Values Added Financial

Values Added Financial

Candace J. Kaplan established Values Added Financial in 2017, structuring it as a registered investment advisor in Washington, DC. The firm grew from Kaplan's prior advisory practice and serves households, trusts, and small entities. Its wealth-management franchise is built around high-touch financial planning rather than a proprietary capital base, setting it apart from single-family offices or institutional multi-family platforms. Values Added Financial advises clients on retirement accumulation and distribution, tax-aware asset location, estate-transfer planning, and charitable strategies. The firm constructs portfolios primarily from low-cost exchange-traded funds and mutual funds, implemented on institutional custodial platforms. Client mandates skew heavily toward capital preservation and income generation, reflecting a base of near-retiree and retiree households across the greater Washington metro. The practice does not run co-investment vehicles, direct private-company deals, or SPVs. As a boutique advisory practice, the firm reports no dedicated institutional deployment capital or published AUM. Public records indicate a small professional footprint consistent with a two-to-five-person advisory team anchored in the District of Columbia. Recent disclosures show the firm strengthening its service model for nonprofit endowments and small foundations, advising on investment-policy statements and board education for mission-aligned portfolios. Structurally, Values Added Financial functions less as an allocator deploying pooled family wealth and more as a fee-only gatekeeper orchestrating third-party-sourced investment building blocks. This architecture differs from the multi-family-office trend toward consolidated balance sheets and direct co-investment programs. By operating as an independent fiduciary without an in-house asset-management arm, the firm's economic incentives align with client-level advisory fees rather than product manufacturing margins.