I started this firm because the same problem kept repeating itself.
The families I worked with had four professionals advising their financial life. A wealth manager. A CPA. A life insurance agent. An estate attorney. Almost none of those four talked to each other. The cost of that disconnection landed on the family every year, in tax dollars they did not need to lose, in insurance decisions that worked against their estate plan, in trust structures that did not match their actual asset locations.
The firm I wanted to build had a specific operating model. Every recommendation in writing, with the alternatives I considered visible. No option menus, because if I cannot defend a single recommended path, I have no business making the recommendation in the first place. And coordination with the other professionals already in my clients' lives, instead of trying to replace them.
That last commitment is the hardest to hold onto. Most firms claim coordination but compete for the entire relationship. We compete for the coordination role specifically. Our success is measured by whether your other professionals can read and verify our work in five minutes, not by whether we displaced them.
Russ Bigham
FounderIf I cannot defend a single recommended path, I have no business making the recommendation in the first place.
Most wealth advisory firms grow by adding clients faster than they can coordinate them. The result is a relationship that looks comprehensive on paper and operates as a series of disconnected service tickets in practice. The model works for the firm's revenue line. It does not work for the client.
Bigham Wealth Advisory grows slowly, by intent. Every client we accept is a household we can coordinate fully across all four pillars. We add advisors to the team only when we can train them in the methodology, the documentation discipline, and the coordination behavior. We do not bring on advisors to chase AUM.
The cost of this discipline is that we will always be smaller than firms that optimize for growth. The benefit is that the work we deliver looks the same for every client. Coordination at this firm is not a marketing claim. It is the only way we operate, because we never grew past the point where we could operate that way.
The same logic applies to the rest of how we do business. Every fee is published. Every commission is disclosed before any policy is signed. Every recommendation is documented with the alternatives we ruled out. The point is not to perform transparency. The point is that a firm built on coordination must be willing to be coordinated with, audited, and verified by its clients and their other professionals. We designed the firm so that everything we do can stand up to that scrutiny.
The Four-Pillar Protocol is currently delivered by Russ Bigham, founder and lead advisor. The firm is structured to add additional advisors as client demand justifies it. Every advisor who joins must hold appropriate fiduciary credentials, demonstrate fluency across all four pillars, and accept the firm's single-path delivery discipline. We do not hire production-focused advisors. We hire methodology-focused ones.
Russ is the lead advisor on every Coordination Audit, Income Diagnosis, and Single-Path Recommendation the firm produces. As the firm grows, additional advisors will deliver the Protocol under his methodology oversight.
Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®). Series 7 (General Securities Representative). Series 66 (Uniform Combined State Law).
Bigham Wealth Advisory LLC is a registered investment advisory firm. Russ Bigham is registered as an Investment Advisor Representative.
The firm conducts brokerage activities through Osaic Wealth Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Russ Bigham is a Registered Representative of Osaic Wealth Inc. with Series 7 and Series 66 registrations. Client assets are custodied at Charles Schwab.
Russ Bigham holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) designation, awarded by Fi360 (now part of Broadridge). The AIF designation requires completion of training in fiduciary practices that go beyond standard regulatory requirements and adherence to a code of ethics.
All of the above is publicly verifiable.
A firm built on coordination must be willing to be coordinated with by its prospects. We make these links available because we want them used.
The work runs on four operational commitments. We do not deviate from them.
01
In person at the office, by phone, or by secure video. We meet however the client prefers. Distance does not change the quality of the work or the cadence of the relationship.
02
Every introduction request, client question, or document review receives a response within two business days. This is a firm-wide standard, not an aspiration.
03
Every tax return, trust document, statement, and recommendation moves through an encrypted client portal. Nothing sensitive travels by email. Every deliverable the firm produces is retained permanently in the client's record.
04
Every client meeting, quarterly review, annual tax session, and coordination touchpoint runs through one scheduling system. Nothing gets missed because it was never on the calendar.
