Our Professional Team
Each member of our team at Aequus understands and believes in the importance of finding the right balance between our lives at work and our personal lives. To live life to the fullest is what we desire not only for ourselves, but for our clients. We are committed to helping our clients reach their goals and realize their dreams.
Cicily Carson Maton
CFP™
Cicily Maton, CFP™, founder of and partner in Aequus Wealth Management Resources, has always been a competitor. She enjoys race walking, weight training, and participating in marathons because she knows the benefits of working out are more than physical. Her commitment to exercise is part of her continuing effort to lead a balanced life.
“We lead by example,” Cicily says. “Staying in shape is part of my philosophy of leading a life worth living. My activities are an extension of my mission to try to exemplify what leading a fulfilling life means.”
Cicily learned the need for balance first-hand when her marriage of 19 years ended in divorce. Seeking a new career, she found her calling as a financial planner. While serving clients in her new practice, she realized the need for a better process of making financial decisions that affect our lives. 
The experience led her to establish Aequus in 1987, an independent, fee-only financial planning firm—one that is free from the conflict of interest inherent in large brokerage houses and insurance companies. It provides an array of customized financial services to investors preparing for or going through life’s inevitable transitions. 
Traveling is another of Cicily’s many passions. One recent trip included a visit to Machu Pichu in Peru with daughter (and Aequus partner) Michelle and son Jean-Paul. Another was a month-long exploration of Argentina’s largest city, Buenos Aries, with husband Sheldon. Cicily also makes a frequent pilgrimage to Sedona, Arizona, a city in the Northern Verde Valley region known for its stunning array of red sandstone formations, the Red Rocks of Sedona. There she hikes amid the 400+ miles of trails and takes time to reflect and recharge.
As principle advisor to asset management clients, Cicily is responsible for:
- portfolio analysis
- asset allocation
- investment recommendations
- monitoring of portfolios designed for wealth building, retirement income and current income requirements.
Cicily is an authority on the financial aspects of divorce, particularly those related to contentious financial problems and/or complicated issues related to high net worth. Negotiating financial settlements is her specialty. She also was an early advocate of Life Planning, a process that focuses not just on clients’ financial goals but integrates their life experience and values into their life goals as well. 
Though her schedule is hectic and her work demanding, Cicily finds that working out helps keep life in balance. “Rather than tire us out, exercise recharges us,” she says. “It awakens us to the excitement and possibilities that make every day a singular experience. It helps us to focus on meeting life’s challenges and elevates us to the top of our game—no matter what our vocation.”
- Member of the Financial Planning Association
- Member of the National Association for Personal Financial Advisors
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements.
Michelle Maton
CFP™, EA, ATA
Michelle Maton is, first and foremost, a financial planner. In addition, she is a world traveler and an ardent conservationist. She has managed to merge all three interests as an advocate for endangered animals around the globe.
“I have a passion for travel,” she reveals. “My first visit to Africa in 1996 changed my life, and I return as often as I can. Tourism is one of the ways we can help countries in Africa. It helps the people by bringing dollars into the community, and it helps raise the profile of conservation and animal rights efforts in the region.”
Michelle began her career in finance as a bank teller. She then spent the next five years as a trust accountant and a specialist in 401 (k) plans and qualified pension plan terminations. Just two years after joining Aequus Wealth Management Resources in July of 1990, she earned her Certified Financial Planning™ (CFP) Certification. In April of 1995, she became an Enrolled Agent to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Since that time, she has pursued training in life planning including becoming a Registered Life Planner with the Kinder Institute of Life Planning.
“As an Aequus partner, I believe that my skills in the areas of taxes and pensions, coupled with Cicily’s expertise in divorce and financial investments, make us a financial planning firm with uniquely complementary strengths,” Michelle says.
- Member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA)
- National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA)
- Registered Life Planner of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning
- Sudden Money Advisor of the Sudden Money Institute
- Money Quotient Licensee
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements.
Sheldon Lee
Like his wife, Cicily, Sheldon is a true believer in the benefits of exercise. Workouts are now a part of his daily regimen. He also has joined her in marathons and race walking competitions.
He has never been one to shy away from a challenge. That is why, after running a successful business for more than 35 years, Sheldon was not ready to retire. Instead he brought his expertise to Aequus.
Sheldon’s duties as Comptroller include handling all receivables and payables for the company. In addition, he inputs client data and provides instruction to clients learning Quicken. “This is a perfect position for me,” Sheldon explained. “I have the advantage of interacting with both clients and my co-workers.”
In addition to all this, he is a gourmet cook often creating innovative recipes for clients and friends. Of special pleasure to Cicily and Sheldon is their pet pionus parrot, Cupcake, a smart and amusing companion.
Nancy Caldie
Born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, Nancy has always had wanderlust. She has lived overseas and traveled to exotic locales all over the world, including such destinations as Paris, Prague, Venice, Amman, Istanbul, Beijing, and Hanoi. Her travels have left her with indelible impressions of people and places that she says “…will stay with me forever.” The photo of the Temple of Heaven was taken on one of her first trips into China from Hong Kong, where she lived for more than ten years.
Her travels are more circumscribed now, but invigorating and satisfying nonetheless. One of Nancy’s two daughters is married with two children and lives in Oakland, California. Nancy tries to see them as often as possible. This photo was taken the year her mother joined her for the visit.
In 2000, Nancy’s marriage ended and along with it her yearning to live overseas. It was time for change. Having another daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter living in Chicago, the Windy City was the obvious place to begin her new life. Needing financial advice during and after her divorce, Nancy attended a seminar on divorce where she heard Cicily speak about the financial realities of the divorce process. This led her to Aequus where she became a client, and soon thereafter, an employee.
“How lucky I was to have landed in Chicago, a city I have come to call home,” she says. “I love the El, the lake, and the many languages I hear on the streets of my neighborhood. I enjoy writing about my experiences, occasionally attending a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert, or taking in an opera at the Lyric. All of these activities enrich my life, but none more than riding my bicycle around and through the park with my granddaughter Morgan.”
Wm. Marty Martin
Psy.D, M.P.H., M.A.
As a lover of the visual and performing arts, Marty regards his work as a performing art in which he challenges himself and others to become fully engaged in life yet at the same time prepare for an abundant future. Studying at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Pratt Institute of Design in Manhattan, he has blended his fine arts education with his passion for Tai Chi Chuan and his dedication to applying the science of psychology to individual and organizational performance.
In recent years, Marty has served as a volunteer for the Red Cross working with first responders and disaster victims in a way that allows them to tap into their own resilient spirit. During the past couple of years, he has been working in New Orleans with physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals who are seeking to serve others while at the same time getting their lives “back on track.” Dating back to his junior year in high school, Marty’s commitment to serving others began as a volunteer working in La Cuidad de Los Niños in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he helped in the construction of a new school for the orphans.
When asked by clients, “As a psychologist, how did you become interested in working with individuals and couples on money issues?” he responds, “It was back in 2000 when the market crashed and I found myself working with individuals and couples who were anxious, depressed, angry, and despondent about money. I decided that these individuals could benefit from all that traditional psychology and behavioral finance has to offer them.” Since 2000, Marty enrolled in the College for Financial Planning and took all the courses necessary to sit for the CFP examination. He then completed the Money Quotient training in financial life planning and has continued to not only educate himself but speak and write about money psychology and socially responsible investing.
Marty not only works with his clients on leading a more engaged and fulfilled life, but also a life in which balance is key. Since being a doctoral student at Rutgers, Marty has been an avid practitioner of Mindfulness Meditation. He has found this contemplative practice to benefit him personally and professionally.