TrueNorth Wealth & Impact

TrueNorth Wealth & Impact

Bryan Vowels and Troy Stovern founded TrueNorth Wealth & Impact in 2022 after each spending more than 20 years in bank examination, branch management, and financial advisory roles. The firm operates out of Joplin, Missouri, on a 12-acre property that it uses as a retreat-like setting for multi-generational planning engagements. Both founders hold CFP® marks, and Vowels carries the CFA® charter — he was named to the Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list for Missouri for six consecutive years through 2023, and twice ranked among On Wall Street’s Top 100 Branch Managers. The firm targets individuals, high-net-worth families, and businesses across the Four States region and the broader Midwest, providing investment advisory, retirement planning, estate transfer strategies, and pension consulting. Its portfolio posture, detailed in a February 2026 client letter, maintains a modest equity underweight relative to long-term targets and favors mid- and small-cap US stocks over large-cap names while staying even-weight on international equities; the firm trimmed high-yield and long-duration bond holdings and locked in gold profits after a multi-year run. Asset allocation is client-specific, but TrueNorth negotiates brokerage pricing on behalf of clients without exercising discretionary broker selection — a structure that reflects its roots in commission-aware bank-advice models rather than institutional discretionary mandates. Vowels and Stovern run a five-person team that includes a director of operations hired in 2017 from Southwest Missouri Bank and a junior advisor who joined from South Africa via Missouri Southern State University’s golf program. The firm commits a portion of revenue to regional causes concentrated on children’s welfare, outdoor quality-of-life initiatives, and education scholarships. In early 2026, TrueNorth communicated its tactical portfolio shift toward intermediate bonds while publicly flagging elevated US equity valuations as a reason for holding a cautious allocation. The firm’s structural shape departs from the wirehouse-branch legacy its founders came from: TrueNorth operates as an independent RIA on a self-contained campus designed to host in-person planning days, couples it with community-granting from operating revenue, and keeps investment authority in a small committee that writes quarterly market letters. That combination — fiduciary independence, physical immersion, and a regional philanthropic P&L — forms the basis of its competitive pitch to Midwestern families exploring a move away from national brokerage platforms.