Financial guidance to help you meet the road ahead. Training for life.

Criterium Financial is a professional financial services practice serving the needs of individuals and businesses

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The Criterium Difference

Direct communication with advisor
No automated phone tree
Timely responses to inquiries
Full transparency on fees

Meet our Advisors

Charlie Horan and Mary Horan McBride standing against a wall

Services

Partners you can trust

We meet clients where they are and help navigate the path to where they want to go. From developing a plan and setting savings goals through execution, resetting and realization, we help our clients make decisions with confidence and keep them focused on financial goals.

Individuals

Investment Management

We develop personalized investment strategies and construct portfolios that reflect a client's personal objectives and risk tolerances. We provide oversight of savings, budgeting and cash flow and review, analyze and adjust portfolio strategy as goals, circumstances and market conditions change.

Consulting Services

Charlie’s CPA experience in taxes, tax planning and general business consulting allows him to provide an array of planning services to clients. We work with estate planning attorneys to address those needs as they arise with our investment services clients. Through our related accounting firm, we are able to run analyses on the tax effects of deductible contributions to plans, Traditional IRA conversions to Roth accounts, and the tax benefits of charitable contributions.

Businesses

Tax Qualified Plan Services

Criterium Financial Advisors has a long history of working with small businesses and self-employed taxpayers with the evaluation, adoption and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans. We are not aligned with any specific provider in the 401(k) market space. Rather, we work with the employer to select a suitable program given the facts of each case.

We are regularly contacted for advice on existing plans where employers have become dissatisfied with their current arrangement. There may have been a technical problem with the Internal Revenue Service, an issue with the quality or timeliness of Plan administration, or a need to reevaluate the investment package offered by the plan.

Our Registered Investment Advisor, Redhawk Wealth Advisors, Inc. also offers a fiduciary service to qualified plans. This can be especially important to the owners of a business who are also the individual Trustees of the company’s plan.

Partners you can trust.
From Wall Street to Main Street.

Criterium offers full service brokerage accounts and money management services for individuals, and a complete array of tax qualified plans for businesses.

Charlie Horan and Mary Horan McBride sitting on steps

We take a personalized approach, with an emphasis on individual goals and employ strategies that contemplate growth, risk management, and market volatility. We use our analytic skills to enhance client portfolios and to help guide clients through the turbulent market, with an eye on inflation, higher interest rates and fixed income.

Charlie’s decades of investment management experience and tax knowledge blend with Mary’s Wall Street-honed analytical skills and tech fluency, allowing Criterium to offer clients a well-rounded perspective on investment management.

Advisors

Charlie Horan

Charlie has been serving the Quad Cities through the CPA firm Horan & Barker since 1982. Prior to starting that firm, Charlie worked for several years as a Pension Specialist for the Arthur Andersen Small Business Tax Group in downtown Chicago. A graduate of Notre Dame, with a degree in business, Charlie served in the Air Force for three years, including a year overseas in Korea. He has two graduate degrees — an MBA from the University of Iowa, and a Masters Degree in Taxation from DePaul.

Charlie has been providing retirement planning and 401(k) program services for over 40 years, with focused commitment to the needs of clients with respect to personal and corporate retirement planning.

Mary Horan McBride

Mary began her career as an investment banker at Piper Jaffray in Chicago and Boston, where she focused on complex financial valuation in support of mergers and acquisitions. She later joined Winterberry Group in New York City as a management consultant, where she helped companies build value through strategic growth planning.

Mary joined Criterium Financial Advisors in 2022 to draw on her financial skillset and passion for the markets to help Criterium’s clients pursue their financial goals. She is a strong believer in women’s financial literacy and is committed to ensuring all clients understand their full financial picture in order to make informed investment decisions.

Mary graduated with honors from the University of Iowa with dual degrees in finance and economics. She holds the Series 65 license as an investment advisor representative.

Strategic Partners

Redhawk Wealth Advisors, Inc

Redhawk is a Registered Investment Advisor firm in Minneapolis. Charlie and Mary are both Investment Advisor Representatives for Redhawk. Redhawk provides a variety of compliance services and access to innovative technologies in support of our client services.
Charles Schwab & Co, Inc.

Schwab is the Custodian for our individual investment accounts. This relationship includes access to all of Schwab’s research services and allows us to efficiently manage day-to-day activities in client accounts.
American Funds, Empower, Ascensus, EPIC and Definiti LLC

These are the primary 401(k) plan administration providers that we utilize in support of the qualified plans that we manage. While entirely unrelated to Criterium, these companies share the same commitment to excellence in client outcomes.
Horan & Barker, PC

This is the firm originally founded by Charlie. It continues to provide businesses and individuals with various tax and accounting services.