Financial health so often is aligned with physical health, not just in the ability to pay for medical bills, but also in how it can promote a sense of well-being. As Milo F. Hanke, CFP, and Manny R. Apolonio, CFP, of Hanke & Apolonio Wealth Advisors share: “When your financial plan is clear, so is your peace of mind. We’re here to help you live the life you’ve worked hard for.” Their stats reveal the firm’s success, showing that they have at least $145 million assets currently under management and 120 clients nationwide. Together, Hanke and Apolonio have over 60 years of combined financial expertise.
Hanke, who is the firm’s Founding Partner, shares more about his work, how the firm has benefited from Golden Gate Business Association membership, and offers sage advice for those who are thinking of starting their own business.
GGBA: Tell us more about Hanke & Apolonio Wealth Advisors.
Milo F. Hanke: Good financial planning changes lives. We see it every day with our clients. The shift is technical and psychological, both supported within a “no-judgment zone.”
From our offices in Union Square, we serve 120 clients in the Bay Area and throughout the country. As an SEC-registered, fee-only fiduciary, Hanke & Apolonio Wealth Advisors is held to the highest standards of client care.
With clarity, clients better pursue their own vision of happiness—what they desire for self, family, and community. And they tend to have more fun. One couple, former money hoarders, now sends us postcards from abroad.
GGBA: Why did you decide to create your business?
Milo F. Hanke: In a bygone era, I had fled the corporate closet, desperate for economic survival, freedom, and dignity. Long past those slings and arrows, though, my North Star remained the same: a deep desire to develop for clients the independence I eventually built for myself through our firm.
Because I am in the “future” and “capabilities” business, I must emphasize what carries me into the years ahead. This is a relationship business, a “we” business.
Together with Manny, my business partner, and Rafael Paschoal, our Manager of Operations, we are growing the firm revenue about 15 to 20 percent annually. We are also recruiting new talent to serve a growing client roster.
GGBA: Who are some of your role models, and especially those who helped to influence your business?
Milo F. Hanke: Early in my career, I was forever influenced by Churchill C. Peters, an officemate who came to work into his nineties. I had an office at the investment firm he had opened in 1934. Church often spoke about guiding clients though the Great Depression, helping them rebuild while practicing early forms of financial planning. In 1946, a nervous client asked if the Dow Jones could stay at 200. (Recently the index surpassed 50,000.) His grounded optimism shaped how we later advised clients during the Great Recession and the COVID pandemic.
My nonagenarian mentor didn’t give a damn I was gay, particularly meaningful since I hadn’t been out to my parents. That was part of his magnanimous approach to life, an attribute that drew a diverse client base.
Church, who had driven tanks in World War I, regularly drove me home in his “Red Devil,” a garish Chrysler Imperial. On one of those rides, in a guy-to-guy manner, he asked me to keep an eye open for “young grandmas” he should meet. I miss Churchill C. Peters (1899–1993).
GGBA: Why did you decide to join the GGBA, and how long have you been a member?
Milo F. Hanke: The “gift of desperation” eventually brought me to the GGBA. I had moved to San Francisco, sight unseen, to come out. That meant starting my own business, and GGBA encapsulated that quest.
The very first business card I handed out was at the GGBA’s tenth anniversary dinner in 1984. I sat at a dinner table hosted by a sign maker who later become my state senator, Mark Leno.
GGBA: How has being a member of GGBA helped your business over the years?
Milo F. Hanke: I couldn’t have started my business those decades ago without the GGBA. It represented my support group, my peeps—other gay men and lesbians who were in the same boat, people I could trust and who would indulge my sales pitches.
In those times, Corporate America was extremely hostile to queer folk (think Mad Men). There was a degree of trauma-bonding among GGBA members (more so with the AIDS onslaught). Self-employment was the natural choice. Whether I was prepared or not, my business would be one more “start-out.”
GGBA: Do you go to the GGBA monthly Make Contact networking events? Have they benefited you and your business, and would you recommend them to others?
Milo F. Hanke: Absolutely—they are lifechanging.
I met my future business partner, Manny Apolonio, at a Make Contact event 17 years ago. He was an official greeter that day. Not long after, Manny contacted me to plot his exit from a frustrating banker’s position. Today, both names—Hanke & Apolonio—are on the front door.
Beyond business, the GGBA introduced me to many of my closest friends.
GGBA: What other advice would you give to someone who is thinking of starting their own business?
Milo F. Hanke: Talk to as many business owners as you can. Read a related book a week. Ponder these sagacious gems:
To discover who you are, start your own business.
If you like stories, become a psychologist, minister, or financial planner.
Not wanting to work for others doesn’t count as a business plan.
Many businesses are launched by technicians undergoing an entrepreneurial seizure. If you lack sales ability, go back now.
Until your business sustains you, marry rich or take on a side hustle. Financial harikari doesn’t endear you to others.
Odds are your initial business idea will fizzle out within five years. If so, it’s not you personally who will have failed. Regardless of outcome, starting an enterprise in service of others will expand your capabilities. There too are unexpected gifts in meeting a wider swath of humanity.
GGBA: Given all of the challenges, did you ever think of quitting?
Milo F. Hanke: Not in 35 years, but there were moments. At one point, rent wasn’t getting paid. So, I sucked up my pride and, through a GGBA contact, began driving limousines for funeral homes.
Most mornings I drove a Cadillac full of sobbing strangers as we tailed a hearse into Colma cemeteries. The morning’s pathos magically catalyzed my afternoon sales. Within months, I was full-time among the living, making a living.
Today, Hanke & Apolonio Wealth Advisors is one of the largest LGBT-owned business in the Bay Area. Revenues are growing 15 to 20 percent annually, and we continue to enjoy immense client loyalty. In fact, our clients tend to stay with us for life.
Last month we opened an education account for Lily, a fourth-generation client. Her great-grandparents enjoy a robust retirement in Hawaii. Our firm will be here to serve the fifth generation.
And it’s a matter of time before the Dow Jones reaches 100,000. We’ll be here for that, too. https://haawealth.com/
GGBA Member Spotlight
Published on March 26, 2026
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