Firm Spotlight: Impact Wealth
Shining a light on this remarkable team out of Boulder
by The Ridgeback Group
Firm Spotlight: Impact Wealth
by The Ridgeback Group
We’re proud to shine a light on one of the best firms in the business and one of our flagship partners – Impact Wealth.
At The Ridgeback Group, our motto is “Together we climb.” And it’s hard to think of a firm that better embodies that spirit than Boulder-based Impact Wealth. Today, we’re proud to shine a light on one of the best firms in the business and one of our flagship partners.
Impact Wealth is the tale of two founders. By their own admission, CEO Jim Teegarden is the visionary, the big picture guy, the one who sees the whole field and plans accordingly. Chief Impact Officer G. Anthony Harrigan is the details guy, the one who prefers to slow down and dig deep. On their own, they’ve been successful. But together (they formed their partnership in 2013) with their nine employees, they’re a unit that’s somehow greater than the sum of their parts. “They both do a really good job of listening to each other and coming to a decision that’s somewhere in the middle,” says Peter Nesbitt, director of operations.
A candid moment between Impact Wealth's Chief Impact Officer Anthony Harrigan and CEO Jim Teegarden.
It’s a partnership that’s defined by a love of the interpersonal nature of what they do, catering to a select group of clients rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. “I enjoy the relationships,” Harrigan says. “To this day I have [clients] I’ve had for 25, 30 years. I enjoy knowing them and their kids.” They also prize new perspectives from prospective hires, seeking out points of view other than their own. “We don’t want a team of us, right?” he says. “We want folks with different mindsets and different skillsets and different attitudes.”
True to its origins, Impact Wealth has multiple specialties, all broadly under the umbrella of an independent wealth management firm that essentially does it all. This includes estate planning, retirement planning, and providing the kind of strategic investment partnership that only a firm with the experience and track record like Impact Wealth’s, can provide. They’re also looking forward, and their goal remains to scale both the retirement planning division and their high net worth division to get a billion dollars of assets under management. “We’re thinking longer-term growth legacy,” Teegarden says. “Bringing new advisors in, [becoming] a growing firm that people can come into and impact others.”
We're thinking long-term growth strategy—being a firm that people can come into and have an impact on others.”Jim Teegarden
Suffice it to say, there aren’t enough hours in the day for a firm like that. (Especially with the little remaining time dedicated to team dinners, the occasional golf outing, and, for Teegarden, walking his beloved dog, Frannie. “She’s awesome.”) Even if the team includes Jessica Martin, the director of insurance operations, who Nesbitt mentions as a key player, one who matches Jim’s high-energy motor while executing with impressive attention to detail.
The Ridgeback Group’s role is to provide a sort of strategic assist, to help Impact Wealth take care of its customers with the speed and efficiency they expect, if not demand. “We go up against all the big wirehouses in the high-net-worth space, and we create more value than any of these people,” Teegarden says. “And people can hardly believe that. They say, ‘You’re just, like, 10 people in Boulder, Colorado.’ Well, yeah — but you don’t know the partners behind us. Our partners are what allow us to provide more value than everybody else.” And that partnership is based on shared values — in particular, the idea that a small firm can provide big service to its clients and that a sophisticated, forward-thinking firm can climb without fear. Not every firm is up to that challenge, but Impact Wealth is.
Impact Wealth with clients at The Young Life Charity Golf Tournament.
The all-star team at Impact Wealth