Ruggaard & Associates

Ryan Ruggaard serves as Director of Research and defines the firm's investment strategy. He draws on an equity-research background that includes roles at Driehaus Capital Management on the international team, Credit Suisse as a Global Sector Specialist, and Bard Associates covering Micro-Cap strategies. This suggests a bottom-up, research-driven approach to security selection, with portfolio management shared alongside Vice President David Sleeter, a CFA charterholder with prior experience at Manning & Napier.

No. Ruggaard & Associates is a registered investment advisor (RIA) that serves multiple high-net-worth individuals, families, and corporations. While the firm's principals include multiple members of the Ruggaard and Sleeter families, it does not manage a single family's concentrated wealth and bills itself as a fee-only advisory practice open to external clients.

Ruggaard emphasizes customized portfolio construction and asset allocation tailored to individual client goals and risk tolerance. Their strategy incorporates bottom-up equity stock research, as indicated by the research director's background in international equities, sector specialization, and micro-cap analysis. The firm also integrates fixed-income and tax-aware strategies, though specific allocations are determined client-by-client rather than through a single house view.

Tax preparation and planning are delivered in-house, which is a distinguishing feature. The firm employs a CPA and dedicated tax accounting staff who prepare federal, state, and local tax returns. Because financial planning, portfolio management, and tax work sit within the same entity, investment decisions can be coordinated directly with tax consequences, reducing the coordination lag that occurs when these services are outsourced.

The main office is in Hudson, Ohio, with additional offices in Chicago and Oak Brook, Illinois. The firm serves individuals, high-net-worth individuals, and corporations, according to Altss research. The Illinois locations suggest a deliberate presence in a larger metropolitan market while retaining its core operational base in the Midwest.

No. Ruggaard & Associates does not publicly disclose an AUM figure. Any estimate would be speculative, and the firm has not published deployment, fund size, or advisory-asset totals on its website or in readily available regulatory filings.

Retirement plan management is one of Ruggaard's four core service lines, alongside financial planning, investment management, and tax services. The firm offers employer-sponsored retirement plan advice, including evaluation of employee benefits structures and ongoing plan oversight, though it does not publicly name specific plan-sponsor clients or detail the scale of its retirement-book.