Michael Pivar
Insurance and Healthcare Expert
(206) 295-2114
[email protected]
Michael Pivar took a unique path to the world of financial services. After graduating from Ramapo College of New Jersey in 1996—and long before founding Pivar Financial Group with Kevin Gray and Don Bazemore—he began his career in the music industry, helping to launch the careers of platinum-selling artists whose names you know.
(It was during his 11-year tenure with RCA that he picked up the nickname “Peev,” which many of you call him today.)
In 2008, Michael moved to West Seattle, continuing to work in the music industry while focusing on raising his family; he and his wife have two sons. Ultimately, however, as someone with a unique ability to make people feel comfortable, he was a natural for the insurance industry. (After all, not many people can make talking about insurance enjoyable!)
After joining another company as an advisor for health, life, and disability insurance, he became an expert on the Affordable Care Act—and soon was regarded as an authority on healthcare and retirement planning, giving ACA seminars across the state. He decided to make the leap and start his own firm in 2017.
When Michael isn’t meeting with clients in his signature velvet jackets, you can find him on the golf course and at every Seattle Sounders FC game. And perhaps all that time around music-industry VIPs and velvet ropes years ago led to what he calls the “Velvet Experience”—the unmatched service Pivar Financial Group provides to the clients who are our own VIPs.
Kevin J. Gray
Financial and Insurance Expert
(425) 495-3796
[email protected]
Kevin J. Gray has an insurance career spanning over 30 years, specializing in small-business life solutions, disability, and executive benefits for high-net-worth individuals and business owners. He meets with clients to develop strategic solutions to the financial risks they face. Kevin works closely with other primary advisors on the team, including tax, legal and financial advisors.
Areas of Expertise:
Business Planning
- Buy-Sell Planning… Creating a smooth transition of ownership at a time of need.
- Key Person Planning… Providing the needed financial resources when you lose a key Employee
- Executive Benefit Planning… Develop strategies to reward and incentivize top employees
Personal Planning
- Retirement Planning… Creating a strategy to properly fund retirement planning, focusing on tax management and asset protection.
- Estate Planning… Ensuring your plans and objectives are met and kept after you pass, as well as ensuring there is liquidity if taxes are owed, and providing estate equalization for all intended heirs.
- Income Replacement Planning… Making sure that if you cannot work because of sickness or injury, your lifestyle will be maintained during your recovery.
Don Bazemore
Tax and Insurance Expert
(206) 841-8244
[email protected]
Before Don Bazemore got his foot in the door in the insurance industry, he was helping people with their own feet—a successful Brass Plum shoe buyer and manager at Nordstrom for 10 years, he regularly produced double-digit sales increases. He later joined Intershoe as a wholesale representative and helped grow the brand into the fourth largest in the Brass Plum shoe department.
Don’s insurance career began at Cornerstone America, where he focused on coverage for self-employed individuals and quickly earned a promotion to district manager. At Pivar Financial Group, his practice centers on client advocacy as he guides business owners and individuals through insurance decisions on life, health, and disability, along with providing tax-friendly retirement strategies.
A graduate of the University of Washington, Don is a dynamic public speaker with professional training from Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Tom Hopkins, Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, and John Kalench. He enjoys playing music, outdoor recreation, and boating. Don, an Eagle Scout, is married with three children and lives in West Seattle.