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John K. Kai

President & Financial Advisor

Hi there! Thank you for checking out my website and inquiring about the services of my company, Pinnacle Investment Group, LLC.

Let me provide you with a little background on myself. I was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii and I am a 1983 graduate of Honokaa High School. Yes, it may be hard to imagine, but I am a country boy and the product of the Public School system. After my years as a Dragon I moved on to Californa to attend the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where I majored in Business/Marketing.

I started my family while still in College and I met my wife, Lori during a summer break and we fell in love. Lori followed me to California with her daughter Monique and we later got married and both our sons, Ian and Aaron were born in Sacramento, California. Soon after our youngest son was born, we decided to move back to Hawaii to raise our family. This year (2010) we just celebrated our 23rd Anniversary and have never looked back!

After returning to our homeland, Lori and I both worked at the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa Resort, she was in Reservations and I was the youngest and only “local” Sales Manager for the biggest resort property on the Big Island. After spending two years in Convention Sales, I had the good fortune of speaking with some of the guests staying at the Hyatt that were there for a Merrill Lynch convention of it’s Top Producers. All of the attendees looked prosperous (i.e. they looked and smelled like money) and they seemed genuinely happy with their chosen career. After further conversations, I connected the dots and found that I had two uncles and a cousin that were also stockbrokers with the large brokerage firms of the day. I surmised that a career in the financial services industry might be in my DNA and I contacted (cold called) the local office of Merrill Lynch for an interview. I was hired a week later and the rest as they say is history.

I’ve been in the financial services industry since 1991 and have seen the Dot-Com fueled market rally from 1995 through 2000; the impact of the 9/11 WTC attack on the heart of America’s financial center; the shut down of the Stock Market’s in the US for five subsequent days after the attack; the rally as a result of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate easing experiment; the Real Estate bubble; the Financial and Real Estate meltdown that followed and the worst recession seen since the Great Depression. Needless to say my first 8 years in the industry was terrific and a great time to be a new advisor. It seemed that the markets only went straight up and I could do no wrong. The past 10 years have been a true roller coaster of a market and has really been a challange for clients and advisors alike.

My point is that I have experienced all kinds of market conditions and have managed to build my practice, gain the trust and respect of clients and the people of the Big Island business community, raise three wonderful kids who are all now young, independent (not needing my money!) adults making there way in this world and I’ve managed to not lose all my hair in the process.

I like to think that I am a pretty good financial advisor who is always looking out for the best interest of my clients.