Trovera Capital Management works with individuals and families who are serious about building and protecting their financial futures. Some of them have had an adviser before and found the experience impersonal or transactional. Some have never worked with one because they were not sure they could trust one. Both instincts are welcome here.

One area of particular fluency for Trovera Capital Management is people who work in the entertainment industry.

Before founding Trovera, I spent more than a decade in Hollywood as a screenwriter and script doctor. I understand irregular income, residuals, union dues, the feast-and-famine rhythm of entertainment industry jobs, and the financial planning problems that can come with a career where the next job is never guaranteed.

That background is not a credential and is not a promise of results. It is context for how this firm understands entertainment industry income, and for the boutique structure the firm is built around.

Yes. Trovera Capital Management is a registered investment adviser, and all RIAs are held to the fiduciary standard: an obligation to act in the client’s best interest in every recommendation, every trade, every conversation. Not the firm’s interest. Yours.

Trovera does not earn commissions, does not sell products, and does not receive compensation from anyone but clients. Conflicts of interest, where they exist, are disclosed in writing in our Form ADV and they are addressed promptly should they arise.

Everything below is published in our Form ADV Part 2, Item 5. But you should not have to read a regulatory filing to learn a price.

Asset management fees are billed quarterly in arrears based on average quarterly assets — meaning you pay after the service is rendered, not before.

Lower fees for comparable services may be available from other sources.

Active asset management requires $100,000 to open and maintain an account. Passive management is available below that level, with the Monthly Systematic Investment Plan described above encouraged for accounts under $75,000.

In certain instances, the minimum may be lowered. If you are close, but not there yet, ask.

Please do. Skepticism, properly channeled, is a virtue in investing, and it should start with your adviser.

Trovera Capital Management, LLC is a registered investment adviser in the state of California, regulated by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Our CRD number is 340577. You can look up the firm, read our complete regulatory filings, and check for disciplinary history on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database at adviserinfo.sec.gov. Our Form ADV is also linked in the footer of every page on this site. My personal IARD number is 822294.

In my view, these five, at minimum. They work on Trovera Capital Management, too.

• Are you a fiduciary at all times and in every capacity in which you will serve me?
• How do you make money, and does anyone besides me pay you?
• What is your registered investment adviser CRD number?
• Who actually manages my account, and will I work with that person directly?
• What happens when I call with a question?

Here is the truth: many people do not need a financial adviser. But there is no one-size-fits-all approach to investing, asset management, or financial planning.

Low-cost, diversified index funds, held patiently through market cycles, serve an enormous number of investors exceptionally well.

An adviser earns their fee in the situations that index funds simply do not address: when your financial life has enough moving parts that the mistakes get expensive, or when income is irregular and planning is harder than picking funds, or when a transition — such as a sale, an inheritance, or a career change — raises questions you have never had to answer before, or when you know from experience that your own behavior in a downturn is the biggest risk in your portfolio.

The sales pitch for this profession is not that markets are too complicated for you and you need help. It is that a steady, legally accountable second opinion, applied at the right moments, can be worth finding.

If that describes your situation, talk to someone who is a qualified professional. That person does not have to be me.

An RIA (registered investment adviser) is a legal category: a firm registered with the SEC or a state regulator and held to the fiduciary standard — an ongoing obligation of loyalty and care that applies to the entire advisory relationship. Trovera Capital Management is an RIA, compensated by clients rather than by commissions on products.

A broker-dealer is also a legal category: a firm in the business of buying and selling securities, typically compensated by transaction. Broker-dealers making recommendations to retail customers are governed by Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), a 2020 SEC rule requiring that each recommendation be in the customer’s best interest at the time it is made. The standards differ in scope: the fiduciary duty is continuous and relationship-wide, while Regulation Best Interest applies recommendation by recommendation. Some firms are registered as both an RIA and a broker-dealer — which standard applies can depend on the capacity in which the firm is acting at that moment. That is a fair question to ask any firm you interview.

A wealth manager is not a legal category. It is a job title, not a registration. When you meet one, the critical question is not what they call themselves, but what registration they hold and which standard they answer to.

Trovera Capital Management is based in Northridge, California, in the San Fernando Valley, serving clients across Los Angeles County and throughout California. Meetings happen by video, by phone, or in person as the situation calls for.

Out of state inquiries are welcome. The firm may only transact advisory business in states where it is either registered, notice-filed, or exempt. International inquiries may require some research, as the rules vary based on your location.

Geography matters less than it used to. Alignment matters as much as it ever did.