Joel earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago and became a professor of quantitative methods in the Walter Heller Business School at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Joel started Fundamental Analytics as a boutique consulting firm for oil industry hedgers and speculators, providing charts, data analysis, and commentaries. As the demands for consulting increased, Joel left Roosevelt University to consult full-time, which led to the development of Fundamental Analytics in its current form.