About the founder

Joel carries the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation which is widely considered the “gold standard” among the designations in the investment management community. In addition to the CFA®, he also carries the Certified Financial Planner(R) (CFP®) designation which is much more focused on (yep, you guessed it) the financial planning side of things. Since Glass Lakes Capital Management is an investment management AND a financial planning firm, Joel uses the knowledge he learned from both curriculums on a daily basis.

Joel graduated with a degree in Finance from The University of Kansas. Prior to founding Glass Lakes Capital Management, he was a Senior Vice President of Keen Wealth Advisors where he primarily focused on investment management and financial planning needs for high net worth individuals. Prior to joining Keen Wealth Advisors, Joel was a portfolio manager for The Commerce Trust Company. There he was a member of the Fixed Income Strategy and the Alternative Investment Strategy Committees. Joel executed trades for the 10-b-5-1 plan and the Tax Managed Strategy and he won the System-Wide All-Star award in 2014. Before that Joel worked at Prairie Capital Management and at a statistical arbitrage hedge fund in Leawood, KS.

Joel is the son of Bob Hamilton of the Bob Hamilton Plumbing Company – a well known and long-standing company based in Overland Park, KS. Joel understands work ethic and put himself through college working long hours in the family business. Joel has 11 siblings, all of whom are competitive Water Skiers. Joel was part of the KU Water Ski Team that took second place at nationals. The Hamilton family has been on the cover of USA Waterski Magazine twice. Joel and his wife, Katherine, have been married over 7 years and have 2 daughters. Although, Joel has been quoted as saying, “I’m not going to try to out-do my parents”.