Denver Wealth Management is a financial advisor firm based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. The firm’s clients are mostly individuals and high-net-worth individuals, but the firm also advises a handful of pension and profit-sharing plans, as well as some corporations. Clients are generally required to have a minimum account size of $5,000 for the firm's managed service.
The firm was founded in 2012 by two financial advisors from the firm Waddell & Reed. Today, Denver Wealth Management offers a range of services to its clients, including investment management, financial planning, retirement plans, estate plans and tax plans.
Denver Wealth Management Background
Denver Wealth Management was founded by Blair Braden and Zachary Bouck in 2012. After working as a financial advisors at Waddell & Reed in Denver, Braden founded the firm to supply what he saw as a need for education regarding wealth preservation. Although it has yet to celebrate its 10th birthday, the firm has grown rapidly since its founding, providing advisory services to many clients.
Denver Wealth Management Types of Clients and Minimum Account Sizes
The majority of the firm's clients are individuals. The firm also advises high-net-worth individuals and pension and profit-sharing plans.
In order to work with Denver Wealth Management in any capacity, you’ll need at least $5,000. Above that, higher account sizes will provide access to more services. For instance, an account size of at least $500,000 will mean a dedicated certified financial planner (CFP) and face-to-face advising sessions.
Services Offered by Denver Wealth Management
Denver Wealth Management offers a fairly standard range of services to its clients, including the following:
- Financial Planning
- Retirement planning
- Tax planning
- College planning
- Estate planning
- Money-purchasing plans
- Profit-sharing plans
- Investment Management
- Traditional management
- Digital wealth advisor
- Insurance
- Disability
- Life
- Long-term care
- Retirement Plan Advisory Services
- Vendor analysis
- Participant enrollment and tracking
Certain services will, of course, be more applicable to certain types of clients. For instance, the firm won't offer profit-sharing plans to individuals, and it won't offer college planning services to pension plans.
Denver Wealth Management Investment Philosophy
When it comes to its investing philosophy, Denver Wealth Management takes several factors into account, including the personal and financial variables in your life, your risk tolerance, when you’re planning to retire and how long of a retirement you’re planning for.
The firm also relies on its own research as well as that of other institutions to determine the appropriate allocation of assets. It will determine the appropriate asset classes based on your variables as well as how heavily to weight the selected classes. The firm believes in holding on to investments over the long term rather than focusing on short-term gains.
Fees Under Denver Wealth Management
For investment management services, fees are charged quarterly and are generally based on the rates provided in this table:
| Assets Under Management | Annual Rate |
| First $100,000 | 1.50% |
| Next $150,000 | 1.30% |
| Next $250,000 | 1.20% |
| Next $500,000 | 1.10% |
| Next $1,000,000 | 1.00% |
| Over $2,000,000 | Negotiable |
Fees for financial planning services can vary but won’t exceed a flat fee of $10,000 or an hourly fee of $350. Retirement planning fees are generally levied as a quarterly fee of 1.00% of assets up to $1,000,000.
All fees are negotiable depending on the size and complexity of the account, and they may be negotiated at the discretion of the firm. A rough estimate of what you would pay in fees will be determined before you establish an advisory relationship with the firm.
The below table shows how Denver Wealth Management's fees compare to the national median. Remember that these are only estimates and actual fees may vary.
| Estimated Fee Comparison* | |
| Your Assets | Denver Wealth Management |
| $500K | $6,450 |
| $1MM | $11,950 |
| $5MM | Negotiable |
| $10MM | Negotiable |
| *Estimated investment management fees do not include brokerage, custodial, third-party manager or other fees, which can vary in amount. | |
Learn more about advisors' typical costs here.
What to Watch Out For
Advisors at Denver Wealth Management are also registered representatives of LPL Financial, which is a registered securities broker-dealer. While advisors won’t receive commissions in their capacity as Denver Wealth Management advisors, they are permitted to conduct security transactions and receive commissions for those transactions in their capacity as LPL Financial representatives. This ability generates a potential conflict of interest since advisors will be incentivized to steer clients toward securities that will generate commissions.
Additionally, Denver Wealth Management advisors may be licensed as independent insurance professionals, which means they could earn commissions by selling insurance products to clients. A conflict of interest also exists here because advisors would have an incentive to recommend insurance products to clients instead of focusing exclusively on the client’s needs.
All that said, the firm is bound by fiduciary duty, which means that it’s bound by law to always act in the best interest of its clients. So while you should be aware of the financial incentives the firm has, you can be assured that its actions can’t be in your detriment.
As of the firm's latest SEC filing, Denver Wealth Management does not have any disclosures.
Opening an Account With Denver Wealth Management
If you’re interested in the firm’s Digital Wealth Advisor, you can receive a free proposal by visiting the firm’s website and clicking on Services, then Digital Wealth Advisor. For other services, you can call the firm at (303) 261-8015.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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