Steve Garrett and Associates

As a registered investment advisor organized as a corporation, the firm operates under a fiduciary standard. This legally requires the firm to act in its clients' best interests, avoiding conflicts of interest and disclosing any that arise. This stands in contrast to broker-dealers, who are held to a lower suitability standard. The fiduciary obligation is a foundational element of the firm's value proposition to clients.

The firm is known for constructing portfolios of individual stocks and bonds directly for clients, rather than using pooled investment vehicles like mutual funds or ETFs. This separate-account approach allows for direct ownership of securities, which gives clients full transparency into holdings, the ability to harvest tax losses at the individual-security level, and a strategy that is not subject to redemptions by other investors.

The corporate structure often provides continuity beyond a single owner, supporting succession planning and a more formalized governance framework. For clients, this signals that the advisory practice is built to endure beyond its founder. It also provides a clear legal separation between the firm's liabilities and the personal assets of its owner, a detail that sophisticated families scrutinize when choosing a long-term wealth manager.