Financial Counseling Associates

Martin J. Gross is the founder, president, and chief investment officer. He has led the firm's investment strategy since 1985, applying a value-oriented framework across both public equities and private credit. His son Steven Gross serves as a senior portfolio manager and is active in the credit underwriting process.

Financial Counseling Associates is an SEC-registered investment adviser, not a single-family office. It manages separate accounts on behalf of external high-net-worth clients and institutions. The Gross family's own capital sits alongside client assets, creating a partnership structure with shared economic exposure to the investment decisions.

The firm does not operate as a fund-of-funds and does not allocate to third-party managers. All deployment is direct—either into publicly traded equities through its value strategy or into privately originated loans through its affiliated lending vehicle, Financial Credit LLC. This direct-only posture eliminates layered fees and gives the investment team full control over the underwriting.

The direct-lending strategy, run through Financial Credit LLC, focuses on middle-market US companies with hard-asset collateral. Borrowers typically require financing between $5 million and $30 million and come from industries where real property, equipment, or receivables provide a clear recovery floor. The firm has historically emphasized commercial real estate, construction, and asset-intensive services.

The equity book follows a concentrated value discipline, typically holding 15 to 25 positions. Gross identifies companies trading below intrinsic value where management teams treat shareholders as partners and allocate capital rationally. The strategy is benchmark-agnostic, allowing cash to build when opportunities are scarce and deploying aggressively during market dislocations.