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Occidental Asset Management
Occidental Asset Management launched in 2001 in the San Francisco Bay Area with three founders — A. Charles Cattano III, Nathan Hatton Walsh, and Dr.
Occidental Asset Management
Occidental Asset Management launched in 2001 in the San Francisco Bay Area with three founders — A. Charles Cattano III, Nathan Hatton Walsh, and Dr. Brad Klontz, a clinical psychologist and CFP. The group sidestepped the traditional brokerage model from day one, operating as a fee-only fiduciary that cannot accept commissions or third-party payments. That structure is the firm's organizing principle. Dr. Klontz led a 2015 study on the financial psychology of wealthy individuals, co-authored with New York Times columnist Paul Sullivan, and the findings directly inform Occidental's client process. The firm constructs in-house tactical portfolios using low-cost ETFs and stock baskets, balancing risk-adjusted strategies with objective market indicators. Its service stack also includes bespoke concentrated equity solutions — designing exit paths, hedging, and tax strategies around large single-stock positions — alongside estate planning and distribution sequencing for pre-retirees and retirees. Wealth accumulation and tax-smart asset location between taxable and tax-advantaged accounts round out the asset-class mix: public equities, fixed income, and cash equivalents dominate, with the ability to customize individual portfolios. Occidental serves families, entrepreneurs, equity holders, and cross-border clients from offices in Burlingame, Boulder, the Seattle area, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Kauai. Occidental lists 15 professionals on its team page, including five managing principals and four managing partners, though it does not publish aggregate AUM or total deployment figures. The firm's partnership structure places Cattano, Walsh, and Klontz as co-founders and Nick Maratta, James Griffin, Manny Ortiz, Erin Hadley, Buğra Bakan, and John Wilbourne as later-elevated managing principals and partners. Occidental donates a percentage of annual profits to client-supported charities, notably the Elizabeth Nash Foundation, a 2003 cystic fibrosis nonprofit operated without administrative costs by a family board. FPA recognized Dr. Klontz and Derek R. Lawson with the 2018 Montgomery-Warschauer Award. Occidental's structural edge is its clinical lens on investor behavior — a full-time psychologist co-founder embedding financial therapy inside a fiduciary RIA. Most advisory firms outsource the psychology part. Occidental treats understanding a client's money beliefs and emotional responses to markets as central to the investment-committee function, not a separate soft-skill layer. That clinical-to-capital-markets feedback loop is rare in firms of this size.
General information
Firm type
Bank / Wealth / Trust
Year founded
2001
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Burlingame
Corporate office
Burlingame, CA, United States
Additional offices
Boulder, CO · Seattle region, WA · Jacksonville, FL · Orlando, FL · Kauai, HI
Principals
A. Charles Cattano III
Managing Principal & Founder
Nathan Hatton Walsh
Managing Principal & Founder
Dr. Brad Klontz
Managing Principal & Founder
Nick Maratta
Managing Principal
James Griffin
Managing Principal
Manny Ortiz
Managing Partner
Erin Hadley
Managing Partner
Buğra Bakan
Managing Partner
John Wilbourne
Managing Partner
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Occidental Asset Management?
Portfolio design and investment management are handled by the firm's in-house team under the leadership of the managing principals and managing partners. The firm's website confirms it constructs tactical portfolios, manages risk, and customizes concentrated equity strategies without delegating those decisions to an external TAMP. Dr. Brad Klontz's behavioral finance research also shapes how allocations are framed and maintained through market cycles.
How does Occidental Asset Management's fee-only fiduciary model differ from a standard brokerage?
Occidental is paid only by its clients — it collects no commissions, revenue-sharing payments, or third-party fees on the products it recommends. That structure removes the incentive to sell high-commission funds or insurance products. The firm states it is legally and ethically bound to put client interests first, a constraint that brokerage-affiliated advisors do not uniformly share.
What role does financial psychology play inside the firm's investment process?
Co-founder Dr. Brad Klontz is a clinical psychologist and published researcher on the money beliefs of wealthy individuals. His findings are integrated directly into Occidental's planning framework, helping advisors identify when a client's emotional responses — fear during drawdowns, overconfidence during rallies — might derail a technically sound allocation. This behavioral overlay is an explicit part of the firm's marketing and client-service architecture.
What is Occidental's approach to concentrated equity positions?
The firm offers dedicated concentrated equity solutions for entrepreneurs and equity holders with large single-stock positions. Strategies include staged liquidation plans, hedging via options or structured products, tax-loss harvesting across lots, and optimization of charitable giving structures to manage the concentrated risk while aiming to preserve after-tax value.
What is Occidental's minimum investable asset threshold?
The firm states on its website that it is a potential fit for individuals and families with $500,000 or more in investable assets. That figure serves as a soft floor — Occidental positions its ongoing partnership model as suited for clients who need continuous planning and behavioral support rather than one-off advice.
Does Occidental Asset Management co-invest or operate pooled investment vehicles for clients?
No public evidence indicates Occidental operates proprietary pooled funds, co-investment vehicles, or club-deal structures for clients. The firm appears to manage separate accounts using direct indexing, ETFs, and individual securities, with each portfolio constructed to the client's specific tax situation and risk profile.
How does Occidental separate its philanthropic activities from client advisory work?
Occidental donates a percentage of yearly profits to foundations, particularly the Elizabeth Nash Foundation and SKY Memorial Foundation, but the firm does not suggest these entities are client-funded or commingled with advisory assets. The donations come from the firm's own revenue, and the foundations are independently governed by separate boards.
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