Manzanita Wealth Management LLC

The firm provides fee-only investment management, project-based and ongoing financial planning, and retirement plan consulting and management to individual clients and employer-sponsored plans. Its advice covers a range of instruments including equities, fixed income, mutual funds, ETFs, cash equivalents and, where appropriate, derivatives.

Investment decisions are guided by asset-allocation principles and a mix of passive and active strategies consistent with Modern Portfolio Theory, with client risk tolerance and goals driving portfolio construction. The firm also offers a distinct taxable-only investment tier that employs options and other derivatives—systematically selling short-dated options to capture volatility risk premium and occasionally buying longer-dated options for hedging—implemented only with explicit client approval and active, in-house risk controls; separately, plan services include investment policy design, ongoing monitoring, participant education and acting as an ERISA investment manager when engaged.

Noteworthy differences from many peers include the explicit use of derivatives within separately managed accounts (a relatively uncommon practice among independent advisors) and the provision of ongoing retirement plan management and consulting services. The firm’s principal brings an analytical background in microbiology and ongoing work in data science and bioinformatics at a national laboratory, and the adviser recommends a single institutional custodian platform that provides execution, reporting, and technology services that support its small, hands-on client practice.