We provide integrated financial service to

Los Angeles City Employees (LACERS)

As an employee of the City of Los Angeles, you get many benefits.  We can provide you with a one-on-one, personalized help so you can better understand your health, insurance, and retirement benefits.  We can go over your membership tier, retirement eligibility, and other benefit in the comfortable of a one-on-one meeting rather than in a group meeting.

Reduce your tax and gain a holistic perspective on your finances. You can save time and money and avoid miscommunication by using a single point of contact for all your financial needs.   Shift the time spent on managing multiple professionals managing your money to enjoying the important things in your life.

Members, Retirees, Survivors

As an independent financial firm, we specialize in providing financial services to members, retirees, and survivors of Los Angeles City Employees. 

Services include:

  • tax preparation
  • tax withholding review
  • retirement planning
  • medicare plan education
  • rollover in the event of
    • retirement
    • divorce
    • death

What we do

Over 20 years of trusted service in key financial areas:

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Tax Preparation

In addition to preparing your taxes, you can help you figure out your tax withholding.

Wealth Management

Are you concern with you investment?  We can help you review your risk tolerance and more.

Retirement Planning

If you don’t know when you can retire or how much you will receive once you do, we can help you visualize this using our planning software.  We can explain your membership and tier status, and your retirement eligibility.

Home Loan

Since 2006, we have helped many of state, city, and county employees make their dream of home ownership come true.  Talk to us about zero loan processing fee.

Real Estate

We offer full real estate services, whether you are buying your first home, upgrading to a new home, or down sizing.

Protection Planning

Do you need to review your life insurance?

Why we are different

Why waste your time going to a tax person, a financial advisor, and other professionals, when you can save time and money by going to one?

You can save time and money and avoid miscommunication by using a single point of contact for all your financial needs.

about us

Founder Kiak Tae and his family

The founder of Gardena Financial, Kiak Tae, knows what it is like to be illiterate and poor. Kiak was born in Cambodia during “The Killing Fields” era to uneducated Chinese parents. As a young child, he and his family endured incredible hardship as they escaped the Khmer Rouge regime through the jungle, finding refuge in Thailand. Kiak was bit by a venomous snake on the journey and nearly lost his leg to the injury.

Kiak made a new start in the United States. He had no formal schooling before the age of 10. He realized he had to work harder than those with more resources. 

Resisting the peer pressure from fellow immigrants to join the Asian gangs in the area, as a teen Kiak taught himself basic finance from books he found in the library. 

With some encouragement from the Fulfillment Fund and a few great teachers, he went to Haverford College, received a degree in economics, and began working in the field of finance. He was then able to save enough to buy his parents their first home. In 1997, he was featured on a KNBC  program called “Beating the Odds.” 

Kiak Tae believes that with a solid work ethic, a will, and a guiding hand, everyday Americans can achieve greater wealth. Providing financial resources and knowledge to the average American is his motivation for becoming a financial educator.

Let’s Start Something new
today!