor firm of Morgan Stanley (formerly Dean Witter Reynolds). Donis is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®), and earned Morgan Stanley's Wealth Advisor designation in 2007. In 2015, Donis became a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ in order to gain the expertise necessary to assist clients in navigating through the financial challenges that can occur during and after divorce.

      Donis currently serves on the Landfall Foundation Board, the UNCW Foundation Board, is a mentor to Cameron School of Business students, and is a member of the Women's Impact Network of New Hanover County. Donis enjoys creating gourmet meals, gardening, and boating with her husband, Alex, whom she has been married to since 2002. Her son Nicholas and his wife Erin, along with their two children, Ryland and Parker, live in Charlotte, NC. Donis' brush with fame: She appears in a 1964 photo with Cal Ripken Jr and his family.

        • UNC-Wilmington, B.S. in Marketing
        • UNC-Wilmington, M.B.A., Business Administration
        • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
        • Certified Divorce Financial Analyst
        Financial planning
        Education planning
        Long-term care planning
        Retirement planning
        Philanthropy
        Custom portfolios
        Impact investing
        Women investors
        1985 Eastwood Road
        Landfall Park North, Suite 110
        Wilmington, NC 28403
      • William Patterson

        William "Paul" Patterson, CIMA, CEPA, CPWA

        Senior Vice President–Wealth Management

        Financial Advisor

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        • AL
        • CA
        • CO
        • CT
        • DE
        • FL
        • GA
        • HI
        • ID
        • IL
        • LA
        • MA
        • MD
        • MT
        • NC
        • NH
        • NJ
        • NY
        • OK
        • OR
        • PA
        • SC
        • TN
        • TX
        • VA
        • VT
        • WA
        • WV

        Paul serves as the portfolio manager within the UBS Portfolio Management program and oversees our client's investment portfolios.

        Paul is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) and began his financial career at Merrill Lynch in 1999. CIMA designees must succeed in a rigorous academic program that focuses on asset allocation, manager search, identification and recommendation, investment policy and performance measurement. He also is a Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA), a certification which focuses on solving affluent clients' complex needs beyond managing a portfolio, and to provide the range of specific skills necessary to meet the needs of high-net-worth clients. In addition, Paul recently earned his Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation to better assist clients with maximizing business value and worth, and navigating through life after an exit.

        Paul graduated from The United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the 988th Military Police Company in Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1999, he received his MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill. Paul serves as a board member on the Cape Fear Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and is a founder, Young Graduate Engagement Officer, and former treasurer of the Cape Fear West Point Society.

        Paul lives in Wilmington, NC with his wife Dawn, whom he has been married to since 1997, and their children Paul, Katie, and Josh. When he is not spending time with his family, Paul enjoys hunting and fishing. Paul regularly participates in skeet shooting at the Buccaneer Gun Club. Fun fact about Paul: He has jumped out of an airplane and has flown as a fighter pilot for a day!

          • The United States Military Academy at West Point
          • UNC-Chapel Hill, MBA
          • Certified Investment Management Analyst®
          • Certified Exit Planning Advisor
          • Certified Private Wealth Advisor®
          • Senior Portfolio Manager
          Estate planning strategies
          Legacy planning
          Exit planning
          Investing
          Asset allocation
          Structured products
          401(k) plan services
          Multi-generational families
          1985 Eastwood Road
          Landfall Park North, Suite 110
          Wilmington, NC 28403
        • Riley Stephenson

          Riley A. Stephenson, CFP®

          Financial Advisor

          CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™

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          • FL
          • GA
          • NC
          • NJ
          • OR
          • SC
          • VA
          • WA

          As a Financial Advisor with Decision Point Wealth Consulting, Riley works closely with clients to develop and implement custom investment, and wealth management strategies which includes cash management, advisory solutions, legacy planning, and portfolio analysis. Delivering the resources of the worlds largest wealth management firm to provide successful business owners, corporate executives and their families with sell-side advisory solutions, post-sale financial planning, and a holistic wealth management approach to include tax and estate planning.

          Riley is Vice-President and Board Member of StepUp Wilmington, a non-profit organization that teaches job development and leadership skills to under and unemployed individuals in the Wilmington region. In addition, he leads weekly training groups and works one-on-one with participants to educate them in the realm of personal finance and leadership development.

          Riley graduated from UNC-Wilmington, where he earned his B.S. in business administration from the Cameron School of Business. Today Riley sits on the UNCW Alumni Board and Cameron School Executive Advisory Board. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®), holds his FINRA Series 7 and 66 security licenses, and North Carolina Health, Life, Long-term Care, Variable Annuity/Life insurance licenses. Outside the office you can find Riley trying something new in the kitchen, boating the Intracoastal Waterway, or just living an active lifestyle, whether it be running with his dog Murphy, golfing, skiing, or playing pick-up basketball.

            • UNC-Wilmington, B.S. in Business Administration from Cameron School of Business: 2011 - 2015
            • North Carolina State University, CFP® Certification Education Program: 2021 - 2022
            • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
            • Wilmington 40 Under 40 Award Winner
            Philanthropy
            Business succession
            Investing
            Alternative investments
            Retirement Plan consulting
            Sustainable investing
            Cash management
            Business owners
            1985 Eastwood Road
            Landfall Park North, Suite 110
            Wilmington, NC 28403
          • Jillian Dempsey

            Jillian Dempsey, CFP

            Wealth Management Associate

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            • NC

            Jillian assists with client financial planning and the implementation of wealth management strategies for our clients. Jillian also handles the marketing efforts for the team and oversees administrative and operational needs of clients.

            She is a Wilmington native, and graduated from UNC-Wilmington with a degree in Business Administration, concentrating in Finance. Jillian began her career with UBS in 2010 through an internship while attending UNC-Wilmington. She currently holds the FINRA Series 7 and 66 security licenses and North Carolina Health, Life, Long-term Care, Variable Annuity/Life insurance licenses and holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation.

            She enjoys spending time with friends and family, being outdoors, and traveling. Her favorite place she has traveled to is Cartagena, Colombia. She also enjoys keeping healthy through exercise. Ask her how many hot Pilates classes she has completed! 

              • UNC-Wilmington, Business Administration, concentrating in Finance
              • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
              Financial planning
              Education planning
              Long-term care planning
              Retirement planning
              Estate planning strategies
              Legacy planning
              Securities-backed lending
              Women investors
              1985 Eastwood Road
              Landfall Park North, Suite 110
              Wilmington, NC 28403
            • Courtenay Bickler

              Courtenay Bickler

              Client Associate

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                Courtenay provides assistance to client's administrative and operational needs, oversees client information systems, and assists in marketing and event planning for the team.

                Raised in Edenton, NC, she brings a wealth of customer service experience to the team. A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, Courtenay is passionate about photography, fitness, and being a mom to her three boys. Fun fact about Courtenay: Her high school had no swim team, so she founded one being the only member for the first year!

                  • UNC-Chapel Hill
                    1985 Eastwood Road
                    Landfall Park North, Suite 110
                    Wilmington, NC 28403
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                  UBS Advisor Podcasts

                  Decision Point Wealth Consulting: Capital Ideas For Business

                  Your business is your largest investment. On this podcast we will discuss all things business, hearing from top business professionals and business owners about key lessons learned, practice management ideas, and immediate takeaways you can implement in YOUR business. You make decisions every day which are critical to your success, and Decision Point Wealth Consulting is here to help uniquely successful business owners make better financial decisions at these crucial decision points.

                  Backed by the strength of UBS

                  A global leader in wealth management

                  Global leader

                  UBS is a world-leading wealth manager

                  $2.8 trillion

                  In invested assets globally 
                  As of 06/30/2022

                  Financial strength

                  Driving confidence.
                  Aa3 (stable) Moody’s
                  A+ (stable) Standard & Poor’s

                  UBS AG, long-term senior secured debt rating. As of 11/23/2021