Stark Private Wealth works with affluent families, successful business owners, incorporated professionals, retirees and farming families in St. Albert, Edmonton and surrounding Alberta communities.
Our clients have typically accumulated significant wealth and/or investable assets. They have worked hard to build their wealth and recognize that managing it well requires more than selecting investments. They want sound judgment, thoughtful analysis and a financial strategy that reflects the complexity of their lives.
More than just investment management.
We bring an analytical, evidence-driven approach to wealth management. We examine the numbers, question assumptions, evaluate trade-offs and look beyond short-term performance to understand how financial decisions may affect the bigger picture.
The objective is straightforward: help you understand where you stand, identify what deserves attention, and make informed decisions about the wealth you’ve built.
The advisor behind the strategy.
We are drawn to the analytical side of this work—studying markets, evaluating investments, testing assumptions and solving complex financial problems. But good advice requires more than technical knowledge. It requires listening carefully, understanding what matters to each client and having the discipline to make decisions for the right reasons.
That’s the thinking behind Stark Private Wealth: independent advice, deliberate investment decisions and a personal relationship built around your financial priorities—not simply the accounts you hold.
For clients in St. Albert, Edmonton and across Alberta, the aim is to bring greater clarity to complex financial decisions and help make their wealth work toward what matters most.
Independent advice. Comprehensive planning. A relationship built around your life – not a collection of accounts.
Before we talk about your wealth, it helps to understand what we belive about it.
I’m Josh Stark, an independent financial advisor serving individuals, families and business owners in St. Albert, Edmonton and surrounding Alberta communities. My career in wealth management began in 2007, and the years since have shaped how I approach investment management, financial planning and the responsibility that comes with advising people on their wealth.
After 13 years working within larger wealth management firms, I established Stark Private Wealth to build a more personal, independent practice—one grounded in thoughtful analysis, disciplined investment decisions and advice tailored to each client’s circumstances.
I’m naturally drawn to the analytical side of wealth management. I enjoy studying markets, evaluating investment strategies, challenging assumptions and examining how financial decisions affect the bigger picture. I believe recommendations should have a clear rationale, withstand scrutiny and make sense within a client’s broader financial plan.
But technical knowledge is only part of the job. Behind every portfolio is a person, a family, a business or a lifetime of hard work. Understanding what that wealth represents—and what clients want it to accomplish—is just as important as understanding the numbers.
I hold the Qualified Associate Financial Planner (QAFP®) and Registered Retirement Consultant (RRC®) designations and am pursuing the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation as part of my ongoing professional development.
At Stark Private Wealth, my goal is to bring disciplined investment thinking, comprehensive financial planning and a direct, lasting relationship together. For the families, professionals and business owners I serve, that means looking beyond individual accounts to make thoughtful decisions about what their wealth is meant to accomplish.
Beverley is a long time resident of Stony Plain, Alberta. Beverley brings decades of experience in financial services and wealth management to Stark Private Wealth. A former financial advisor and CFP professional, she built her own practice around the same principles that remain important to us today: knowing your clients, understanding their financial lives, managing risk thoughtfully and helping them build and preserve wealth through sound financial planning and disciplined investment management. Her dedication to her clients and their long-term financial success has been a defining part of her career.
Today, Beverley works with Stark Private Wealth on a part-time basis, bringing her experience and knowledge to the day-to-day operation of the practice. She assists with client transactions, KYC updates, account and document administration, new applications, file organization and the many details required to keep client plans moving smoothly. Having previously worked directly with many of the clients we now serve, she also provides valuable continuity and a familiar point of contact. She knows that the little things matter—and that good wealth management is often just as much about getting the details right as it is about getting the strategy right.
Wealth management built around the whole picture.
Stark Private Wealth provides independent wealth management for affluent families and corporations throughout Edmonton, AB and surrounding communities, who want more than investment management.
We look beyond the portfolio to understand the decisions, responsibilities and goals that shape your financial life—from building and protecting wealth to creating income, managing tax, preparing for retirement and ultimately passing wealth on.
Our role is to bring those pieces together, identify what matters most, and help you make informed decisions with a clear understanding of the trade-offs.
Because wealth is not the goal. It’s what your wealth allows you to do.
A WORD FROM JOSH
I learned early that life can change in an instant.
When I was twelve years old, my father was struck and killed by lightning.
There are moments in life that divide everything into before and after. That was one of mine.
What followed was difficult. There were years of uncertainty, upheaval and experiences that forced me to grow up earlier than I should have.
I don’t share that for sympathy. I share it because it changed the way I see the world.
You don’t get to choose everything that happens in life. But you can choose to be prepared.
That belief has stayed with me.
Behind every portfolio is a family. A retirement someone has spent decades working toward. Children they want to help. A business they’ve built. A home. A legacy. And sometimes, a future that depends on decisions being made correctly today.
I’ve experienced what it feels like when life changes without warning. It has given me a different perspective on what financial planning is supposed to accomplish.
It’s not simply about making money. It’s about creating options.
The ability to protect the people you love. To make decisions without fear. To retire with confidence. To know that the wealth you’ve spent a lifetime building can actually do what you intended it to do.
When someone trusts me with their family’s wealth, I don’t see a portfolio.
I see everything that portfolio represents.
Years of work. Sacrifices. Opportunities. People they love. And a future they may never get a second chance to build.
That responsibility means something to me.
Wealth management is personal. Your relationship with your advisor should be, too.
At Stark Private Wealth, you work directly with the people responsible for your financial strategy. No layers of departments. No unnecessary handoffs. Just a relationship built on understanding your priorities, knowing your circumstances, and being available when important decisions need to be made.
Whether we’re reviewing your investments, planning for retirement, navigating a business transition, or coordinating with your other professionals, the advice starts with knowing you—not just your accounts.
Choosing a wealth advisor is an important decision. You should have the opportunity to understand how we work, ask questions, and decide whether the relationship makes sense before making any commitments.
Here’s what that first conversation looks like:
We get to know you. Your family, your work, what you’ve built, and what you want your wealth to make possible.
We discuss what matters. Your questions, concerns, priorities, and where you may need more clarity.
We determine whether we’re a fit. I’ll explain how Stark Private Wealth works and where we may be able to help. If we’re not the right fit, you’ll know that, too.
You don’t need to have everything figured out before reaching out. That’s often the reason to have the conversation in the first place.
Our clients have spent years building something meaningful — successful businesses, rewarding careers, farms, investment portfolios and family wealth. As that wealth grows, so do the decisions that come with it. Investments, retirement, taxes, business interests and estate plans become increasingly interconnected, and getting those decisions right matters more than ever.
Stark Private Wealth provides private wealth management, investment management and comprehensive financial planning for affluent families, business owners and professionals in St. Albert, Edmonton and surrounding Alberta communities. We help clients across the region bring their investments, retirement strategies, business interests and long-term financial plans together into a coordinated approach.
We typically work with clients who have $500,000 to $10 million in investable assets and want more than someone to manage a portfolio. They want a thoughtful strategy that considers the bigger picture — where they are today, what they want their wealth to accomplish, and how the decisions they make now may affect their future.
Whether you’re approaching retirement, growing a business, managing a substantial investment portfolio, navigating a business transition or planning how your wealth will benefit the next generation, we help bring clarity to the decisions that matter most.
The people we serve have different ambitions, responsibilities and definitions of success. What they share is a desire to protect what they’ve built, make informed decisions about what comes next, and create a financial plan that reflects the life they want to lead.
Your wealth has a history. It has a purpose. And it deserves a plan built around both.
Retirement isn’t simply about having enough money saved. It’s about deciding how to turn that wealth into income while making it last.
When you retire, decisions around government benefits, pensions, investment withdrawals, taxes, account types, inflation, market volatility and spending can all affect how much income you actually keep—and how long your wealth lasts.
We help clients build a retirement income strategy that considers the moving pieces together: how much to withdraw, which accounts to draw from, how investments should be positioned, how to manage taxes and how to prepare for the unexpected.
Because retirement isn’t the time to guess whether your plan will work.
It’s the time to know what your money is there to do.
Building Wealth Beyond The Business.
Your business is more than an investment. It’s the result of years of work, risk and decisions — and for many owners, it’s one of their most valuable assets.
Your wealth is often closely connected to the business you’ve spent years building, which can make personal financial planning considerably different from simply managing an investment portfolio.
We work with business owners to bring those pieces together — building wealth while the business is growing, and planning what happens when it’s time to step away.
That can include investment management, retirement planning, tax and estate considerations, insurance, succession planning and preparing for the eventual sale or transfer of the business.
Because the business may be your greatest asset, your retirement and wealth plan should be built around it — not separate from it.
The goal is simple: make the transition from business owner to financially independent retiree a confident one.
You Built Wealth. Make It Matter.
You’ve spent decades building it. Now it’s time to make it work for you.
For families with significant wealth, the decisions become more complex. Investments, retirement income, taxes, businesses, real estate and estate planning can all have an impact on what your wealth ultimately allows you to do.
We help bring those pieces together so your wealth can support the life you want today, the people you care about, and the legacy you leave behind.
Because the purpose of wealth isn’t simply to have more of it.
It’s to give you the freedom to use it well.
You’ve spent decades building your wealth. Now the goal is to make sure it works just as hard for you, your family, and the life you want to live.
For many farm families, wealth is measured in more than dollars.
It’s in the land worked for generations. The equipment that keeps the operation moving. The corporation built through years of long days and difficult decisions. The investments accumulated along the way. And the hope that what you’ve worked so hard to build can become something meaningful for the next generation.
That makes farming wealth different.
A successful agricultural family may have significant wealth, but much of it can be tied up in land, corporations, equipment and other assets that aren’t easily converted into retirement income. Add tax considerations, debt, multiple family members and succession decisions, and the path forward can become complicated quickly.
We help farm families and agricultural corporations step back from the day-to-day and look at the whole picture.
That means bringing retirement planning, investment management, tax planning, estate planning, insurance, corporate wealth and farm succession into one coordinated strategy.
Because eventually, every farming family faces an important question:
What happens to everything you’ve built when it’s time to step away?
We help you prepare for that transition—whether the goal is keeping the farm in the family, transferring ownership to the next generation, creating financial security outside the farm, or finding the right balance between preserving the legacy and allowing each generation to build its own future.
The goal isn’t simply to preserve wealth.
It’s to preserve opportunity, family relationships, financial independence and the legacy behind the land.
Because the greatest return on a lifetime of hard work may be knowing that what you built can continue to matter for generations to come.
What does your advisory team look like?
The best advice doesn’t always come from one person.
Your accountant understands your taxes.
Your lawyer understands your legal structure.
Your investment advisor understands your portfolio.
Other professionals may understand your business, insurance or corporate interests.
The challenge is that important decisions rarely stay inside one lane.
We help bring those conversations together when appropriate, so decisions around investments, tax, retirement, business and estate planning are considered in the context of one another.
The goal isn’t more professionals.
It’s fewer gaps between them.