Don Bennyhoff, formerly chief investment officer at Liberty Wealth Advisors and Vanguard senior investment strategist, has launched Bennyhoff & Co., a fractional, or contract, CIO business serving fiduciary registered investment advisors.
Bennyhoff said Thursday he created the firm to serve planning-centric RIAs who seek the benefits and expertise of a seasoned chief investment officer without the high costs of hiring one.
Bennyhoff, with over 30 years in financial advice and wealth management, co-created Vanguard Advisor's Alpha, a service designed to help advisors building their practices. He focuses on durable investment strategies and model portfolios, behavioral coaching and helping advisors simplify communications with clients.
"Bennyhoff & Co. aims to serve RIA firms where too few people are wearing too many hats. These are firms that want to dedicate more time to their clients, but are simply unable to because they're spread too thin," said Bennyhoff said.
A proponent of strategic, low-cost investment strategies, he said the firm plans to partner with a few growth-minded RIAs who philosophically align with the firm's guiding principles:
- Success is driven by investor behavior, not investment products
- Investment markets are generally efficient over time
- Diversification and asset allocation are the most effective risk management tools
- The most reliable source of higher returns is lower investment costs
- It does not make economic sense over the long term to attempt market timing
- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
Bennyhoff served as CIO and investment committee chairman at Liberty Wealth, a $1.7 billion RIA, before Prime Capital Financial acquired it in 2022, overseeing the firm's investment and portfolio construction methodology, creating investment education content and providing advisors and clients with coaching and behavioral finance guidance.
Bennyhoff previously spent nearly 23 years at Vanguard, where he co-authored the Advisor's Alpha research, led a team that created ETF model portfolio solutions, and served as a senior financial advisor, managing roughly $400 million in assets for about a dozen families.
Pictured: Don Bennyhoff
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