A CFP certificant and retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor Dean Ridgway co-leads The McPherson Ridgway Group from downtown San Diego's 701 B Street office. The group formed in 2007 under the Smith Barney banner before transitioning to Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in 2012, building a practice that integrates military pension analysis with civilian tax strategies alongside downtown specialists at CI Tax Law, Inc. The CRPC (Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor) designation adds specialized retirement distribution planning to the CFP's broader financial planning framework, enabling the group to model military Survivor Benefit Plan elections alongside civilian 401(k) and IRA rollover scenarios. Both lead advisors hold Senior Vice President titles within Merrill's wealth management hierarchy, and the Virginia Tech civil engineering graduate brings a decade of active-duty aviation service to the practice's analytical discipline. The group's CFP-driven process covers goal-based investing, risk tolerance calibration, and liquidity planning — a comprehensive methodology that complements the fiduciary AIF-designated approach at Archipelago Wealth Management for clients evaluating multi-advisor structures. Highest-tier services include Survivor Benefit Plan offset analysis for military retirees and Roth conversion ladder strategies subject to the IRS five-year holding rule and Required Minimum Distribution calculations under IRC Section 401(a)(9).