ABOUT ORCHARD CITY WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC.
ETHAN PEPPER CFP®, EA, RLP®
Founder of Orchard City Wealth Management
From a young age, Ethan was taught that financial security was the key to having peace of mind. His grandmother is a Japanese war bride whose family lost their home, businesses, and entire wealth in World War II. She taught Ethan the earlier he started to prioritize his financial life, the better and insisted that he save half of everything he earned. His grandfather also encouraged him to make his first stock market investment in high school, which he held onto for years and later sold to help launch Orchard City Wealth Management.
Ethan now extends his services to families, who like his own friends, are establishing wealth and want a guide for their financial decisions. His experience in helping ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth clients makes him a force when it comes to advising families on how to build and protect their money.
Ethan Pepper is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, an Enrolled Agent, and a Registered Life Planner™. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from San Jose State University. With over a decade of tax preparation experience as well, he completes his clients’ wealth management with the necessary tax strategy and planning services for real-time savings and future income generation.
He is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors and XY Planning Network and the Fee Only Network.
Ethan is a Bay Area native and married with two beautiful children. When he’s not helping people manage their finances, he enjoys CrossFit at Croga Fitness in Willow Glen, coaching his son’s ice hockey team at Sharks Ice San Jose, a cold beer with colleagues at Out of the Barrel Taproom in the Campbell Pruneyard, and weekends in Aptos on Rio Del Mar State Beach.
JANINA PEPPER
Managing Director of Operations and Brand
Janina spent 20+ years building Brands for consumer and tech companies. In the latter part of her career, she worked for one of the fastest‑growing enterprise software tech companies in the world. She saw first-hand how her colleagues and friends struggled to manage their own financial lives due to the demands of their jobs. As mid-career professionals, they were building their wealth, assets, and families but they had little time to manage the complexities that came with that.
Eventually, the fast pace of Janina’s tech job demanded too much from her personal life, and she needed an exit plan. She participated in the financial life planning exercises, which encouraged her to envision her ideal life. It allowed her to imagine a career with greater alignment with her personal values.
During this process, she realized that her greatest joy comes from helping people achieve their full potential. Through financial planning, she developed a roadmap that gave her the courage and freedom to change careers.
Janina joined OCWM because she loves seeing how confidence in one’s financial life can translate into more wealth, freedom of choice, and exciting new possibilities.
ABOUT THE NAME
Orchard City Wealth Management began in Campbell, California, a friendly, relatively small town located right in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
Campbell began as a small farming community developed around the downtown railroad and Water Tower that still resides there today. It became the center for canneries, drying, and shipping fruit, and was known as the “Orchard City” early on. Many local businesses use Orchard City in their name.
Ethan and Janina purchased their very first home in Campbell within walking distance of its charming downtown. The iconic Campbell Water Tower (a local landmark) is visible from every angle and is a quiet, yet immovable reminder of the town’s humble beginnings. Their children are growing up in this community, where they go to neighborhood public schools, play for the Campbell Little League, participate in school sports, and, as a family, are knitted into the fabric of this great town. It seemed only fitting to pay tribute to their beloved community when naming the firm.