Topel & Distasi Wealth Management

Topel & Distasi Wealth Management

Topel & Distasi Wealth Management was launched in Berkeley, California, in 2013 by co-founders Drew Topel and Jacob Distasi. The firm operates as a registered investment advisor, serving a client base that includes individuals, high-net-worth families, and small business owners. The practice emerged at a moment when fee-only fiduciary advice was displacing commission-based brokerage relationships among affluent Bay Area professionals. The firm's core advisory work spans portfolio management, retirement planning, and general financial counseling. Rather than specializing in a single asset class, Topel & Distasi constructs diversified portfolios for clients, allocating across equities, fixed income, and cash equivalents. The firm does not operate proprietary funds or direct-investment vehicles; it functions as an allocator that selects third-party managed products and individual securities on behalf of its clients. Its geographic focus is domestic, centered on the San Francisco Bay Area, though it serves clients remotely across California and other states. Headquartered in Berkeley, the firm maintains a deliberately lean structure characteristic of a boutique RIA. No adjacent venture funds, real-asset arms, or philanthropic foundations operate under its umbrella. While the firm's total assets under advisement are not publicly disclosed, its regulatory filings classify it as a smaller advisory practice with fewer than five advisory employees. Topel and Distasi remain the named managing partners, active in day-to-day client relationships and investment decisions. In August 2013, the firm received its initial SEC registration approval, marking the formal launch of operations. What structurally differentiates Topel & Distasi is its persistence as an independent, owner-operated RIA in a geography where consolidation has absorbed many small advisory practices into aggregator platforms and bank wealth divisions. The partnership structure — two named principals with no external capital partner — preserves investment discretion and client-service culture without the product-distribution pressures common in larger wirehouse or bank-trust models.