Brad Mainster, ChFC®, RHU®, CKA®
President
Brad Mainster, ChFC®, RHU®, CKA®.
President
Senior Wealth Advisor
Covenant Financial Strategies, Inc.
Bel Air, MD
Brad Mainster, ChFC®, RHU®, CKA® is a financial advisor and insurance professional with over 32 years industry experience. He has been a self-employed independent insurance broker for over 30 years. He is a Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®), a Registered Health Underwriter (RHU®), and a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA®).
He serves all of Harford County as well as Cecil, Baltimore, Kent, Queen Anne's, Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll, and Frederick Counties, Baltimore City along with parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania in the areas of investment planning, client portfolio management, insurance, retirement planning, estate planning strategies, tax strategies, and small business strategies.
Brad began working with Private Advisor Group, a Registered Investment Advisor firm, in May 2019 and LPL Financial in September, 2010. Prior to founding Covenant Financial Strategies, Inc. in late 2013 Brad was a financial advisor with the Maryland Agency Financial Group, Inc. in Bel Air for over 3 years. Prior to that, he spent 16 years as a Registered Representative with International Money Management Group, Inc., a boutique broker/dealer firm located on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Brad is also a member of the National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors (NAIFA) as well as the National Association of Benefits & Insurance Professionals (NABIP), and serves as a Board Member and Chair of the Membership Committee for NABIP-MD. In 2003, Brad was appointed by the Maryland Insurance Commissioner to serve a 4-year term on the board of directors of the Maryland Health Insurance Plan. Brad has been a member of Kingdom Advisors, a global movement of professionals seeking God’s glory and client success, since 2017 and has been a Certified Kingdom Advisor since November, 2018. Brad was presented with the Christian Theology of Investing Certificate from Eventide Center for Faith & Investing for completion of the 6-week instructor-led course “Discovering God’s Story for Investing” in July, 2023 where he learned practical application lessons to further implement the principles of faithful investing into his practice. Nowadays, Brad's primary focus is on helping clients align their faith and their finances, offering financial planning services which incorporate biblical wisdom and advice, and investing in ways which seek to align his client portfolios with their most closely held Christian values and beliefs.
Brad earned his ChFC® and RHU® designations from the American College in Bryn Mawr, PA. Prior to moving into the financial services field, Brad spent 10 years in the automotive industry, half of which were in management, including Service Manager for a major Baltimore multi-franchise dealer, and Parts & Service Director for a large new car dealer in Harford County. He was trained in dealership management, including dealership financial management, through both the General Motors University of Automotive Management and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. He also attended Catonsville and Harford Community Colleges. Immediately prior to entering the financial services profession, Brad spent two years in the environmental industry where he was General Manager and a junior partner of a firm that serviced the major oil, chemical, and utility companies as well as the shipping industry and the US Navy in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Brad has been married to his high school sweetheart, Lea Ann, for 43 years, and they have two grown children, both happily married, and two granddaughters. In his spare time, Brad enjoys playing guitar (electric, acoustic, and bass) as well as drums. His wife was a long time Contemporary Worship Director, which has provided Brad the opportunity to play in one or more Praise Bands on a weekly basis for over 19 years. Brad served on Church Council and church committees for a number of years in the past, and also served 8 years as assistant treasurer for a member-owned community organization. In 2017 Brad and his wife became members of Mountain Christian Church, attending the Bel Air Campus and, since the closure of that campus, the Mountain Road Campus where Brad is a guitar and bass player on the worship team and his wife has become active in several ministry areas. Prior to moving to Harford County in 2005, Brad lived in the Perry Hall/White Marsh areas of Baltimore County for 41 years.
*Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) investing / Faith Driven Investing (FDI) has certain risks based on the fact that the criteria excludes securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons and, therefore, investors may forgo some market opportunities and the universe of investments available will be smaller.