Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC (Santa Monica)

Name: Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC
Address: 429 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA, 90401
Telephone: 888-422-2287

Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC is a large advisory firm based in Santa Monica. It manages $2.15 billion of regulatory assets for 5,395 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2003 and has operated in the jurisdictions of Alaska, Arizona, California, and 32 other states.

Abacus Wealth Partners provides financial planning services, portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for pooled investment vehicles, portfolio management for businesses and institutional clients, pension consulting services, selection of other advisers, and consulting services. It prepares financial plans for more than 100 clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

Abacus Wealth Partners: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC is $2.15 billion. The firm's AUM has grown by 680% since the beginning of its operation, and $2.14 million of the total AUM is attributable to clients outside of the United States.

The firm manages $2.02 billion in discretionary accounts and $128.68 million in non-discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $418.84 thousand each. Non-discretionary accounts, where clients actively manage their portfolios, generally hold around $224.97 thousand.

Abacus Wealth Partners has custody of $780.66 million in cash and securities for 635 clients in total but doesn’t act as a qualified custodian.

Investments

The firm invests in investment and business development companies the most. They account for 84% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is pooled investment vehicles, which make up 5% of the firm’s portfolio. Investments in exchange traded securities form 5% of the total invested assets.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management, hourly charges, fixed fees, and performance-based fees. Compensation based on assets under management promotes a long-term relationship between a client and the adviser and helps align mutual interests. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients Jonathan Daniel Bruce serves?

The firm provides services to individuals, charitable organizations, high net worth individuals, pooled investment vehicles, corporations or other businesses, and pension and profit sharing plans. The largest group of clients of Jonathan Daniel Bruce is high net worth individuals with 519 clients and $1.72 billion of assets under management. Among the 7 most similar advisory firms, Abacus Wealth Partners has the highest percentage of high net worth individuals out of all clients.

The amount of regulatory assets under management is $2.15 billion for 1,469 clients that can include trusts, estates, and 401(k) plans and IRAs of individuals and their family members. None of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

Abacus Wealth Partners also advises several private funds. Namely, two private equity funds. The minimum investment commitment required of non-related persons is $100,000 for each fund.

Careers at Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC

The company employs 55 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 58 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. 41 employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There are 2 people with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm doesn’t compensate employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees don’t receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Jonathan Daniel Bruce has been acting as President since 1 Jan 2010. Kari Jean Glosser joined the executive team most recently as the Financial Advisor & Partner.

Direct owners and executive officers

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
Spencer David Sherman	Co-ceo	1 Jan 2004	Other	1609423
Brenton W. Kessel	Co-ceo	1 Jan 2004	Other	2826946
Jason M Cole	Financial advisor and partner	1 Jan 2004	Other	3211818
Inc. Sherman Financial	Voting member	1 Jan 2004	25% - 50%	23-2747428
Inc. Abacus Wealth Management	Voting member	1 Jan 2004	25% - 50%	95-4716947
Brenton Kessel	President & coo	1 Jan 2004	50% - 75%	2826946
Suzanne Lawrence	Compliance officer	1 Jan 2004	Other	4920184
Gregory Vincent Aloia	Chief compliance officer	1 Jan 2006	Other	1613416
Lisa Marie Colon	Chief compliance officer	1 Aug 2007	Other	2392261
Jonathan Daniel Bruce	President	1 Jan 2010	Other	5332405
Gregory Vincent Aloia	Financial advisor and partner	1 Jan 2010	Other	1613416
Darius Geiser Gagne	Cio and partner	1 Jan 2012	Other	2886373
David Allen Dewolf	Cfo and partner	1 Jan 2012	Other	4989155
Michael David Heller	Chief compliance officer / internal counsel	1 Apr 2012	Other	5415972
Barrett Sean Porter	Financial advisor and partner	1 Jan 2013	Other	4257687
Jessica Lu	Chief compliance officer & controller	1 Jul 2013	Other	6146086
Gabriel Stephen Brenner	Financial advisor and partner	1 Jan 2015	Other	2675337
Neela Nancy Bushnell	Financial advisor and partner	1 Jan 2015	Other	5842369
Eileen Seeman Freiburger	Finacial advisor and partner	1 Oct 2015	Other	1313381
Kari Jean Glosser	Financial advisor & partner	1 Jan 2017	Other	5895939
Lara Gaston Lamb	Financial advisor & partner	1 Jan 2017	Other	4467601

Indirect Owners

The SEC currently registers 2 indirect owners.

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
Spencer David Sherman	Co-ceo	1 Dec 1993	75% - 100%	1609423
Brenton W. Kessel	Co-ceo	1 Jan 1998	75% - 100%	2826946

Based in Santa Monica

The principal office where Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC performs its advisory services is located at 429 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401, which is also the mailing address of the firm. An additional office of the firm is in San Mateo, CA. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 888-422-2287. The normal business hours are 9:00am to 5:00 pm on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at abacuswealth.com and its LinkedIn profile.