Planner Autumn Knutson launches RIA styled on her values

A former teacher with a background in psychology launched her own fee-only registered investment advisory firm less than five years after starting her financial planning career.

Autumn Knutson unveiled Styled Wealth in a post on LinkedIn earlier this month after leaving her previous firm, Facet. With the number of RIAs setting records each year, the opening of new firms offers financial advisors the ability to create businesses that reflect their vision of the planning profession, boost collaboration across companies and fields or focus on a particular client niche in the wealth management marketplace. They choose everything, including the name of the RIA, regulatory classifications, services and fees and how to use social media.  

For Knutson — a certified financial planner who's a five-time member of Investopedia's list of the Top 100 Financial Advisors and a former chair of the Financial Planning Association's NexGen — the fully virtual firm based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, represents her effort "to be truly authentically, now and moving forward, practicing financial planning to my unique ability," she said. And that emphasis falls "much more on the emotional side of money" for the ex-counselor with a bachelor of arts in psychology and mother of two young children, she said in an interview.

"'Styled Wealth' is a nod to the fact that wealth can look a variety of ways: It can be growing assets, as is most traditionally assumed, but, in my opinion, it's just life best-lived," Knutson said. "That stuff gets me really excited, to help people say, 'Wow, I never knew I could do this.'"

Her firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in December, the month after she left Facet, according to SEC records. 

"We thank Autumn for her time spent serving our members at Facet and wish her the best on her new endeavors," Facet CEO Anders Jones said in a statement.

READ MORE: New RIA platform bets on unique business model: No private equity money

Knutson's network
Getting a "real financial planning foundation" from beginning her industry tenure with The Planning Center in 2019 and at Facet from 2020 through last year "undoubtedly propelled me to do this work naturally," Knutson said of her prior firms.

Advisors and other wealth management professionals who were among those adding nearly 600 likes and 185 comments to Knutson's post on LinkedIn described how they've come to know her approach to planning and their thoughts on her milestone in establishing the RIA.

"My most memorable experience with Autumn was serving together on a panel highlighting the contributions of women in the profession," Lazetta Rainey Braxton, the co-CEO of 2050 Wealth Partners and founder of consulting firm Lazetta & Associates, said in an email. "Although we represent different generations, we share a deep desire and commitment to pour into one another and our colleagues. It's encouraging to witness the next generation seize opportunities to represent greater diversity and inclusion in RIA ownership and the people we serve."

Kelly Klingaman of Kelly Klingaman Financial Planning met Knutson at a Dimensional Fund Advisors conference, where she was "instantly intrigued" by Knutson's discussion of a budgeting method Klingaman hadn't heard of before and the way that she "talked passionately about cash flow" over lunch, Klingaman said. They caught up again in the past fall at the XY Planning Network's XYPN Live event. 

"At the time, she was still planning her exit from her prior company and working on her website, etc., but I had no doubt she would find success as soon as she announced the news," Klingaman said in an email. "I understood that she was anxious to launch her firm but was ensuring everything was prepared before she took the leap. I wouldn't expect anything less from someone with her years of experience serving clients and giving back to the financial planning profession."

Mac Gardner of FinLit Tech first connected with Knutson in person last year at the Financial Planning Association's Annual Conference after they knew each other through industry social media circles for years earlier, he said in an interview. He and Knutson spoke on a panel together about how to attract more young and diverse people into planning. The ability to align beliefs and values to work every day displays "a compelling aspect of our profession for folks who are coming into the industry," said Gardner, who's the founder of a college planning fraternity and an expert on financial literacy efforts as the author of "The Four Money Bears." 

"The word that comes to mind with Autumn is balance," he said. "She does an awesome job being a professional, like knowing her stuff, knowing the essence of the job. But she has a great sense of just listening and being a very real person."

READ MORE: The rich link between planning and psychology — and its vast potential

Model fees
That jibes with Knutson's past as a one-time counselor and Teach for America educator with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She set up her firm with fee models that she believes will give her the "opportunity to continue to have a natural space for new relationships" with as many clients as possible, she said, noting that the firm commenced business with zero customers. 

Like many advisors eschewing the industry's traditional fee of 1% of a client's assets under management — a setup that incentivizes serving the wealthiest customers with the biggest holdings — she charges a flat planning fee based on the complexity of the account. In addition, she has a lower-priced model for clients seeking some planning and advice in a few different areas over a span of up to four months. She foresees many clients being able "to get advice, be set up well and have some time on their own or without ongoing professional advice," she said.

AUM "typically is a way of measuring income for a lot of advisors," and often a form of "social clout" in the professional community, Knutson said.

"I care about being agnostic about that; I care about the relationships I get to have and the quality of the relationships," she said. "It's not lost on me that there is more friction in charging an explicit fee. … I'm at peace with the presumed higher rate of attrition that will happen, not as a result of the quality of my work but as a result of the transparency of pricing."

Knutson is a member of XY Planning Network, and she chose Altruist as her primary custodian and RightCapital as her planning software. Asked for any lessons that might apply to other advisors thinking of creating their own firm someday, she cited how much she has learned outside of professional coursework or certification programs through mentors, role models in the field, fellow FPA NexGen members and others along the way.

"I do think it cannot be overstated how much networking in our profession matters," Knutson said. "It's been amazing to me how many relationships have flourished and the interesting, dynamic things other people do."