Joseph Tombs has twenty years of experience in various aspects of law and financial planning. He started his career as a tax and estate planning attorney with the law firm of Shannon, Porter, Johnson & Pfluger in San Angelo, Texas. Joe has served as a financial planning and insurance professor at four universities: University of Georgia, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Georgia State University and currently Texas Tech University. Joe has served as an Associate Vice President of First Colony Life Insurance Company and Director of Advanced Marketing at GE Financial Assurance. He also helped found the Atlanta-based financial planning firm of Tombs, Moody & Clontz, LLP. Joe has developed a specialty in financial planning for the recipient tort settlements and is a founding partner at Amicus Financial Advisors, LLP and Amicus Consulting Group, LLC.

Joe’s education includes JD and MBA degrees from Texas Tech University. He also holds the CFP®, ARM, CLU and ChFC designations. Joe lives with his wife and four children in Lubbock, Texas. Joe is a member of the Society of Settlement Planners, the American Bar Association, the Financial Planning Association and the State Bar of Texas.

Professional Service:

South Plains Trial Lawyers Association – (President, 2008, Sec/Treas 2007)

Registry of Settlement Planners – (President, 2008)

Society of Settlement Planners – (Education Chair, 2007) (President Elect, 2008)

CFP Board of Examiners - Audit Committee Member and Content Expert

Southern Virginia College – Taught Finance as Adjunct Professor

Publications:

Cordell, D.M. and J.W. Tombs, Slowing the Dissipation of Life Insurance and Annuity Death Benefits, Journal of Financial Planning, December, 2007.

Cordell, D.M. and J.W. Tombs, Planning Considerations for Personal Injury Settlement Recipients, Journal of Financial Planning, January, 2005, pp. 26-28.

Goetz, J.W., J.W. Tombs, V. Hampton, Financial Services Review, Easing College Graduates’ Transition into the Financial Planning Profession, Financial Services Review, 14, 2005, pp. 231-251.

Cordell, D.M. and J.W. Tombs, Putting the Client First: Fees and Commissions in Variable Annuities, Journal of Financial Planning, September, 2005.

Tugman, R.J., and J.W. Tombs, Qualified Settlement Funds and Designated Settlement Funds are Under-used Tools, Insurance Day, Issue 985, 2001, pp. 6.

Tombs, J.W., Charitable Gift Annuities, National Underwriter, Vol. 103, No. 36, 1999, pp.7, 28.

Tombs, J.W. and R.E. Hoyt, The Effect of Product Line Focus on Insurer Stock Returns. Proceedings of the International Insurance Association Annual Meeting, 1994, pp. 331-337.

Awards:

• Faculty Member of the Year, Texas Tech University, PFPA Chapter, 2005
• Best Paper Award, International Insurance Association Annual Meeting held in Madrid, Spain, 1994
• Faculty Member of the Year, University of Georgia Pan Hellenic Council, 1994
• Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Georgia, 1993 & 1994
• Maurice Doan Teaching Award, UGA Department of Risk Management & Insurance, 1994
• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, University of Georgia, 1992
• PerryCo, Biscoe, and Comer Fellowships, 1990-1994
• Outstanding Estate Planning Student Award, Texas Tech School of Law, 1988

Presentations at Professional Meetings: (A sampling of over 100)

“State of the Art in Settlement Planning,” Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting, Washington DC, April 2009.

“When Everything You Have Been Taught is Wrong: Why Financial Planners Botch Settlement Planning,” DFW Financial Planning Association – Planning Symposium, Dallas, April 2008.

“Financial Settlement Planning,” 2^nd Annual Meeting of Academy of Special Needs Planners, New Orleans, LA, March 2008.

“Dissipation Risk in Settlement Planning” and “How we Perform Settlement Planning at Amicus,” Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting, Washington DC, March 2008.

“Managing a Portfolio for Tax Efficiency.” Texas Tech University Tax Institute, Lubbock Texas, October 2007.

“Settlements: What’s Taxable and What Isn’t?” Texas State Bar Consumer and Commercial Law Course, Houston, Texas, September 2007.

“Ten Commandments of Law Firm Finances.” South Plains Trial Lawyers Association, Lubbock, Texas, September 2007.

“Measuring, Predicting and Managing Dissipation Risk in Settlement Planning.” Society of Settlement Planners Midyear Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, September 2007.

“Convincing Attorneys to Recommend Structured Settlements.” National Structured Settlement Trade Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, April 2007.

“Enough is NEVER Enough: Using a Net Recovery to Sustain a Brain Injured Child.” Utah Trial Lawyers Association Brain Injury Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 2007.

“The Registered Settlement Planner Program.” Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting, Washington DC, March 2007.

“Taxation of Personal Injury Settlements.” Texas Tech University Tax Institute, Lubbock Texas, October 2006.

“Moving from Plaintiff Broker to Settlement Planning Professional.” Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting, Washington DC, March 2006.

“Comprehensive Settlement Planning.” Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting, Washington DC, May 2005.

“Monte Carlo Analysis of Attorney Fee Structures.” Society of Settlement Planners Annual Meeting, Phoenix, January 2004.

“Attorney Fee Structures.” National Structured Settlement Trade Association Eastern Regional Meeting, St. Petersburg, January 2003.

“The Emergence of a New Professional: The Registered Settlement Planner (RSP).” Society of Settlement Planners, Dallas, January 2003.

“Life After Grillo: The Plaintiff Attorney’s New Duty to Provide Financial Advice.” American Trial Lawyers Association of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, September 2002.

“Structured Settlements and Attorney Liability.” National Structured Settlement Trade Association Annual Meeting, Palm Beach, April 2002.

“Monte Carlo Analysis in Structured Settlements.” National Structured Settlement Trade Association Annual Meeting, Palm Spring, May 2001.

“Introducing Monte Carlo Analysis to Your Structured Settlement Practice.” National Structured Settlement Trade Association Eastern Regional Meeting, Baltimore, October 2001.

"Stock Returns in Relation to Insurer Product-Line Focus: A Cross-Sectional Time-Series Analysis." American Risk and Insurance Association Meeting, San Francisco, January 1994.

"The Effect of Product Line Focus on Insurer Stock Returns.” International Insurance Association Annual Meeting, Madrid, Spain, July 1994.

Community Service:

Lubbock Area Foundation – Board Member, Secretary/Treasurer

Dechomai Foundation, Inc. – Board Member

Hospice Care of San Angelo, Texas - Board Member and Survivor Support Counselor

Georgia Foundation to Improve Higher Education - Board Member

St. John’s Hospital - Planned Giving Committee

Habitat for Humanity - Planned Giving Advisor