Part of a series: Meet a team of investment and finance professionals who not only take a different approach to their work, but provide a comprehensive outlook for clients.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a “Business Resource Guide” series that highlights several locally owned business-to-business service providers in our region.
The team at Savant Capital Management doesn’t sell products like some investment firms do. Rather, Savant, a nationally recognized fee-only wealth management firm headquartered in Rockford, provides fiduciary advice to clients using an evidence-based approach, integrating each client’s unique needs and goals. The firm operates more like a world-class medical institution than a typical advisory shop.
“We’d heard a lot about the Mayo Clinic, where the best specialists work as a team to diagnose better and create better treatment plans,” says Brent Brodeski, CEO. “We decided to model that.”
Savant’s team of investment advisors offers a wide range of services, from assisting with financial planning, investment portfolios and retirement plans to providing family wealth transfer guidance, tax consulting and private trust management.
Its clients are more than individuals seeking personal investment advice. Savant’s integrative investment management and financial planning solutions also serve families, foundations, trust funds, retirement plans and nonprofit organizations.
No matter the client background, relationships are an important part of Savant’s promise. When it comes to retirement planning, for example, Savant’s team first examines each client’s retirement goals and dreams. Then, the firm’s time-tested, evidence-based approach helps advisors and investors to create a personalized plan and portfolio option.
Savant Capital Management was started in Rockford in 1986, when Thomas Muldowney sought an alternative to the common means of providing financial services, where advisors gave advice for “free” in exchange for the sale of commissioned products. When Brent Brodeski joined the firm in 1992, Savant began to manage assets for clients in addition to the financial planning services. Richard Bennett joined the firm a few years later and helped to establish a scalable structure and organization so the practice could endure long after the founding partners retired.
Today, Savant has more than 130 employees with financial, legal and health care backgrounds to serve all types of clients.
Under its current model, Savant’s financial advisors are backed by a dedicated team of researchers and professionals who provide quality guidance and advice on financial actions. This allows the advisors to spend more time focused on developing client relationships and helping clients make sense of the financial markets while working toward their goals.
Savant currently manages more than $4 billion in assets and oversees the financial health of more than 3,500 clients residing in all 50 states and abroad.
The firm’s unique approach to financial management has earned it numerous accolades over the years. The Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) has recognized Savant as a certified Investment Steward and Investment Advisor, and national publications including Barron’s, Forbes, BusinessWeek and Reuters have recognized the quality of its work. Charles Schwab recognized Savant with the 2015 Best-in-Business IMPACT Award, while Financial Planning Magazine named it the ninth-largest advisory firm in the U.S. and the largest in Illinois.
Savant Capital Management continued to grow during 2015, acquiring financial management firms in McLean, Va., and Winnetka, and an accounting firm in St. Charles. It also maintains offices in Rockford, Freeport, Geneva, Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Wilmette, Sterling, Chicago’s Loop, Peoria, Ill., and Madison, Wis.
The firm’s independence and unbiased approach continues to be a competitive advantage. “We don’t have to answer to a large corporate entity that manufactures financial products,” says Muldowney. “All they do is rearrange the things that already exist in the marketplace. Our independence and autonomy have been developed to serve only one person – our advisory client.”
To learn more about Savant Capital Management and how its team of professionals can help you to work toward your financial goals, visit savantcapital.com or call (815) 227-0300. See important disclosures at SavantCapital.com.