Best Financial Advisors in Los Angeles 2022 - MagnifyMoney
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Best Financial Advisors in Los Angeles 2022

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Los Angeles may be better known for its celebrity scene, but it also has an abundance of financial advisors for residents looking for financial guidance. Choosing a financial advisor in the largest city in California might seem like an undertaking, but really all it requires is a clear understanding of your own financial situation, goals and needs.

Beyond that, you’ll also need to filter through and compare the numerous financial advisor companies in L.A. In the hopes of making that process easier, we determined the best financial advisors in Los Angeles, a list that consists only of firms that manage individual accounts and offer financial planning. We ranked these firms based on assets under management (AUM). Note that all of the data used in our methodology is taken directly from each firm’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Our ranking won’t tell you which firm may be best for you, but it can make your search easier. Take a look at our list below for the top firms in Los Angeles.

10 best financial advisors in Los Angeles

Firm nameMinimum assets requiredFee structure
Aspiriant, LLCNone, but typical investors have at least $1.5 millionA percentage of AUM Hourly charges Fixed fees
Advanced Research Investment Solutions (ARIS), LLC $10 millionA percentage of AUM  Fixed fees Other (administrative services fees)
SEIAVaries by portfolio and service typeA percentage of AUM Hourly charges Fixed fees
Churchill Management Group$750,000 ($1 million for the Churchill Funds)A percentage of AUM 
Evoke AdvisorsNoneA percentage of AUM Fixed fees Other (administrative services fees)
Lido Advisors, LLC$1 millionA percentage of AUM Hourly charges Fixed fees
Covington Capital Management$2 millionA percentage of AUM Fixed fees
Westmount Asset Management, LLC$2 millionA percentage of AUM
Oakmont CorporationNone requiredA percentage of AUM Fixed fees  Performance-based fees
Miracle Mile Advisors, LLC$750,000A percentage of AUM Fixed fees

1. Aspiriant, LLC

  • Minimum assets required: None, but typical investors have at least $1.5 million
  • AUM: $14,512,799,000
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 19:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Hourly charges
    • Fixed fees
  • Phone number: 310-806-4000
  • Headquarters address:
    11100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 600
    Los Angeles, CA 90025

About Aspiriant, LLC

Aspiriant, LLC is a full-service, employee-owned firm that provides integrated financial planning and execution along with portfolio management and family office services. Additionally, the firm offers divorce financial consulting to clients going through a divorce.

The firm works with individual investors, including high net worth individuals, as well as institutions, such as businesses, charitable organizations, pension and profit-sharing plans, pooled investment vehicles and more. Though it doesn’t have a set minimum investment requirement, its clients typically have portfolios of at least $1.5 million.

Aspiriant formed in 2008, following the merger of two other West Coast investment advisory firms: Quintile in Los Angeles and Kohcis Fitz in San Francisco. In addition to its headquarters in Los Angeles, Aspiriant has four other California offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Irvine and Mountain View. It also has locations in New York; Boston; Minneapolis; Cincinnati and Austin, Texas.

Aspiriant, LLC investing strategy

Aspiriant takes a long-term, contrarian approach to investing, moving away from risk when the market is going up and toward risk when it is going down. The firm’s investment program involves three steps:

  1. Allocation across asset classes
  2. Strategy and manager selection within each of the asset classes
  3. Execution of the plan

Portfolios may include equities, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded notes, private partnerships, bonds, cash-equivalents and other securities. The firm may also recommend investment in its own mutual funds or private partnerships that it manages.

Aspiriant, LLC disciplinary disclosures

Aspiriant has no disciplinary disclosures on its record. For reference, the SEC requires that all registered investment advisors disclose any civil, regulatory criminal actions against the firm or its advisors or its affiliates from within the last 10 years.

To learn more about the firm, visit Aspirant’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) page.

2. Advanced Research Investment Solutions (ARIS), LLC

  • Minimum assets required: $10 million
  • AUM: $12,752,266,498
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 15:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Fixed fees
    • Other (administrative services fees)
  • Phone number: 424-283-3800
  • Headquarters address:
    10635 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 240
    Los Angeles, CA 90025

About Advanced Research Investment Solutions, LLC

Founded in 2014 by former Merrill Lynch advisor Alex Shahidi and former Bridgewater Associates advisor Damien Bisserier, Advanced Research Investment Solutions, LLC, or ARIS, is owned by Evoke Holdings, which is in turn owned by advisor David Hou. Notably, Evoke Holdings also owns advisory firm Evoke Wealth, which also appears on this list, and the two firms share employees and office space. The firms also have a shared website.

ARIS offers investment management and retirement plan and investment consulting services out of its single office in Los Angeles. With a typical minimum portfolio value requirement of $10 million, the firm’s clients are primarily high net worth individuals, though it also serves various institutions including charitable organizations, guilds and health plans, pension and profit-sharing plans and pooled investment vehicles.

Advanced Research Investment Solutions, LLC investing strategy

When determining its investment advice, ARIS focuses on asset class pricing, global economic conditions and an ability to select third-party investment talent. ARIS starts the investing process by creating an asset allocation strategy that’s appropriate for the client. In doing so, the firm aims to achieve consistent absolute returns that are in alignment with a client’s objectives.

Client portfolios typically consist of both active and passive strategies in an effort to mitigate costs and achieve tax efficiency. Decisions are ultimately based on clients’ investment objectives.

Advanced Research Investment Solutions, LLC disciplinary disclosures

ARIS has no disclosures, meaning it has a clean disciplinary record free of any civil, regulatory or criminal actions against the firm, its advisors or its affiliates from within the past decade. The SEC requires that all registered investment advisors disclose such events in their Form ADV paperwork.

To view that paperwork and learn more about the firm, visit its IAPD page.

3. SEIA

  • Minimum assets required: Varies by portfolio and service type
  • AUM: $10,209,320,902
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 82:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Hourly charges
    • Fixed fees
  • Phone number: 310-712-2323
  • Headquarters address:
    2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1600
    Los Angeles, CA 90067

About SEIA

Financial advisor Brian D. Holmes founded SEIA, legally known as Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, in 1997, and remains its president, CEO and principal owner. The firm offers financial planning and consulting and investment management to individuals, including high net worth individuals, as well as to pension and profit-sharing plans, corporations or other businesses and charitable organizations.

SEIA has its headquarters in Los Angeles, and additional offices in California in Newport Beach, Redondo Beach, Pasadena and San Mateo. It also has locations in Virginia, Texas, New York, Colorado and Oregon.

SEIA investing strategy

SEIA uses a six-step investment management process with its clients:

  1. Determine investor needs and objectives
  2. Assess risk tolerance and investor suitability
  3. Review asset allocation
  4. Implement strategic plan
  5. Rebalance and monitor portfolio
  6. Report the results

The firm’s portfolios typically use Modern Portfolio Theory, which emphasizes a diversity of asset classes. It uses both strategic macro allocation, which incorporates diverse investment styles and alternative investments, and tactical micro allocation, which reallocates assets based on favorable outlooks or prospects of a particular sector.

The firm’s investment committee is responsible for overseeing client portfolios and includes its chief investment officer, senior partners, financial advisors and members of the research team.

SEIA disciplinary disclosures

SEIA has no disciplinary disclosures on its record. This means that neither the firm nor its employees or affiliates have faced any civil, regulatory or criminal issues over the last decade.

For more information on SEIA, visit the firm’s IAPD page.

4. Churchill Management Group

  • Minimum assets required: $750,000 ($1 million for the Churchill Funds)
  • AUM: $7,915,007,650
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 139:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
  • Phone number: 323-937-7110
  • Headquarters address:
    5900 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 400
    Los Angeles, CA 90036

About Churchill Management Group

Churchill Management Group owner and CEO Fred Fern, a protégé of high-profile stockbroker William O’Neil, founded the firm in 1963 at the age of 25 without any formal training in investing. In the decades since, the firm has grown to serve thousands of clients.

Churchill Management Group provides investment management and financial planning services primarily to individual investors, including high net worth individuals. The firm, which generally prefers accounts with a minimum of $750,000 to establish an account, also serves trusts, pension plans, investment funds and other types of entities.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, the firm also has a presence in the Northwest, Eastern and Central regions of the country, with nearly 80 locations in total.

Churchill Management Group investing strategy

The firm uses an active trading approach based on the idea that markets behave cyclically, and it adjusts that approach based on where the markets are in a specific cycle. Churchill Management Group’s investment team makes asset allocation decisions using a “top down” approach, looking at big picture trends, but it chooses investments within asset classes based on a “bottom-up” approach, which looks at the fundamentals of each company.

Churchill Management Group creates customized portfolios based on each client’s needs, using one of the following strategies:

  • Tactical Equity Strategies: Aim to reduce exposure in high-risk markets
  • Fully Invested Equity Strategies: Remain invested at all times regardless of market risk
  • Risk Blended Strategies: Uses strategies from both the tactical and fully invested equity strategies categories to create a blended approach
  • Fixed Income: Creates a portfolio of diverse, investment-grade bonds

Churchill Management Group disciplinary disclosures

Churchill Management Group has no disciplinary disclosures on its record. For reference, all registered investment advisors must disclose any civil, regulatory or criminal actions against the firm, its advisors or its affiliates on their Form ADV, public documents that registered firms must file with the SEC.

You can learn more by visiting Churchill Management Group’s IAPD page.

5. Evoke Advisors

  • Minimum assets required: None
  • AUM: $7,703,721,854
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 20:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Fixed fees
    • Other (administrative services fees)
  • Phone number: 424-372-1777
  • Headquarters address:
    10635 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 240
    Los Angeles, California 90025

About Evoke Advisors

Managing partners David Hou and Mark Sear formed Evoke Advisors in 2019 when they left First Republic Bank in a high-profile split. Formally registered with the SEC as Evoke Wealth, LLC, The firm is wholly owned by Evoke Holdings, which in turn is owned by Hou. Evoke Holdings recently acquired ARIS, another firm on this list, and the two firms share office space and employees as well as a website.

Evoke Advisors offers financial planning and investment management services primarily to high net worth individuals, though the firm’s client base also includes pooled investment vehicles and corporations or other businesses. It has its headquarters in Los Angeles, which is its sole office location.

Evoke Advisors investing strategy

Evoke Advisors tailors its investment advice to each client’s needs and objectives using customized models and portfolio strategies. Additionally, the firm takes into account the client’s portfolio size, tax sensitivity, desire for simplicity, long-term wealth transfer objectives, time horizon and choice of custodian when determining its investment recommendations.

In general, Evoke Advisors recommends long-term ownership of securities, with broad diversification both within and across asset classes. Portfolios may include traditional investments, such as  stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs, as well as warrants, commercial paper, certificates of deposit (CDs), options contracts or private funds.

Evoke Advisors disciplinary disclosures

Evoke Advisors has a record free of any disciplinary disclosures, meaning neither the firm nor its employees or affiliates have faced any civil, criminal or regulatory issues within the past 10 years. For reference, the SEC requires that all registered investment advisors disclose this information in their disclosure paperwork.

You can learn more about Evoke Advisors by visiting the firm’s IAPD page.

6. Lido Advisors, LLC

  • Minimum assets required: $1 million
  • AUM: $7,692,386,606
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 45:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Hourly charges
    • Fixed fees
  • Phone number: 310-278-8232
  • Headquarters address:
    1875 Century Park East, Suite 950
    Los Angeles, CA 90067

About Lido Advisors, LLC

Firm chairman and senior managing director Greg Kushner founded Lido Advisors, LLC in 1999. Kushner owns a portion of the firm via a holding company. C​​harlesbank Capital Partners LLC, a middle market private equity firm, holds majority of ownership of the firm, and several members of the firm hold the majority of the remaining ownership interest.

Lido Advisors provides investment management, financial planning services including retirement planning and estate planning, family office services and other financial services. The firm primarily works with individual investors, and despite its $1 million account minimum, it works with a number of individuals who are not high net worth. It also works with corporations or other businesses.

Lido Advisors has its headquarters in Los Angeles and 22 additional offices throughout the country, including seven other locations in California.

Lido Advisors, LLC investing strategy

Lido Advisors creates custom asset allocation strategies for its clients that are aimed at minimizing correlation between asset types. In addition to traditional assets like stocks, bonds and cash, Lido Advisors might include other asset classes in a client’s portfolio, such as real estate, foreign securities or alternative assets.

The firm generally takes a long-term approach. It uses six main strategies in client portfolios, which include:

  • Core Equity Strategy: This strategy uses asset allocations that emphasize stocks with a particular geography or market capitalization as well as economic cycles, momentum and fundamental drivers. It uses mutual funds, ETFs or separate account managers.
  • SectorStrat: This is a tactical, value-driven, U.S. large-cap strategy that mainly invests in ETFs across different economic sectors.
  • Cap and Cushion” Equity Collar Strategy: This is an options-based equity strategy that aims to limit downside participation.
  • Fixed Income: This strategy aims to generate current income while minimizing risk through investments in bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs.
  •  Alternative Investments: This strategy offers additional diversification by seeking to achieve investment results that are uncorrelated to stock and bond strategies.
  • Weighted Sector Strategy: This strategy, which uses ETFs and offers exposure to each market sector, aims to track the investment results of a sector index and outperform it due to slight differences in sector weights used by the firm.

Lido Advisors, LLC disciplinary disclosures

Lido Advisors has no disciplinary disclosures on its record. All registered investment advisors must disclose any civil, regulatory or criminal actions against the firm, its advisors or its affiliates on their Form ADV documents filed with the SEC.

For more information on Lido Advisors, visit the firm’s IAPD page.

7. Covington Capital Management

  • Minimum assets required: $2 million
  • AUM: $3,584,279,172
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 32:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Fixed fees
  • Phone number: 213 629-7500
  • Headquarters address:
    601 South Figueroa Street, Suite 2000
    Los Angeles, CA 90017-5726

About Covington Capital Management

Founded in 2004, Covington Capital Management is a privately owned investment firm headquartered in Los Angeles. It is owned by four of its key personnel: CEO Richard Azarloza, chairman Jeffrey Glassman and managing directors Gary Arakawa and Craig Burger.

The firm offers investment management and a range of financial planning services. It primarily works with individual investors, with the majority qualifying as high net worth. Its clients also include charitable organizations, business and a select few corporate trustees.

Alongside its L.A. office, Covington Capital Management has a second location in Irvine, Calif.

Covington Capital Management investing strategy

In its approach to investing, Covington Capital Management emphasizes consistent returns, the preservation of capital, the management of risk, asset allocation and diversification. The firm customizes portfolios according to each client’s particulars, including their risk tolerance, time horizon and investment goals.

In general, it uses a combination of stocks, bonds, exchange traded funds, cash equivalents and a selection of alternative securities to implement its investment strategies. When selecting equity investments, Covington looks for companies that have lasting competitive advantages and leading industry positions, among other factors. The fixed income portion of accounts uses diversified portfolios of investment-grade bonds that have short- and intermediate-term maturities and suitable tax characteristics.

Covington Capital Management disciplinary disclosures

Covington Capital Management has a record free of disciplinary issues, meaning that neither the firm nor its employees or advisory affiliates have faced any issues within the last decade. This includes any civil, regulatory or criminal events.

For further information, visit Covington Capital Management’s IAPD page.

8. Westmount Asset Management, LLC

  • Minimum assets required: $2 million
  • AUM: $3,118,536,481
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 68:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
  • Phone number: 310-556-2502
  • Headquarters address:
    2049 Century Park East, Suite 2500
    Los Angeles, CA 90067

About Westmount Asset Management, LLC

Father and son, Robert Berliner and Jim Berliner, founded Westmount Asset Management, LLC in 1990 and remain the firm’s principal owners. Jim Berliner currently serves as the firm’s chairman.

The firm provides investment advisory and certain financial planning services to its clients, who are primarily individual investors who are both high net worth and not, though the firm generally requires a $2 million minimum investment. It also works with charitable organizations, businesses, pension and profit-sharing plans and pooled investment vehicles.

Based in Los Angeles, Westmount Asset Management also has offices throughout California in Newport Beach, Pasadena and El Segundo.

Westmount Asset Management, LLC investing strategy

Westmont Asset Management focuses mostly on long-term investing, but it may use short-term strategies to take advantage of market inefficiencies or risk reduction opportunities. The firm’s customized portfolios mainly include no-load mutual funds, but it also looks for ways to incorporate alternative investments into client portfolios as a complement to traditional stock and bond holdings.

Westmount Asset Management also offers an environmental, social, governance (ESG) portfolio for clients who want to invest in companies driving positive social change. The firm’s ESG managers incorporate companies’ progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into their investment decisions.

Westmount Asset Management, LLC disciplinary disclosures

Westmount Asset Management reports no disciplinary disclosures. As a registered investment advisory firm, the SEC requires it to disclose any such events involving either the firm or its employees or affiliates from within the last 10 years.

For further information on the firm, visit its IAPD page.

9. Oakmont Corporation

  • Minimum assets required: None required
  • AUM: $2,552,153,978
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 8:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Fixed fees
    • Performance-based fees
  • Phone number: 213-891-6300
  • Headquarters address:
    865 S. Figueroa Street, Suite 700
    Los Angeles, CA 90017

About Oakmont Corporation

Oakmont Corporation is a Los Angeles-based investment advisory firm that works with a small group of clients that includes individuals (both high net worth and not), pooled investment vehicles, charitable organizations and businesses. The firm can offer investment advice, financial planning and administrative services.

Formed in 1980, the firm is owned by its chairman, Robert Day, through a trust. Day also owns another investment advisory firm, The Cypress Funds LLC. The firms share office space, and certain Oakmont employees also provide services to The Cypress Funds.

Oakmont Corporation investing strategy

Most clients of Oakmont Corporation have a long-term investment horizon, and thus the firm aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation while avoiding permanent capital loss. Because of this long-term time horizon, the firm is less concerned with volatility.

Clients generally have concentrated portfolios with a focus on equities, though the firm may also make recommendations to clients about outsourcing capital to funds and other investments that it does not manage but believes are appropriate for the client. To choose investments, Oakmont relies on bottom-up, fundamental research, searching for companies that have strong valuations and sound foundations.

Oakmont Corporation disciplinary disclosures

Oakmont Corporation reports no disclosures in its Form ADV filed with the SEC. This means that neither the firm nor its employees or advisory affiliates have encountered any disciplinary issues within the last decade.

Learn more about Oakmont Corporation and view its Form ADV by visiting its IAPD page.

10. Miracle Mile Advisors, LLC

  • Minimum assets required: $750,000
  • AUM: $2,012,823,371
  • Individual investor to advisor ratio: 26:1
  • Fee structure:
    • A percentage of AUM
    • Fixed fees
  • Phone number: 310-246-1243
  • Headquarters address:
    11300 West Olympic Blvd, Suite 800
    Los Angeles, CA 90064

About Miracle Mile Advisors, LLC

Brock Mosely, a former Morgan Stanley investment advisor, founded Miracle Mile Advisors, Inc. in 2007, and changed the firm’s name in 2010 to Miracle Mile Advisors LLC. Moseley, who serves as a managing partner at the firm, owns the firm alongside Duncan Rolph, a principal of the firm.

Miracle Mile Advisors offers comprehensive planning, portfolio management and retirement plan consulting to its clients, who are primarily individuals with and without a high net worth. It also serves businesses, charitable organizations and pension and profit-sharing plans. In addition to its headquarters in Los Angeles, the firm has offices in Santa Monica, Calif., and Lake Oswego, Ore.

Miracle Mile Advisors, LLC investing strategy

Miracle Mile Advisors believes that asset allocation is the most important factor in investor success, and it creates customized portfolios for clients using a blend of bottom-up security valuation analysis and top-down economic analysis. The firm then takes an active management approach, adjusting holdings as necessary based on market movement.

Portfolios typically include traditional investments, such as funds or individual bonds, but the firm may also recommend alternative investments like hedge funds or structured notes. Advisors in the firm’s Newport Beach office focus primarily on investments in individual stocks.

Miracle Mile Advisors, LLC disciplinary disclosures

Miracle Mile Advisors has a clean disciplinary record, meaning the firm reports no civil, regulatory or criminal actions against the firm, its advisors or its affiliates from within the last decade.

You can learn more about the firm by visiting its IAPD page.

Frequently asked questions

California residents pay among the highest taxes in the country on a per capita basis. The state’s top income tax bracket is 13.30%, which is the country’s highest. When it comes to financial planning, Golden State residents do not have to worry about state estate or inheritance taxes, since California does not impose them, though they could face federal estate taxes.

No, not all financial advisors do retirement planning, although many financial advisors do. If retirement planning is important to you, ask advisors how much emphasis they place on it before you start working together to ensure your advisor can adequately meet your financial needs.

An advisor who holds a CFP designation has gone through extensive training. In addition to being required to have a bachelor’s degree and three years of full-time financial planning experience, certified financial planners also must complete coursework in financial planning and pass an exam. They also must undergo continuing education and comply with an ethics pledge to put clients’ interests ahead of their own.

It’s typically better to look for a fee-only financial advisor. That’s because a fee-based advisor may also receive commissions, which could give them an incentive to recommend products or services on which they’ll earn money, even if they’re not the best fit for you. A fee-only advisor, on the other hand, only earns money from the fees their clients pay for their services, which minimizes potential conflicts of interest that may arise.

Methodology and criteria

For our search, we looked at firms across the city of Los Angeles. All of the firms considered are bound by fiduciary duty, registered with the SEC and offer individual account management and financial planning services. Information used for our methodology criteria is taken directly from each firm’s most recent Form ADV filing and brochure, found on the IAPD database.

To localize our results for this list, we exclusively looked at firms that met the above criteria and had their headquarters in Los Angeles, as per the address provided in the Form ADV. Of those firms, we considered only those that offer financial planning services and portfolio management to individual investors. To be considered for this list, firms (this includes their employees and advisory affiliates) also could have no more than one disciplinary disclosure in the past 10 years. From there, the remaining firms that met all of the above stipulations were ranked in order of highest to lowest AUM, as this is an indication of a firm’s size and how many assets it has been entrusted to manage.

In our reviews, we have also listed several other key features that will help you determine which financial advisor may be most fitting for your investing style and financial needs. While our ranking system and methodology is designed to help you compare firms, it does not indicate which firm may be best for you. All information here is accurate as of March 10, 2022, but we urge you to also evaluate these firms on adviserinfo.sec.gov.