Brighton Jones LLC (Seattle)


Brighton Jones LLC is a large advisory firm based in Seattle. It manages $5.3 billion of regulatory assets for 1,718 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2001 and has operated in the jurisdictions of Alaska, Arizona, California, and 21 other states.

Brighton Jones provides financial planning services, portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for businesses and institutional clients, pension consulting services, selection of other advisers, and educational seminars and workshops. It prepares financial plans for approximately 2,000 clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

Brighton Jones: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of Brighton Jones LLC is $5.3 billion. The firm's AUM has grown by 5351% since the beginning of its operation, and the company doesn't manage any assets belonging to foreign clients.

The firm manages $5.16 billion in discretionary accounts and $135.41 million in non-discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $3.01 million each. Non-discretionary accounts, where clients actively manage their portfolios, generally hold around $33.85 million.
Brighton Jones has custody of $4.96 billion in cash and securities for 1,659 clients in total but doesn’t act as a qualified custodian.

Investments

The firm invests in investment and business development companies the most. They account for 71% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is exchange traded securities, which make up 14% of the firm’s portfolio. Investments in cash and cash equivalents form 9% of the total invested assets.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay Brighton Jones LLC for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management, hourly charges, and fixed fees. Flat-fee based compensation is the most transparent and the one you can safely predict in advance. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients Brighton Jones serves?

The firm provides services to individuals, charitable organizations, high net worth individuals, pooled investment vehicles, and pension and profit sharing plans. The largest group of clients of Brighton Jones is high net worth individuals with 1,167 clients and $4.69 billion of assets under management. Among the 6 most similar advisory firms, Brighton Jones has the highest percentage of high net worth individuals out of all clients.

The amount of regulatory assets under management is $5.3 billion for 1,718 clients that can include trusts, estates, and 401(k) plans and IRAs of individuals and their family members. None of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

Brighton Jones also advises several private funds. Namely, one real estate fund, three private equity funds, and one venture capital fund. The minimum investment commitment required of non-related persons is $100,000 for each fund.

Careers at Brighton Jones LLC

The company employs 170 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 40 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. 72 employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There’s a single person with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm compensates employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees don’t receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Direct owners and executive officers


Name Entity Date acquired Ownership Employer ID
Charles Edwin Brighton Member 1 Oct 1999 25% - 50% 2107288
Jon David Jones Member 1 Oct 1999 25% - 50% 4366186
Jerome Francis Mccarthy Lead advisor 1 Sep 2003 Other 4892664
David M Leonhardt Chief compliance officer/chief operations officer 1 Jun 2004 Other 4884991
Brett H Carolan Member 1 Jan 2005 Other 2751210
Brett Howard Carolan Member 1 Jan 2005 Other 2751210
Eric Jason Wikstrom Member 1 Jan 2007 Other 5303964
Clint Michael Christensen Lead advisor 1 Nov 2007 Other 4122463
Alan Wood Spragins Chief compliance officer, cfo & general counsel 1 Jan 2008 Other 5511431
Kory Bryan Leadon Member 1 Jul 2008 Other 4196067
Thomas Patrick Preston Member 1 Apr 2012 Other 1525078
Tyler Mayfield Chief compliance officer / chief operations officer 1 Nov 2012 Other 6144093
Thomas Patrick Preston Chief compliance officer 1 Nov 2012 Other 1525078
Brian C Tall Member 1 Jul 2013 Other 5987530
Matthew Allan Camrud Member 1 Apr 2014 Other 5618445
Varonica Stevens Ragan Chief compliance officer/director of finance and accounting 1 Aug 2015 Other 6552126
Matthew Lewis Mormino Member 1 Jan 2016 Other 5962359
Scott Leber Member 1 Jan 2019 Other 7089252

Based in Seattle

The principal office where Brighton Jones LLC performs its advisory services is located at 2030 1 St Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121, which is also the mailing address of the firm. An additional office of the firm is in Mclean, VA. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 206-258-5000 or by fax 206-258-5005. The normal business hours are 8:00 am -5:00 pm on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at brightonjones.com.