Who We Are
Best of South Carolina 2025
Regional Winne
RFC®
Registered Financial Consultant
Independent Agency
No proprietary products
Columbia, SC Based
Serving all of South Carolina
PAG Advisory Group
PAG Advisory Group is a financial services advisory firm based in Columbia, South Carolina. Our core focus is safety — mitigating personal and business financial risk through safe money strategies. We help clients build guaranteed retirement income, wealth protection plans, IRA rollovers, estate plans, and life insurance coverage designed to hold up regardless of what the market does.
Founder William A. Garland, Jr. brings 27+ years of financial experience spanning business liquidity and financial leverage analysis, client servicing, asset preservation, and risk mitigation. As a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC®), he’s held to a strict code of ethics that puts client interests first — the kind of client-first standard many people are searching for when they look for a fiduciary-minded advisor in Columbia, SC.
Most of our new clients come from referrals — friends, family, and colleagues of people we’ve already helped. We take that trust seriously, and we’re passionate about helping you meet your financial goals with a plan built specifically to fulfill them.
Voted Best of South Carolina
2025 Regional Winner — recognized for excellence in financial services by GuidetoSouthCarolina.com.
Need Help Planning Your Retirement Income?
We customize our services around your goals and provide the concepts, strategies, worksheets, calculators, and guidance to answer your financial questions
Built for Every Stage of Retirement
Whether you’re years from retiring or already there, we tailor a plan around where you are today.
Retirees
Already retired and want clear, dependable income you can’t outlive.
Pre-Retirees
Within 5-10 years of retirement and ready to lock in a guaranteed income plan.
Veterans & Military Families
Active duty, retired, or veteran households near Fort Jackson and across South Carolina.
Business Owners
Building guaranteed income that doesn’t depend on selling the business.
Widows & Surviving Spouses
Navigating income and financial decisions after the loss of a spouse.
401(k) & IRA Rollover Clients
Moving an old employer plan into a strategy that fits your retirement goals.
Retirement Income Services
South Carolina’s trusted resource for safe money retirement planning — every service starts with a review of your current plan.
Guaranteed Retirement Income Planning
Income you can’t outlive, no matter what the market does.
Fixed & Indexed Annuities
Compare annuities and see the pros of fixed indexed annuities for growth without market-loss risk.
IRA Rollover Planning
Move an old 401(k) or IRA without triggering unnecessary taxes.
Safe Money Retirement Planning
Wealth protection strategies that keep savings out of market risk.
Life Insurance Retirement Strategies
A life insurance consultation to see how coverage can double as a tax-free income tool.
Tax Diversification Retirement Planning
Build income from more than one tax bucket to manage your bracket in retirement.
Personal Pension Planning
No employer pension? Create your own guaranteed income stream.
Annuities for Veterans
Specialized retirement income strategies for South Carolina veterans.
Annuities for Business Owners
Guaranteed income that doesn’t depend on your business’s future sale.
A Registered Financial Consultant
The Registered Financial Consultant (RFC®) is a professional designation awarded by the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC®) to advisors who meet rigorous standards of education, experience, and integrity.
IARFC® is the only financial planning professional association that requires its members to meet stringent requirements across experience, education, examination, and licensing — including a minimum of 40 hours of continuing education every year, annual recertification, adherence to a strict code of ethics, compliance standards, and plan-writing capacity.
Safety, Preservation, and Wealth Protection
Safety is our focus. We stay true to our core values and only recommend products designed to protect our clients’ money from market downturns. We implement wealth-building strategies using asset protection and retirement tax diversification products backed by insurance companies — and we work to identify any gaps in your income plan that need to be filled.
Our clients come to us with financial challenges that need solving. To make sure we have everything needed to help you make better decisions, we may ask you to complete a case design form along with additional information.
Veterans Retirement Planning
You can’t control the risks, but you can control the consequences. Whether you’re at home or deployed, PAG Advisory Group helps keep military and veteran families financially secure with specialized retirement and life insurance strategies for service members near Fort Jackson and across South Carolina.
PAG Advisory Group’s partnering agency, Security Insurance Partners, provides member-based life insurance for military, veterans, federal employees, and contractors.
PAG Retirement Advisor Near You, Across South Carolina
PAG Advisory Group is based in Columbia, SC and serving retirees, veterans, and business owners statewide.
Let's Build a Plan That Protects Your Future
PAG Advisory Group is a financial services and insurance-based firm in Columbia, South Carolina. Reach out today for a complimentary retirement income review.
Frequently Asked Questions by People of South Carolina
Answers to the questions we hear most from South Carolina families, business owners, and veterans planning for retirement income.
What does PAG Advisory Group do?
We’re a financial services advisory firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, focused on safety-first strategies: guaranteed retirement income, IRA rollovers, estate planning, and life insurance designed to protect what you’ve built.
Is PAG Advisory Group a fiduciary advisor in Columbia, SC?
As a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC®), William A. Garland, Jr. adheres to the IARFC’s strict code of ethics, which requires putting client interests first, ongoing continuing education, and annual recertification.
What is a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC®)?
It’s a professional designation from the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC®), awarded to advisors who meet strict standards for education, experience, ethics, and continuing education.
How is my money protected from market downturns?
We focus on wealth protection through products backed by insurance companies rather than market-exposed accounts, using fixed and indexed annuities and retirement tax diversification strategies.
Can PAG Advisory Group help with an IRA rollover?
Yes. You can roll over a 401(k) or IRA into an annuity from anywhere in South Carolina — including Sumter. William Garland handles the entire process, ensuring a tax-efficient transfer that protects your savings and sets up guaranteed income for retirement.
Do you work with veterans and military families?
Yes. We help clients changing jobs or already retired move old 401(k) and IRA balances into accounts aligned with their retirement income goals, without triggering unnecessary taxes or penalties.
How do I get started with a retirement advisor near me?
It starts with a complimentary conversation about your current plan. In some cases we’ll ask you to complete a case design form so we can identify gaps and recommend next steps.
