Contour Financial

President Joseph A. Clark leads the investment committee. The firm publishes a formal Investment Policy Statement for each client, and portfolio construction relies on academic asset-pricing research using Dimensional Fund Advisors and ETF vehicles. No single portfolio manager operates with unverified discretion; allocations are committee-driven and systematically rebalanced.

The firm acquires most clients through professional referral networks including accountants, estate-planning attorneys, and existing client introductions within the Chicago metropolitan area. It does not advertise through mass-market channels. A portion of its advisory relationships stems from corporate retirement-plan consulting, which often converts plan sponsors to individual wealth-management clients over time.

Contour Financial is a multi-family office structured as a registered investment advisor. It files Form ADV with the SEC and reports to the Illinois Securities Department. While it serves multiple high-net-worth families under a shared service model, it is not a single-family office — it qualifies as an independent RIA with a multi-family-office service orientation.

No. The firm uses a third-party institutional custodian, historically Charles Schwab Institutional, to hold client assets in segregated accounts. This custody separation means client money does not sit on Contour's balance sheet, and the firm cannot pledge, lend, or hypothecate client securities — a structural protection that is standard for fee-only RIAs but differs markedly from bank-trust models.

The firm avoids speculative individual stock picking, concentrated single-sector bets, proprietary product sales, and market-timing tactical shifts. Its investment committee explicitly rejects loaded mutual funds, non-traded REITs, and annuity-wrapped strategies that layer high internal costs, consistent with its fee-only fiduciary mandate.

Estate-planning coordination is embedded within the firm's core planning subscription. Advisors work directly with outside trust-and-estate counsel to model dynasty-trust structures, gifting programs under the annual exclusion, and generation-skipping transfer-tax strategies. The firm's planning team maintains tax-projection models that update annually, not just at a triggering liquidity event.

Contour Financial allocates a modest slice of client portfolios to alternative credit and real asset positions, primarily through fund structures such as DFA's real estate securities portfolios and interval-style credit funds. It does not market direct private-equity co-investments or venture-stage deal access, distinguishing it from multi-family offices that organize GP/LP club commitments.