TIMOTHY KNEEN – FOUNDER

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Tim began providing financial consulting services to institutional investors and select families over 30 years ago. He began at Dean Witter and became one of the youngest Vice President’s in its history. He went to enjoy a 20+ year career with Citigroup, where he became a Director with Citi Institutional Consulting. Just before Citigroup became owned primarily by the US Government, United Bank of Switzerland recruited he and his team to join. He later founded IFAM Capital, a firm started with his longtime partner Clayton Hartman from Citigroup and UBS and grew that firm into one of top 100 Registered Advisory Firms/Wealth Management firms in the country as measured by Fidelity. During those years Tim helped develop the investment methodology’s, created the “Known Return” portfolio, and lead business development. At his retirement IFAM was billing in excess of $10 million in annual revenue and was managing well over a billion dollars. His experience is unique in that few firms of this size have accomplished the “triple crown” successfully. Moving between wire-house firms, from a wire-house to an independence, and then successfully transitioned that firm to the next generation of advisors within the firm. He has grown a firm from a few hundred thousand in annual revenue to over $10 million using both organic and acquisition related growth. He was at the forefront of building unique income sources away from traditional wealth management and being able to look outside the box for solutions. Few advisors have this “Real Life Experience.”

While at IFAM, Tim and his team have received numerous awards. He was elected President of the Association of Professional Investment Consultants (APIC), and has served on the association’s chair of both the Research and Evaluation and Conference Committees. He has been awarded the associations highest honor, the Tom Gorman Award, to acknowledge his service to the industry. Tim was also awarded the prestigious “40 Under 40 Award” by the Denver Business Journal, naming him as one of the top 40 young entrepreneurs in the Rocky Mountain Region. He is recognized as one of the “Top 100 Consultants in America” in Barron’s, #1 Consultant in Colorado by the Denver Business Journal, “Top 1,000 Advisors” by Barron’s, NABCAP Premier Advisor for Financial Planning and as one of the top Consultants by Research magazine. Tim is a regular speaker at national conferences, a published author and is regularly interviewed in the media on the economy and investment topics.

Tim’s experience working outside of financial services is likely behind his success in working inside financial services. Tim has been quoted saying, “Until you as an advisor have truly sat in the same chair as your client how can you understand what is best? How do you advise them on how to develop or manage their business, sell or transition their business, unless you have done the same? Tim has started five companies, taken a company public and sold the other companies to both synergistic and financial buyers. He has been a successful real estate developer, as well as business owner of manufacturing, sales and marketing and distribution companies. He has owned/managed in industries as diverse as scrap metal, to golf to fashion. This “Real Life” experience gives him the background to be able to consult to business owners from many walks of life about how to grow their companies, whether or not to seek monetization of their life's work and if so how, as well as working with Family Offices in managing the transition of wealth and knowledge to the next generations.

Today Tim continues to share these “Real Life” experiences with other entrepreneurs across the country through private consulting and speaking engagements with his firm Lumina Consulting.

Tim completed his undergraduate work at the University of Denver and received his CIMA® certification from his work, sponsored through the Investment Management Consultants Association, at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tim is involved with his church, as well as with several local and national charities. He has co-founded and chaired events, including the Red Lady Ball, the Denver Victims Rock and Roll, Sunrise Africa, SaddleUp! Foundation and many other events. He enjoys golf, skiing, tennis and mountain climbing, among many other sports. Tim is married with two children and resides at Colorado Golf Club.

MAXWELL T. SMITH – FOUNDER

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Max’s core focus has been within the financial services industry having nearly a decade of experience working within the industry. Max managed the marketing and sales as well as assisted with operations and research for a Senior Institutional team at UBS. In that time Max learned the ropes of what it meant to be a billion-dollar team at a large wire-house firm. In 2014, he helped lead the transition with Focus Financial Partners to move the team to independence, in creating IFAM Capital. He assisted in building and on-boarding their platform as well as created the firms marketing collateral and developed the firm’s sales and marketing plans.

Upon IFAM’s opening Max managed the marketing and sales team for the firm helping advisors implement and develop their sales process and marketing strategies, he performed portfolio analytics for prospective clients as well as created financial plans for incoming clients. In addition to this he led the merger and acquisition team and chaired the firm’s Marketing Committee. During his time at IFAM Capital the firm completed multiple transactions including building an internal asset management and corporate retirement services division. He led in the building of the asset management platform as well as led the transition of multiple tuck-in’s helping the firm grow nearly 50% in revenue during that time. He also assisted in developing the firms and their advisor’s growth strategies both organic and inorganically. While at IFAM, Max also consulted to other RIA’s and business owners in regards to organic growth strategies, succession planning, merger and acquisition strategies as well as operational and platform guidance.

Max is a founder of Lumina Consulting and today focuses around consulting to wire-house advisors in not only the break-away process to independence but also assists in the development of the new firm’s operational platforms, succession strategies as well growth strategies each unique to the firm’s objectives. In addition, Max works with established independent financial firms in creating their own unique growth strategies, creating succession plans and develop operational efficiencies to be able to increase productivity. He also works with independent financial firms looking to get into merger and acquisitions and assists them in developing M&A strategies, provides assistance in firm due diligence, proforma creations, valuations, deal structures as well as transition and tuck-in consulting post-closing. He also assists business owners outside the financial industry in developing succession strategies and create capital events and works with owners to develop growth and business strategies that are unique to meet the company’s objectives.

Max currently lives in Denver and enjoys skiing, golfing and hiking as well as in a member of the Denver Rotary’s Emerging Professional Cohort.

   Lumina Consulting    

Asset Managers

Asset Managers

Asset Managers

One of the biggest challenges in today’s business environment is having to separate yourself from your competitors. One of the most intriguing ways to do this is by providing unique services to your clients. We assist firms in addressing this challenge and solving their problems. Through strategic consulting to your client base, we help your prospects and clients find solutions through our “real life” experience and add a unique service for you to provide.

How we work with Registered Independent Advisors

At Lumina Consulting, we work for your top clients and independent advisors to help them develop strategic growth plans and think outside the box to solve problems by using our real life experiences. Whether it is creating a successful growth strategy, optimizing operations or implementing a succession plan, Lumina allows you to provide a service to your clients that sets you apart as a valuable reason why they should use your services versus another competitor.

While many firms provide in-house consulting, many of these professionals do not share the same experiences of your most successful clients and/or advisers. We can provide consulting to your clients free of any bias, based on our experiences as people who have built a top practice inside a wire-house firm, transitioned that business from wire-house to wire-house and then transitioned to independence and executed a successful ownership transition plan. Our consulting comes from our past experiences of building a firm with over $10 million in annual billables including multiple mergers as well as having successfully transitioned ownership of the firm to the next generation.

In a three-day session that dives deep into the independent advisory practice we address the needs that were voiced to us by the partners of the independent firm that they feel are holding them back and provide a “lit” pathway to implement and achieve their objectives based on our own successful experiences. We then stand by them to help implement.

How we work with Registered Independent Advisors

At Lumina Consulting, we work for your top clients and independent advisors to help them develop strategic growth plans and think outside the box to solve problems by using our real life experiences. Whether it is creating a successful growth strategy, optimizing operations or implementing a succession plan, Lumina allows you to provide a service to your clients that sets you apart as a valuable reason why they should use your services versus another competitor.

While many firms provide in-house consulting, many of these professionals do not share the same experiences of your most successful clients and/or advisers. We can provide consulting to your clients free of any bias, based on our experiences as people who have built a top practice inside a wire-house firm, transitioned that business from wire-house to wire-house and then transitioned to independence and executed a successful ownership transition plan. Our consulting comes from our past experiences of building a firm with over $10 million in annual billables including multiple mergers as well as having successfully transitioned ownership of the firm to the next generation.

In a three-day session that dives deep into the independent advisory practice we address the needs that were voiced to us by the partners of the independent firm that they feel are holding them back and provide a “lit” pathway to implement and achieve their objectives based on our own successful experiences. We then stand by them to help implement.

We Perform

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Core value and mission statement development

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Owner and Staff interviews for issue recognition

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Succession and exit strategy planning.

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Operational analysis to stream line efficiency

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On-going merger and acquisition consulting based around the development of a sound plan that has a known funding source, a target acquisition and a well thought out operational plan on how to handle your success

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Financial due diligence to make sure the firm is stream-lining cost

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Operational transitions to streamline operations and reduce cost structures as well as increase efficiencies utilizing the lessons we learned in our own practice

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Ongoing consulting to the firm’s principles and staff to update plans that were put in place, create well thought out staff development

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Marketing and growth plan creation and implementation

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Risk analysis for key employee departures, procedures for protecting clients, trading, and reporting

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Investment management practice review of performance and policies

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Merger and acquisition strategy development

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Break-away and transition consulting

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Profit/Loss statement and proforma creation

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Investment management reviews to try to maximize your performance, bring consistency to your clients, and reduce overall costs. We use all kinds of solutions from using our experience to find the right asset managers to improve performance, to option overlay strategies to reduce risk, to outsourcing parts of your process to improve overall results and allow you to focus on running and growing your business

Contact Lumina
Contact Lumina