Babak (Bobby) Kooros, CLU® has had a fascinating journey to becoming a financial advisor at Legacy Wealth Management. Growing up in his home country of Iran, he excelled in Math, Physics, and science. He competed with his high school robotics team in Iran and swam competitively in Tehran since he was eight years old. As a 15-year-old, he played water polo on the national stage as a member of Tehran's youth team. 

At 17 years old, Bobby immigrated with his father to California and graduated from high school in San Diego in 2010 with high honors and a 4.25 GPA. He received an associate's degree in Mathematics and transferred to UC Berkeley to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). He has told many people, "I was smart enough to get in and wise enough to get out." 

After realizing that staring at a computer screen and coding all day was not his passion, Bobby switched courses to his childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot. He began hands-on training in the professional aeronautics program at Miramar College while obtaining another associate's degree. 

During his studies, he worked full-time as an Uber driver and quickly realized that the expense of becoming an airline pilot outmatched his student budget. With credit card bills mounting, he accidentally got introduced to the field of financial services right before he was about to take out a 100k student loan at 8% to pay for his commercial pilot license training. He met his current colleague Edward Malekan during this period, along with several other great mentors, who helped him grow and succeed. Bobby thought he was a pretty smart guy but he was greatly humbled when he got a glimpse into how much he didn’t know, especially about money. Once he truly learned how money works, he saw the potential to bring a great deal of valuable and practical knowledge to his community, while building a fulfilling career for himself. He moved into the financial sector in 2015 and has not looked back. 

The financial industry can be brutal, and in his first three years he survived a business model that 95% of people quit. When Edward, his mentor and senior manager, decided to move to his own shop, Bobby took the leap with him. In 2019, they officially started their own operation in Newport Beach, CA. They initially sold IUL's and FIA's and generated retirement plans. They knew something was missing from their menu and what they had to offer clients. 

Bobby continued his education by receiving his Real Estate License, health and accident, and his series 65 credentials. He also got his CLU designation from the American College of Financial Services, and is currently working towards getting his Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation from the same institution. 

Prior to joining Legacy Wealth Management in 2022, he worked with two other investment advisory firms to find the right company with values and outlooks aligned with his own. Coming from the insurance-based world and guarantees, he did not feel confident enough to talk to his clients about risky investments which were only market-based strategies. That quickly changed when he met Justin Martin at a private Allianz event and heard him explain LWM's investment philosophy and the power of investing in the private and alternative markets. He wants to be clear that did not only choose to work with LWM because the public markets in 2022 are currently down an average of 25% YTD where the LWM’s balanced portfolios are up an average of 10%YTD; but also, because he felt deeply that his personal philosophies and outlook on the future are in alignment with the work that LWM does. He looks forward to growing alongside his new family at LWM not only on a personal level, but more importantly, to bring that growth to all his existing and future clients for the years to come. He takes great pride in his holistic approach to financial planning with his client’s objectives at the center of his work and he is passionate about educating his clients on all sorts of money concepts. 

Bobby currently lives in Irvine, California with his beautiful wife and two cats and enjoys all sorts of outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming, paddle boarding, and playing volleyball. He is also a master koobideh kabob maker and loves to grill any chance he gets.