Principium Investments

Principium Investments

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Principium Investments operates as a fee-only SEC-registered investment adviser that runs a dedicated non-profit arm, the Global Brain Foundation. Michael Tracy leads the portfolio management function and brings more than 35 years of financial-services experience, while Spencer Tracy serves as partner and co-portfolio manager and Irina Sedova directs operations. The firm constructs individual portfolios using a proprietary tactical-allocation framework applied across mutual funds, ETFs, and individual stocks, with an explicit Environmental, Social Responsibility, and Corporate Governance (ESG) overlay. The strategy targets market upside while seeking downside protection — a posture shaped across the 1990s boom, the 2000 bust, the post-9/11 contraction, and the 2007–2009 recession. Client capital is deployed primarily through US-listed securities, and the firm’s advance planning software models financial scenarios for working parents, young professionals, and retiring individuals alongside estates and charitable organizations. Principium does not disclose specific portfolio holdings or co-investors in any public filing reviewed. Principium publicly states it imposes no minimum account size, a departure from the industry norm, and draws clients ranging from those with modest savings to individuals with millions in the market. The firm lists three named professionals on its website, operates from a single office on Pearl Street in Boulder, and channels a portion of its profits into the Global Brain Foundation, which supports projects aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The structure that sets Principium apart is the pairing of a multi-decade, in-house tactical-allocation engine with a firmwide ESG mandate and a “no minimums” client policy — a configuration that lets the team advise retirement-plan sponsors and individual savers under the same fiduciary umbrella, while the related Global Brain Foundation creates a philanthropic flywheel that directly reinvests a share of advisory profits into UN-goal-aligned projects.