Our Story

Chapter One

Where It Began

University of Washington|Jay and Loui

Jay and Loui Bond met at the University of Washington.

Neither came from wealth. Loui worked her way through school, and Jay attended UW on a basketball scholarship. They first crossed paths while helping plan a going-away party for a mutual friend, and what began as a chance connection quickly grew into a lifelong partnership.

From the beginning, their relationship was grounded in a shared set of values: work hard, welcome people as they are, treat others with kindness and respect, remain grateful for what you have, and take responsibility for the opportunities you are given.

Those values would eventually become the foundation of Bond Financial. They also shaped how Jay and Loui understood success. To them, success was never just about personal achievement. It was about stewardship: caring for family, honoring commitments, giving back, and helping others move forward with confidence.

Chapter Two

An Unconventional Path

Professional basketball, entrepreneurship, and perspective

A standout basketball player at the University of Washington, Jay regularly competed against John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins during one of the most storied eras in college basketball. After his senior year, he was drafted by the then-San Diego Rockets and reached the final roster cut before choosing to continue his basketball career in Europe. He spent five years playing professionally overseas: two seasons in Belgium with Sunair Oostende and three seasons in France with Club Athlétique de Saint-Étienne, known as CASE.

Basketball gave Jay an unexpected foundation for a career in planning. He learned to prepare carefully, understand his role within a team, stay composed under pressure, and recognize that strong performance is built long before the important moment arrives. Success was the result of discipline, preparation, and the hours of work no one else saw.

After returning to the United States, Jay used his basketball savings to start an import-export business in Richmond, Virginia. The venture did not become his life’s work, but it gave him firsthand experience with the risk, optimism, and uncertainty involved in building something from scratch.

That experience helped Jay understand entrepreneurs and business owners in a way that was practical, personal, and real. He knew what it felt like to take a calculated risk, manage uncertainty, and carry responsibility for an idea before it had fully proven itself.

Chapter Three

The Start

1976|New York Life & working with business owners

Not long after, Jay and Loui moved back to Seattle. With their second child, Jesse, on the way, Jay made a pivotal decision. In February 1976, he signed his contract with New York Life and began his career in financial services.

The early years were not glamorous. They were built on long hours, cold calls, and no shortcuts. Jay grew the practice the only way he knew how: by educating people, earning trust, and staying committed to the work long before the firm had a name of its own.

From the beginning, Jay was especially drawn to working with business owners. It was a world he understood personally. Having taken his own entrepreneurial risk, he related to the responsibility business owners carried for their families, their employees, and the future of what they were building.

Much of his early work focused on helping business owners establish benefit plans for themselves and their employees. Many of those early clients were in the lumber, real estate development, construction, and homebuilding industries — practical, relationship-driven businesses where owners were closely connected to the people who depended on them.

Over time, those conversations often led to deeper planning questions: how to protect the business, how to care for key people, how to plan for succession, and how to turn hard-earned success into long-term security.

Chapter Four

E. Jay Bond and Associates

Early 1980s|Loui helps build the firm, education becomes a hallmark

About five years into his career, Jay formally established his practice as E. Jay Bond and Associates.

As the practice expanded, Loui joined the business as office manager and quickly became one of its most important influences. She brought structure, organization, warmth, and a steady operational presence. She helped coordinate the day-to-day details, supported the staff, and created an environment where clients and employees felt genuinely cared for.

Jay recalls that the business doubled the year after Loui joined. But the numbers tell only part of the story. As Jay puts it, “Plus, everyone loved her.”

That line captures something the numbers cannot. Loui helped create a well-run business where people felt welcomed, appreciated, and personally cared for. Together, Jay and Loui built a firm grounded in trust, service, and long-term relationships.

As the firm became more established, Jay’s work continued to deepen. Soon after forming E. Jay Bond and Associates, he met Bob Pittman, a Seattle-area estate planning attorney and longtime host of Legal Line with Bob Pittman, a call-in radio advice show on KIRO Radio.

Jay and Bob became close friends and partnered for years on educational seminars designed to help families better understand estate planning, charitable giving, and the financial decisions that affect multiple generations. Jay also appeared as a guest on Legal Line with Bob Pittman several times, discussing financial and estate planning topics with listeners across the region.

Those seminars and radio appearances reflected the technical planning depth that was becoming a hallmark of Jay’s practice. They also reinforced one of his enduring beliefs: good planning starts with education. When clients understand their options, the tradeoffs involved, and the long-term implications of each decision, they are better equipped to move forward with confidence.

Chapter Five

Ahead of Its Time

Mid-1980s|Financial Security Group and comprehensive planning

By the mid-1980s, Jay’s work had expanded beyond insurance into broader financial services.

At the time, most advice was still delivered in silos: insurance in one place, investments in another, estate planning somewhere else, and tax guidance through a separate professional. Jay believed families were better served when those pieces were considered together.

That belief led him to help form Financial Security Group with five colleagues: another insurance advisor, two fee-based financial planners, an office manager, and an attorney. Together, they built one of the early firms in the region around a coordinated planning model, bringing multiple areas of financial advice together around each client’s full financial picture at a time when that approach was still uncommon.

The idea was ahead of its time. It reflected a planning philosophy that still guides Bond Financial today: major financial decisions should not be viewed in isolation.

A retirement decision can affect an estate plan. An estate plan can affect liquidity needs. A business transition can change taxes, investments, risk management, charitable giving, and family dynamics all at once.

In the mid-1990s, Financial Security Group became a part of Moss Adams as the firm expanded its own financial planning services. Jay later chose to continue serving his clients through his own firm, E. Jay Bond and Associates.

The experience reinforced his conviction that families need advice that sees the full financial picture, and that better outcomes often come from coordinated planning across multiple disciplines.

Chapter Six

The Next Generation

2003|Jesse joins the firm

In 2003, Jay and Loui’s son, Jesse Bond, joined the firm.

Like Jay, Jesse’s path also included basketball. He played collegiately at St. Mary’s College of California and then played one season of professional basketball in Germany before an injury ended that chapter. Afterward, he moved to New Hampshire and spent two years working in 3D animation.

That combination gave Jesse a distinct perspective: discipline from athletics, technical problem-solving from animation, and a deep respect for how many small details must work together to create a larger result.

Working alongside Jay, Jesse learned that strong financial planning requires both technical skill and personal understanding. The numbers matter deeply, but the right recommendation also depends on the people affected by the decision: spouses, children, business partners, employees, charities, and future generations.

Passionate about professional development, Jesse earned the ChFC® designation early in his career and became a Member Agent of The Nautilus Group. Through Nautilus, Jay and Jesse had access to advanced consultative resources and a team of highly specialized planning professionals who supported complex estate, business, charitable, insurance, and retirement planning situations. Along the way, Jesse also became involved with NAIFA and received recognition through Million Dollar Round Table’s Top of the Table, further reflecting his commitment to professional development and excellence in client service.

That combination of personal mentorship, formal education, professional involvement, and technical resources helped shape the next stage of Bond Financial.

The Premier Association of Financial Professionals is recognized globally as the standard of excellence for life insurance sales performance in the insurance and financial services industry. The Nautilus Group® is a service of New York Life Insurance Company.

Chapter Seven

Bond Financial

2007|A broader team-based identity built for depth and continuity

In 2007, the firm was rebranded as Bond Financial.

The name change reflected more than a new identity. It marked the evolution from a founder-led practice into a broader, team-based planning firm built for long-term continuity. By then, the firm had grown beyond a single-advisor model, and the new name better reflected its collaborative approach, expanded capabilities, and long-term commitment to serving families across generations.

Over the years that followed, Jay and Jesse continued to expand the firm’s reach. They designed and delivered employee financial education workshops for more than 40 large organizations across industries including biotech, engineering, healthcare, and law.

Those workshops gave the firm a practical view into the real financial questions professionals face: retirement decisions, equity compensation, company benefits, tax planning, insurance, estate planning, charitable goals, and the challenge of coordinating those decisions over time. That work also gave Jay and Jesse deep experience working with executives and leadership teams at both public and private companies.

During this period, Jesse also built relationships with advisors across multiple disciplines, including estate planning attorneys, CPAs, and other professional advisors. Through joint presentations and collaborative client work, he deepened his expertise across estate planning, tax strategy, company benefit plans, and complex family planning issues.

As the firm evolved, Jesse gradually shifted his focus toward serving fewer families with greater depth. That meant deeper work in areas such as philanthropy, family governance, wealth transfer planning, asset protection, and the coordination of complex planning decisions with each client’s broader advisory team.

Bond Financial also continued investing in its own team, adding experienced wealth advisors, technical planning resources, operations professionals, and client service specialists.

The goal was never growth for its own sake. The goal was depth, continuity, and the ability to serve families even better across generations.

Chapter Eight

The Role We Play

Experienced guidance for important crossings

After more than five decades in the profession, Jay often describes the advisor’s role with a simple metaphor:

A financial advisor is like a tugboat helping guide a ship safely into port.

The family is the ship. They have the power, the resources, the values, the goals, and the destination. But when the waters become narrow — estate taxes, business transitions, retirement timing, market risk, charitable planning, family dynamics, or the responsibility of caring for future generations — experienced guidance matters.

Our role is not to take over the ship. It is to help families navigate the moments when judgment, coordination, and technical clarity can make all the difference.