James Mwombela, CFP®, CSLP®

Hey y’all, I’m James, a financial planner with SLP Wealth. I graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2014. During my senior year, I learned everything I could about personal finance and financial wellness in order to have an antidote to the financial instability I experienced growing up.

Before I received my first paycheck, I had a financial plan for myself, which allowed me to enjoy life at the time while also saving money for my future. Those savings allowed me to leave my job at an insurance company after about a year and take some time off. After this valuable opportunity to reflect, I realized that my calling was to become a financial planner and help others experience the same freedom and peace of mind that I experienced.

I worked for several independent financial planning firms and earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® designation in 2018 before starting Mwombela Financial Planning in 2021. I wanted to focus on providing high-quality service to the clients I want to serve without pressure to attract clients who are already wealthy, pressure to grow as quickly as possible, or pressure to sell financial products to clients.

I met Travis and joined the Student Loan Planner team in 2022 as a Student Loan Advisor part-time. I earned the Certified Student Loan ProfessionalTM designation so I could properly advise clients with six-figure student loan balances who are trying to figure out the best strategy for handling their loans. When Travis told me that he wanted to start a financial planning firm, I merged with him and the rest of the team because I knew we could accomplish more together than we could as individual practice owners.

I have a passion for helping professionals of color and first-generation wealth builders. I live in Durham, NC, with my wife, Rachel, and our dog Riley. In my free time, I like to go to the gym, do yoga, learn about history, play basketball, expand my music library, and explore the outdoors.