Fiduciary standard
Why fee-only structure changes the advice you get
The practical difference between fiduciary and suitability standards, explained through real client scenarios.
Independent fiduciary wealth management
Advice with no products to sell, only a fiduciary duty to keep
Ashford is a fee-only registered investment advisor with no proprietary products, no commissions, and no incentive beyond how well your portfolio performs.
Trusted by teams at
- Greywater Trust Company
- Halden Tax Advisors
- Merrow Estate Law
- Brightwell Custody
- Corbel Family Office Forum
- Fenwick Hill Philanthropy Partners
Services
Comprehensive wealth management under one fiduciary relationship
Most clients come to us with wealth spread across a bank private client desk, a broker, and an accountant who don't coordinate. We consolidate that into one team.
Investment management
Custom portfolio construction across public and private markets, benchmarked transparently against your goals.
Estate & trust planning
Coordinated estate strategy working directly alongside your attorney to minimize transfer tax exposure.
Tax planning coordination
Proactive tax-loss harvesting and coordination with your CPA, well beyond annual portfolio reporting.
Business succession planning
Advisory for founders and family businesses navigating a liquidity event or generational transfer.
Philanthropic strategy
Donor-advised fund and charitable trust structuring aligned with your broader estate plan.
Next-generation education
Direct financial education for heirs, so wealth transfer doesn't come with a knowledge gap.
Managing wealth since 2003 with no products to sell
- Client retention rate
- 97%
- Client retention rate
- Average client tenure
- 14 yrs
- Average client tenure
- Advisory team
- 58
- Advisory team
- Minimum relationship size
- $3M
- Minimum relationship size
Client outcomes
A few engagements we can discuss publicly
Client relationships are confidential by nature. These are outcomes clients have agreed we can reference in general terms.
Technology entrepreneur
Founder liquidity event
Coordinated a pre-liquidity estate and tax strategy ahead of a company acquisition, working alongside the client's attorney and CPA to structure charitable and trust vehicles before closing.
$40Mof proceeds structured to defer or reduce tax exposure
Family business succession
Multi-generational family office
Restructured a family business succession plan across three generations, combining trust structuring with a formal next-generation financial education program.
-38%reduction in projected estate tax exposure
About Ashford
Founded as an alternative to the bank private client model
Ashford was founded in 2003 by a former private banker who grew frustrated recommending proprietary products that generated fees for the bank rather than returns for clients. We operate as a fee-only fiduciary, with no products, commissions, or referral incentives clouding our advice.
- Fee-only, always
- We're compensated only by client fees: no commissions, no proprietary products, no referral incentives.
- Fiduciary by structure
- As a registered investment advisor, we're legally bound to act in your best interest, a higher bar than the suitability standard brokers are held to.
- Team continuity
- Client relationships are served by a consistent team, not reassigned as advisors move between roles.
- Transparent reporting
- Performance reporting benchmarks honestly against relevant indices, not cherry-picked comparisons.
Leadership
Katherine Ashford
Founder & CEO
Nathaniel Prior
Chief Investment Officer
Priya Raghavan
Head of Estate Planning
Owen Pritchard
Head of Family Office Services
What clients say
“After a decade at a bank private client desk being sold proprietary funds, working with a true fiduciary felt like a different profession entirely.”
Richard Halloran
Retired Executive, Private Client
“They coordinated directly with our attorney and CPA ahead of our acquisition instead of working in a silo. That coordination alone justified the relationship.”
Sofia Tanaka
Founder, Private Client
“Our estate plan spans three generations now, and Ashford's team has stayed consistent through all of it. That continuity matters more than people realize.”
The Marlowe family
Family Office Client, Private Client
Advisory notes
Notes from our advisory team
Liquidity events
Planning a liquidity event before the term sheet is signed
Why the highest-value estate planning window closes the moment a deal becomes public.
Family office
What next-generation financial education looks like in practice
A look inside our program for preparing heirs to manage wealth before any assets change hands.
Frequently asked questions
We typically work with households and family offices with $3M or more in investable assets, though we make exceptions for pre-liquidity founders.
Get a second opinion on your current wealth strategy
Most initial consultations surface at least one coordination gap between your current advisors.