Nickolas R. Strain - Financial Advisors

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Nickolas R. Strain

Why I Love My Job

I’m able to help clients and their families plan and navigate both small financial decisions and the bigger life milestones—and to celebrate with them, which is really rewarding. I enjoy working with clients in looking at the different aspects of their financial lives to make sure they are on track for meeting all their concerns and goals. Here at HH we’re always trying to learn, grow and improve our own capabilities to help clients improve their families’ financial lives.

Nick holds two key roles at Halbert Hargrove. As Senior Wealth Advisor in our Long Beach office, he works with clients in helping them determine goals and identify financial risks, creating an allocation strategy for their investments. Collaborating with clients, Nick addresses the broad range of their financial concerns, including retirement, insurance, and estate planning. Nick excels at educating clients—and is a great listener: “I enjoy helping clients work towards goals, solve problems that arise, and uncover risks that they might not have considered.”

As Chair of HH’s Wealth Advisory Committee, Nick leads committee members in exploring financial planning issues that impact clients—and creating responsive solutions. Nick sees his role as “ensuring that we have a diverse set of ideas on the table to make the right decisions.” Nick was named to his current management role in 2012 and has participated in the Wealth Advisory Committee since 2010; he also served on HH’s Investment Committee from 2007 to 2010. He joined the firm in 2005.

Nick holds an MBA from University of California, Irvine and he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science from University of California, San Diego, where he played college basketball and studied abroad in Florence, Italy. He was awarded the ACCREDITED INVESTMENT FIDUCIARY™ (AIF^®) designation by the University of Pittsburgh-affiliated Center for Fiduciary Studies, and his Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA^®) certification from the Investments & Wealth Institute^® formerly IMCA. He is also a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP^®) professional.

Outside of his advisory roles at HH, Nick enjoys helping coach his kids sport’s teams. Nick served on the Board of the Los Altos Family YMCA of Greater Long Beach for 6 years and was the Chair of the Finance Committee for 2 years. He was a charter member of the Young Professional Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Nick and his wife Carrie live in Valencia, have two children and love to travel; being part of close families, they also frequently head to central and northern California for family visits.

Fun Fact

I lived in Italy for one year when I was 24 years old and traveling around Europe, which was an incredible experience. I was able to be a tour guide for family and friends who came and visited. I enjoyed exploring the different cities I visited.

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HH ranked No. 8 on the 2023 CNBC Financial Advisor 100 list

Last received September 2023 based on 12/31/2022 data.
CNBC enlisted data provider AccuPoint Solutions to assist with ranking.

View Ranking
Disclaimer and Methodology

Disclaimer

The rating is not indicative of Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors future performance. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors did not pay a fee to participate in the survey.

Methodology

CNBC enlisted data provider AccuPoint Solutions to assist with the ranking of registered investment advisors for this year’s FA 100 list.

The methodology consisted of first analyzing a variety of core data points from AccuPoint Solutions’ proprietary database of registered investment advisors. This analysis started with an initial list of 40,646 RIA firms from the Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory database. Through a process, the list was eventually cut to 812 RIAs with those firms meeting CNBC’s proprietary criteria.

CNBC staff sent an extensive email survey to all those firms that met the initial criteria to gather more details. In turn, those advisory firms filled out a comprehensive application in regard to their practice. The CNBC team verified that data with those firms and with the SEC regulatory database. AccuPoint once again applied CNBC’s proprietary weighted categories to further refine and rank the firms, ultimately creating the list of the top 100 firms.

The primary data points used in the analysis were reviewed, either as a minimum baseline or within a range, eliminating those firms that did not meet CNBC’s requirements. Once the initial list was compiled, weightings were also applied accordingly. These data points included:

Advisory firm’s regulatory/compliance record. (editor’s note: Each advisory firm’s CRD number was checked for validity. Any firm that had a disclosure on its SEC ADV was automatically disqualified from the ranking)
Number of years in the business.
Number of certified financial planners.
Number of employees.
Number of investment advisors registered with the firm.
The ratio of investment advisors to total number of employees.
Total assets under management.
Percentage of discretionary assets under management.
Total accounts under management.
Number of states where the RIA is registered.
Country of domicile.