Red Tortoise

Red Tortoise

Macey launched the firm in Atlanta in 2016 after more than three decades in institutional asset management, including leading equity, asset allocation, and risk disciplines at Wilmington Trust. The firm operates as an independent, fee-only investment counselor — it collects no commissions, no revenue-sharing, and no placement fees — and is legally bound to the fiduciary standard. Prospective clients must bring at least $1 million in investable assets; the practice specializes in tax-sensitive portfolio construction for individuals, trusts, and high-net-worth households. Red Tortoise implements client capital through a mix of passive and factor-based strategies using third-party fund families that include Dimensional Fund Advisors, Vanguard, AQR, Research Affiliates, and iShares. Charles Schwab serves as the primary custodian. The team constructs globally diversified equity and fixed-income portfolios with an explicit after-tax mandate, tailored to each client's spending and estate goals. The firm does not pursue direct co-investments, venture, private equity, or hedge fund allocations — its edge is in linear programming and mortality-adjusted optimization rather than illiquidity premiums. Four credentialed professionals run the practice: Macey (CFA, CFP), Bill McVay (CIMA, CFP, ChFC), Howard Fleming (CFA, CPA, CFP), and George Chen (CFA, CIPM). The team averages 25 years of industry tenure. Chen previously served as President of CFA Society Atlanta; Macey has published on after-tax optimization in The Journal of Wealth Management and holds a patent for incorporating mortality risk into financial plans. The firm operates a single office in Atlanta — no additional locations. Red Tortoise's structural distinction is its rejection of the three-tier wealth management model — it is neither a bank trust department, a wirehouse wrap-fee program, nor a household-name RIA aggregator. It runs a concentrated book built around four practitioners who each bring institutional portfolio management experience to individual clients, which is a configuration more common in family offices than in mass-affluent advisory practices.