BakerAvenue Review

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BakerAvenue Wealth Management, commonly known as BakerAvenue, is a financial advisor firm headquartered in San Francisco. However, BakerAvenue also has branch locations in New York City, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Atlanta and Naples, Florida.

The firm offers services like financial planning, wealth management and investment management. It works with mostly individual clients, but also a few institutional ones. As a fee-only firm, all of BakerAvenue's compensation comes from client-paid fees. A fee-based firm, on the other hand, would charge both client-paid fees and third-party commissions, the latter of which BakerAvenue doesn't.

BakerAvenue Background

An SEC-registered investment advisor, BakerAvenue was founded in 2004. The firm's principal owner is Simon Baker, who also serves as executive chairman and a partner. Doug Couden serves as chief investment officer (CIO) and Tom Ngo acts as CEO.

The firm ranks on SmartAsset's list of the top financial advisors in San Francisco. It has also received recognition on Forbes' 2025 top RIA firms list, according to the firm's website.

BakerAvenue Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes

BakerAvenue advises almost entirely individual clients. Most of these individuals are high-net-worth, but about one-third have less than a high net worth. The firm also works with corporate retirement plans, charitable organizations, foundations, trusts and other institutions.

The firm's minimum relationship size is $1 million, but may be negotiable under certain circumstances. Additionally, tax preparation services are available to clients with over $3 million in investable assets.

Services Offered by BakerAvenue

BakerAvenue offers its clients many services, including portfolio management services and financial planning. For portfolio management services, the firm generally manages monies on a discretionary basis, and on a non-discretionary basis only when clients request it.

Wealth management and financial planning services are available to clients as well. These services may include retirement planning, family office, estate planning and trustee oversight, integrated tax and financial planning, lifestyle management, family philanthropy and risk management. Per BakerAvenue's website, the three pillars of these combined services are "Growth," "Lifestyle" and "Legacy," though the specifics of each may vary from client to client.

BakerAvenue Investing Philosophy

BakerAvenue uses various methods of analysis and investment strategies when it comes to managing client assets. Here's a breakdown of a few of them: 

• Dynamic Core: a strategy that seeks to provide wide exposure to the market across a number of different investment styles. This allocation approach uses macroeconomic, fundamental and technical factors to manage holdings and risk profile. The strategy focuses on diversification and invests mostly in stocks and ETFs to achieve its long-term approach to capital appreciation and risk.
• Blue Chip: a strategy that seeks long-term capital appreciation (i.e. long-term rise in an investment's market price) by investing in a diversified portfolio of high-quality blue-chip stocks and ETFs in low-risk markets, among other tactics. This strategy actively monitors long-term market trends.
• Global Income: a strategy that seeks to deliver above-average market yields while maintaining below-average market volatility by investing in various asset classes of income-producing securities. This strategy uses a quantitative approach.
• All-Cap Growth: a strategy that looks to build by investing client assets in stocks across many areas of the market, specifically those that are fundamentally and technically strong.
• Impact: a strategy that seeks long-term capital appreciation and adds a socially responsible layer to the investment approach. This strategy seeks both financial return and aims to do social good. 
• Fixed-Income: a strategy that seeks to provide current income, capital appreciation and preservation by investing in a widely diversified portfolio of bonds. This strategy uses a quantitative approach.
• Concentrated Stock: a multi-layered approach to managing concentrated stock positions (that is, when a large percentage of the portfolio is focused or concentrated on a particular stock).  
• Alternative Investments: financial assets that do not fall into one of the traditional investment categories (i.e. stocks, bonds, cash) and may include venture capital, private equity, private credit, private real estate and hedge funds.

Fees Under BakerAvenue

The fees that clients pay to BakerAvenue are negotiable and vary depending on the client. In general, however, the minimum fee for portfolio management services is $9,500 per year and the range of fees is tiered along an asset-based fee schedule, as follows:

Note that these invesment management fees do not include standard custodial, trading, brokerage or other related fees.

For standalone wealth management, financial planning and consulting services, fees are negotiable. However, they generally range from $2,000 to $10,000 on a fixed basis and from $225 to $300 on an hourly basis. Specific amounts depend on the level and scope of services rendered.

What to Watch Out For

BakerAvenue has no disclosures on its SEC-filed Form ADV.

Opening an Account With BakerAvenue

To open an account with BakerAvenue, you can visit the firm's website or call over the phone.

All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.

Tips for Finding a Financial Advisor 

• Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
• Ask candidates whether they adhere to the fiduciary standard of putting clients’ interests first. The ideal answer is yes, but they may follow a lower standard of providing only suitable recommendations.