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Two Firs Financial
Two Firs Financial was founded in Seattle in 2018 by Alex Root, a former J.P. Morgan private banker who structured the firm as a fee-only, fiduciary registered...
Two Firs Financial
Two Firs Financial was founded in Seattle in 2018 by Alex Root, a former J.P. Morgan private banker who structured the firm as a fee-only, fiduciary registered investment adviser. Root's thesis was that Seattle's technology professionals needed a planning-first practice that treated concentrated equity compensation — RSUs, ISOs, and pre-IPO shares — as the starting point for portfolio construction, not an afterthought. The practice reflects the broader Pacific Northwest wealth corridor shaped by Microsoft and Amazon veterans. The firm's investment approach combines tax-aware asset location with direct indexing and factor tilts. Portfolios hold individual equities and fixed-income instruments rather than commingled funds, allowing for systematic tax-loss harvesting and customized exclusion screens. The planning side layers cash-flow modeling, equity-compensation exercise strategies, and estate-planning coordination. Root's stated philosophy centers on separating beta exposure from active tilts, keeping core portfolio costs near zero while applying factor weights — value, size, and profitability — through low-cost vehicles. The firm's client base centers on the Seattle metropolitan area. Two Firs operates as a boutique practice with a lean team structure. The firm has not publicly disclosed assets under management or advisor headcount. Root maintains the designation of Certified Financial Planner and the firm's public communications emphasize a subscription-style flat-fee model rather than assets-under-management billing — a structural choice that differentiates its revenue alignment from the dominant percentage-of-AUM model in the RIA channel. Seattle's RIA market is dominated by legacy bank-trust offices and large aggregators; Two Firs sits in a narrow band of younger practices that launched specifically to serve liquid tech wealth. The flat-fee model, still rare in U.S. wealth management, positions the firm to compete for early-stage liquidity recipients who would be unattractive to AUM-basis advisors — potentially building a durable client acquisition funnel as those recipients' net worth compounds.
General information
Firm type
Bank / Wealth / Trust
Year founded
2018
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Seattle
Corporate office
Seattle, WA, United States
Frequently asked questions
How does Two Firs Financial structure its advisory fees?
Two Firs operates on a flat-fee, subscription-style billing model rather than the percentage-of-AUM fee structure common among RIAs. Founder Alex Root has publicly positioned this as an alignment mechanism — the firm earns the same revenue whether a client's net worth is $2 million or $20 million, removing any incentive to discourage diversification out of concentrated stock positions. This structure is unusual in the Pacific Northwest market and allows the firm to serve clients with significant illiquid wealth who would generate minimal billable AUM under a traditional model.
What is the firm's approach to concentrated equity compensation?
Two Firs treats RSUs, ISOs, and pre-IPO shares as the core planning problem, not a peripheral topic. The firm models exercise and sale schedules against tax brackets, alternative minimum tax exposure, and diversification timelines. Portfolios are then built to offset the sector and single-stock risk embedded in the client's employer equity — a direct-indexing construction that avoids holding additional shares of the same industry in the ETF or mutual fund wrapper a client might otherwise own.
Who is the primary advisor and decision-maker at the firm?
Alex Root founded Two Firs Financial in 2018 and serves as the firm's lead advisor and investment decision-maker. Root was previously a private banker at J.P. Morgan and holds the Certified Financial Planner designation. The firm's ADV filings and public communications reflect a single-advisor boutique structure.
Does Two Firs serve clients outside the Seattle area?
Two Firs is headquartered in Seattle and its client base concentrates in the Pacific Northwest, particularly among technology professionals at Seattle-area employers. The firm's regulatory filings do not indicate additional offices or registered locations. While it can serve clients in other states under its RIA registration, the practice's relational model and referral network center on the Seattle metropolitan market.
How does the firm differentiate from larger Seattle wealth managers?
The Seattle wealth-management landscape is dominated by large bank-trust offices servicing old-line Northwest family wealth and national aggregator RIAs acquiring local practices. Two Firs operates in a different lane — a post-2018 launch, fee-only, flat-fee billing structure, and a planning methodology built from the ground up for equity-compensation-heavy tech professionals rather than for traditional high-net-worth families with diversified asset bases.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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