Strategic Wealth Investment Group

Strategic Wealth Investment Group

Strategic Wealth Investment Group was formed by Shawn D. Willoughby in 2002, operating from Louisville, Kentucky. The firm was established as a registered investment advisor (RIA) focused on serving the planning and asset management needs of individuals and families with substantial personal balance sheets. Its foundation rests on a fiduciary model common to RIAs — fee-based advice rather than commission-driven product distribution — applied to a client base concentrated in the greater Louisville region and the broader Ohio Valley. The firm's investment strategy is rooted in constructing diversified, goal-aligned portfolios drawing from individual equities, fixed-income instruments, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. As a boutique wealth manager, it does not operate institutional pooled vehicles or pursue direct private-company minority positions in the manner of a venture firm; its deployment occurs through managed account structures that incorporate both active and passive sleeves depending on a client's tax sensitivity, liquidity requirements, and intergenerational transfer objectives. The geographic scope is primarily domestic US, with particular concentration among business owners and professionals in Kentucky, southern Indiana, and Ohio. The scale of the firm is representative of a local-market RIA: a lean team of advisory and support professionals operates from a single office in Louisville. In May 2024, the firm's Form ADV filing with the SEC reflected a continuation of the core advisory fee schedule and client composition it has maintained for over two decades — indicating a steady-state, relationship-driven business. No affiliated broker-dealer, trust company, or parallel philanthropic foundation is disclosed in public filings. Strategic Wealth Investment Group differentiates structurally as a pure RIA rather than a bank trust department, wirehouse advisory team, or multi-family office aggregator. This architecture means custody of client assets remains with independent custodians — typically Charles Schwab or Fidelity — separating advisory authority from asset custody. For a local client base that often includes family-owned manufacturing, logistics, and professional-services wealth generated in the Ohio Valley, the independent custodian model provides a structural safeguard that a single-institution private bank cannot offer.