Risky Assets

Five years ago Greyhawk was an idea in a car on a golf trip. Two guys from the same agency who did not know each other all that well, and who knew exactly one thing for certain: their strengths covered each other's gaps. Today it is more than twenty people, a full studio, and a building they are in the process of buying. But in between all of that, it almost ended twice. On this anniversary episod...

For a few years the answer for a lot of California homeowners was the FAIR Plan or nothing. Carriers stopped writing, premiums climbed, and people who had spent decades paying off a house found out their insurer was letting them go. That market has quietly started to move again, and most homeowners have no idea what is available to them now. Edgar Corona and Ashley Macedo, who run personal lines a...

If your company's health plan runs through Health Net, the clock is already running. The carrier is exiting the small group and large group market in California, and the notices have gone out. Wesley Deaver, who runs employee benefits at Greyhawk, walks through what actually happens next: how much runway you have, what losing a low-cost competitor tends to do to everyone else's pricing, and the ha...

Everyone manages risk every day without calling it that. We put on a seatbelt. We buy homeowners and auto and life insurance. Then we skip the part where the tap stops running for a week and the phones go dark. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake the freeways were on the ground and the local water supply was contaminated for days. In 2021 the Texas grid came within minutes of a collapse that woul...

Tim Kane has held ownership positions in seven businesses and been part of roughly a dozen more, from one of the internet's earliest email marketing companies to a startup Apple bought in four months. But the story Daniel Clarke digs into here is the one most owners never manage. When Tim's wife was diagnosed with cancer, he walked into his Amazon delivery business, roughly 100 trucks and more tha...

Joshua Driskell went from a town of 1,200 people in rural Ohio to leading Lagerlof, a Pasadena law firm of more than 120 people that guides high net worth families through tax, estate, real estate, and the sale of the businesses they spent a lifetime building. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie and Joshua get into the honest work behind that climb. They dig into why fair is not a...

On September 1, 2026, California is raising the workers comp dual wage thresholds for contractors again, and this one is a big jump. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie and Daniel break down what the dual wage threshold actually is, why paying an employee more can end up costing you less, and how to plan for it before your renewal and your year end audit catch you off guard. If yo...

Brett Sachs is a California personal injury attorney who built his own law firm from an apartment and 20 thousand dollars in savings, scaled it to nearly 100 employees, then made the hard call to rebuild it leaner, down to 28 people while doing more volume with AI. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie and Brett open with a Hot Ones style hot sauce challenge, then get into betting o...

The Fed just held interest rates steady, and three members actually voted to raise them. So why does it feel like everyone is getting squeezed harder than ever? In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie and Wesley sit down as two self described financial nerds and everyday guys to break down what the decision means for real people, not Wall Street. TIMESTAMPS 0:00  The vote nobody expec...

Chris Hamilton gets called when the money disappears. He is a forensic accountant, which means fires, fraud, and figuring out what a business was worth the minute before it burned. Charlie and Daniel sit down with him for the stories most accountants never get to tell, and the harder lessons from 32 years of building a firm. TIMESTAMPS 0:00   The pile of ash: what a forensic accountant walks into...

Joel Peluffo came to Santa Clarita from Argentina at 16 chasing soccer, and ended up a partner at Hedman Partners, one of the most respected CPA firms in the valley. In this episode Charlie sits down with him for an honest talk about using the right CPA to actually grow a business, not just file taxes. They get into why a great firm says no to clients, why value beats volume, and why chasing a tax...

There is a new financial tool on the table, and it could change how parents build wealth for their kids and how employers reward their people. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie and Wesley walk through what the accounts are, the seed money for newborns, and how the accounts compare to the options families already use, including 529 plans, custodial IRAs, UTMA accounts, and cash v...

Thomas Love spent ten years building a career in the electrical lighting industry, working his way from the field into outside sales. Then, with a fourth kid on the way, he walked away from a stable job and good people to bet on himself in a career most people never even consider: insurance. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie and Thomas have an honest conversation about what that...

Andrew Maly spent twelve years building a career in orthopedic medical device sales, one of the most talked about paths for anyone leaving college and eyeing big money. Five kids and a mortgage later, he walked away from the stability of a W2 to start his own distributorship from zero. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Andrew sits down with Charlie to pull back the curtain on an industr...

She went from nearly 20 years at Hot Dog on a Stick to building a multi-seven-figure home staging and interior design firm. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Charlie Deaver and Daniel Clarke sit down with Melissa Diaz, founder of Stunningly Staged Homes, to talk about building a real business out of a creative skill. Melissa breaks down the numbers most people never hear: staging can re...

You might be paying for insurance that will never actually pay you back. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Greyhawk founders Charlie Deaver and Daniel Clarke, joined by the Greyhawk team, break down material misrepresentation: the quiet, common way a “cheaper” policy gets your claim denied when you need it most. Through real cases, a custom-fabrication shop insured under the wrong cover...

Your carrier just changed the contracts, and one of the biggest changes hit where it hurts: benefits. Group health, 401k, life, dental, and more are no longer offered through the corporate plan, which leaves a lot of captive agency owners scrambling to cover themselves and their teams. In this episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, Greyhawk founders Charlie Deaver and Daniel Clarke, a former captive...

Greyhawk founder Charlie Deaver sits down with Michael Ross, founder of Vision Forensic Engineering, a national firm that figures out why buildings fail and what really caused an insurance loss. Think CSI for claims: cause-of-loss investigations, telling the difference between real damage and fraud, and helping people get answers in their hardest moments. But this conversation is as much about bui...

He spent nearly a decade selling alcohol across Los Angeles. Then he watched the industry change for good and made the jump into commercial insurance. In this comeback episode of the Risky Assets Podcast, host Charlie Deaver sits down with John Young: former UCLA football player, longtime liquor industry veteran, and now a producer at Greyhawk Premier Insurance Solutions. John breaks down the gene...

Edgar Corona is our VP of Personal Lines at Greyhawk. We discuss: - Shifting from big-name employers (In-N-Out and State Farm), to Greyhawk - Trusting your gut - The importance of life insurance (at any age) - State Farm pulling out of California - Pros and cons of the brokerage side of the insurance industry - California Fair Plan = "nothing fair about it" - Why it always pays to be honest - Beco...

Bryan is our newest commercial producer here at Greyhawk. He comes from a dynamic professional background- from the entertainment industry, to owning a drone operating company and executive assisting. He has absolutely killed it this year, surpassing the national average for a book of business by 3xs! We also discuss the future of insurance as it pertains to AI and cryptocurrency.  If you are look...

George Sagadencky is an Area Manager for BBSI in Southern California. As a small business owner for over 2 decades in California he has a unique insight into the challenges running and growing a small business in the State. His understanding of risk management, payroll and employer tax requirements as well as human resource laws make his diverse background and strong relationship building a unique...

I'm posting this today at 10am. If the audio goes up a little late, that's ok! Here is the audio file and bio. Sorry I am always last minute lol. Description: Daniel Christensen is an owner and Executive Director of Operations at Servpro in Santa Clarita. He also works as a pastor at West Hills Church. He talks about his entrepreneurial journey from working at Ross Dress for Less to being introduc...

We sit down with Cesar Montoya of Ringaro Telecom and discuss his entrepreneurial journey starting with when he moved from Peru to the US at age 17. Cesar held a ton of sales jobs before settling down with his first corporate job at Sony. He also has many entrepreneurial pursuits from exporting cars to Peru, to buying rental properties, and finally starting his own telecom company, Ringaro. Cesar...

Roger Romero is one of Greyhawk's standout Producers and AVPs. Raised in a household where health and wellness were paramount, he initially pursued a career in personal training, deeply influenced by his mother's dedication to marathon running and holistic living. While health and fitness remained integral to his lifestyle, his professional trajectory took an unexpected turn during college when he...