Twenty First Investors

The firm provides discretionary investment management and independent research for primarily high-net-worth individuals, families, trusts and IRAs, generally targeting new accounts in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 range. It serves a small client base (about 24 accounts) and is compensated through percentage-of-assets-under-management fees rather than commissions.

Investment programs are implemented with an asset-allocation approach across stocks, bonds, money markets, real estate and commodities, using ETFs, no-load mutual funds and select direct equity holdings. The advisor combines fundamental and technical analysis with a proprietary forecasting system to set asset-class weightings and tailors portfolios to each client’s stated risk tolerance, with clients able to impose investment restrictions.

Noteworthy features include a long operating history (founded in 1992) and a principal whose background in scientific research and data analysis underpins the firm’s statistical and forecasting emphasis. The firm limits custody to fee-deduction authority, invests its own capital alongside clients while scheduling employee trades at the end of the trading day to reduce conflicts, and does not vote client proxies, which are operational choices less common among similar small advisory firms.