Our Team
John Thompson
John specializes in coordinating the financial care of clients, tax review and working with specialists inside the Firm as well as the clients’ other advisors. He started Invest, Inc. almost 25 years ago. John serves as a member of the team for portfolio allocation and selection for client portfolios.
John has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Kentucky.
John is married to Kim and they have two girls, Katie, and Elizabeth as well as a son Jack. John volunteers at Christ the King Church and he also enjoys hunting and spending time with family and friends.
Mike Thompson, CPA
Mike focuses on working with clients to create long-term, personalized financial plans. When the planning process is complete, Mike provides asset allocations to diversify risk for his clients. Mike has been a CPA for over 25 years and has over 20 years of financial planning and investment management experience. He has extensive experience as a tax preparer, has worked for a large regional bank as well as an international brokerage firm before moving to the independent arena to better serve his clients’ needs.
Mike has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky.
Mike is married to Melody and they have twin boys Chris and Andy. Mike also enjoys golf and working on the family farm.
George D. Pierce, MBA, CPA, CFP®
James A. (Jim) Smith, MBA, CFP®
James A. (Jim) Smith, MBA, CFP®, has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Kentucky. He has earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation and is a registered investment advisor.
Jim has over 25 years’ experience in financial planning and tax preparation. He has assisted individual clients in investments, tax planning, retirement planning, and estate management.
Jim has also served a variety of business clients with start- ups, accounting and payroll and has extensive experience in tax preparation in individual, business, estate and trusts.
His philosophy throughout his career has been to learn his clients’ goals and to team with the them to develop practical efficient strategies to realize those goals.
Jim moved frequently in his younger years but his family eventually settled in Middlesboro, KY which he claims as his hometown. Jim and his wife, Beverly, enjoy traveling and following UK athletics.
Ralph Scearce, CFP®
Ralph Dudley Scearce, b. September 05, 1946, joined Invest, Inc. as a Senior Portfolio Advisor in July 2018 with the sole purpose of providing investment clients with access to tailored investment advice and to provide a personal touch to client service that they could not get in large brokerage houses. Mr. Scearce attended the University of Western Kentucky, receiving a BS in business finance real estate and accounting.
Ralph Scearce has obtained The Certified Financial Planner Designation and as such, has met the minimum CFP qualifications of:
- Education – a bachelor’s degree (or higher) from an accredited college or university
- Examination – successfully pass the CFP Certification Examination
- Experience – 6,000 hours of financial planning experience
- Ethics – uphold the code of ethics of the certified Financial Planners board of standards.