What does Cary Street Partners do?
Cary Street Partners is a wealth management firm founded in 2002.
Its advisory arm, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC, has been registered with the SEC as an investment adviser since 2005 and reported approximately $8.27 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of December 31, 2024.
The firm serves individuals, retirement plans, trusts and estates, charitable organizations, corporations and institutions, governmental and educational entities, and insurance companies.
Core services include:
- Discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management
- Wrap fee programs
- Financial planning
- Retirement plan advisory
- Lending services
- Life insurance strategies:
Cary Street Partners’ core service is an advisor-led wealth management offering built around consultation, portfolio construction, and ongoing monitoring. Every engagement begins with a consultation with a financial advisor to assess investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. The advisor then constructs a personalized portfolio and selects the appropriate program.
Investment philosophy
The firm notes that client objectives and risk tolerance categories, such as capital preservation, income, growth, and aggressive growth, shape portfolios.
The firm's investment philosophy emphasizes diversification, ongoing oversight, and risk-adjusted returns; manager selection emphasizes factors such as historical returns, understandable strategy, reasonable expenses, tax efficiency, transparency, downside risk, and team alignment.
What are the pros and cons of Cary Street Partners?
Cary Street Partners’ main strengths are its advisor-led model, broad planning scope, and flexible portfolio construction.
Here’s a summary of the key advantages and disadvantages to help you decide if it’s right for you.
Pros of Cary Street Partners:
- Advisor-led service model: Clients work with a dedicated Financial Advisor for personalized portfolio construction and ongoing oversight.
- Broad planning scope: The materials support financial planning, retirement planning, insurance, estate coordination, tax planning and investment management within a single relationship.
- Customized investment approach: Advisors can build portfolios around client objectives, constraints, and risk tolerance, and the firm emphasizes ongoing portfolio monitoring and the use of diversified strategies.
- Cost and tax awareness: Cary Street Partners says its portfolio advisory group uses cost-conscious portfolio construction and considers tax effects and asset location.
Cons of Cary Street Partners:
- The fee structure is not simple: actual fee schedules vary by client, and fees are negotiable. Additionally, legacy agreements and acquisitions can result in different fee calculations across clients, making direct price comparisons less straightforward.
- Planning may cost extra, including hourly charges: In addition to asset-based advisory fees, financial planning fees are negotiable, typically range from $500 to $25,000, and specific planning engagements may also be billed on an hourly basis.
- Total costs can be layered: Depending on the account and investments used, clients may also bear underlying fund or product fees, third-party manager fees, brokerage and custody costs, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.
- Some program structures can add further cost complexity: The wrap fee may cost more or less than buying services separately, does not include all fees, and certain proprietary strategies, ETFs, feeder funds, and annuity arrangements can add separate expenses on top of the advisory fee.
Cary Street Partners fees: How much does Cary Street Partners cost?
Cary Street Partners uses a negotiable pricing structure centered on an annual asset-based advisory fee.
Below is an example of Cary Street Partners' asset-based fee schedule:
Asset value | Annualized fee percentage |
|---|---|
First $500,000 | 1.50% |
$500,001 – $1,000,000 | 1.00% |
$1,000,001 – $3,000,000 | 0.85% |
$3,000,001 – $5,000,000 | 0.75% |
$5,000,001 – $10,000,000 | 0.65% |
$10,000,001 – $25,000,000 | 0.50% |
$25,000,001 or more | Negotiable |
The firm also notes that financial planning can be charged separately, typically at $500 to $25,000 for fixed-fee engagements, with hourly rates available for specific planning work.
Financial planning fees range from $500 to $25,000 (fixed) or are charged hourly. Retirement planning fees are also negotiable.
Other fees can include underlying fund or product expenses, third-party manager fees, brokerage and custody charges, trading costs, interest, taxes, and other account-level expenses that are generally separate from Cary Street Partners’ advisory fee.
What is Cary Street Partners’ minimum account size?
No firm-wide minimum account size is disclosed.
Instead, advisors generally impose minimum asset size requirements to service accounts.
Who should choose Cary Street Partners?
Cary Street Partners suits clients who want advisor-directed, personalized wealth management, particularly those with complex, multi-faceted financial needs.
Cary Street Partners works well for:
- Investors who want personal advice: The service is built around a client-advisor relationship, consultation, and ongoing portfolio oversight rather than automation alone.
- Households with broader planning needs: Clients needing retirement, estate, tax-related, insurance, and investment planning may find the integrated approach useful.
- Clients are comfortable with customized portfolios: The firm uses a wide investment menu and can work across discretionary and non-discretionary arrangements.
- Institutional and plan-sponsor clients: ERISA 3(21) and 3(38) fiduciary services effectively serve qualified plan needs.
Who might not benefit as much:
- Cost-sensitive investors: The 1.50% entry rate and potential layered affiliated product fees make this a higher-cost option.
- Investors preferring passive, low-cost strategies: The service model is built around active advisor management rather than index-focused approaches.
- Investors looking for a clearly published low minimum: The firm does not provide a straightforward entry threshold for the main advisory relationship.
Cary Street Partners: Is it secure?
Yes, Cary Street Partners is generally considered safe. It is SEC-registered and operates under fiduciary standards.
All accounts are maintained with independent, qualified custodians (Wells Fargo Clearing Services, Schwab, or Fidelity), which deliver statements to clients monthly or quarterly.
The firm also maintains cybersecurity policies and business continuity and disaster recovery plans that are tested at least annually.
Cary Street Partners: Customer service
Clients are served by dedicated Financial Advisors who handle the initial consultation, portfolio construction, and ongoing review.
Account reviews are conducted on a transaction, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, depending on the engagement, with additional reviews available on request.
The firm is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with 21 offices across seven states.
Cary Street Partners: Mobile app
Cary Street Partners does not offer a dedicated official mobile app.
The firm's website directs clients to web-based portals: Black Diamond for account reporting and eMoney for financial planning.
Clients may also access accounts through the custodian platforms of WFCS, Schwab, or Fidelity.
Is Cary Street Partners worth it?
Cary Street Partners offers a traditional advisor-led wealth management service with broad planning support, customized portfolios, and both discretionary and non-discretionary options.
The main trade-offs are less transparent minimums, negotiable pricing that may be harder to compare, and disclosures around affiliated products and other compensation arrangements. Thus, it looks better suited to clients who want an ongoing advisory relationship than to investors seeking a simple, low-cost, self-directed platform.
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