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First Ascent Up for Two Industry Awards

Press Release

By First Ascent | June 30, 2020

Company Announcement

First Ascent is recognized for its investor education and thought leadership efforts.

DENVER, JUNE 29, 2020 — First Ascent Asset Management, the industry’s first flat-fee TAMP, today announced that the firm and one of its team members have received recognition for their thought leadership and efforts to improve investor financial literacy.

On June 16, 2020, WealthManagement.com announced that First Ascent is a finalist for a “Wealthie” award in the category: “Asset Managers—Thought Leadership Advisor Education.” The finalist designation is based on First Ascent’s introduction earlier this year of the Navigator Investor Education Resource Center. Navigator provides materials that advisors can use to educate their clients about investing and help them behave as successful long-term investors.

Ben Sullivan, First Ascent’s Director of Communications, was also named as a finalist for a Wealthie award in the category: “Asset Managers—Chief Marketing Officer of the Year.” Ben was recognized for his investor education efforts, including the launch of the Navigator Center.

“Our firm was founded with the audacious belief that we could change the world, or at least a little corner of it,” said Scott MacKillop, the firm’s CEO. “We introduced flat-fee asset management to the TAMP world, pioneered “virtual wholesaling,” and paved the way for advisors to offer “elegantly simple portfolio management” to their clients at a reasonable price. Our focus on client education has been another cornerstone of our firm since its founding.”

Sullivan added, “We all should have been given a course on financial markets in school, but very few of us were—I know I wasn’t. As a relative newcomer to the industry, I was shocked at how little I knew about investing. I was also surprised at how a little education went a long way. Our goal is to provide advisors with the tools they need to help their clients become better, more educated investors.”

“We very much appreciate the recognition from our industry peers,” said MacKillop. “But what drives us is a core set of ideals about how we can serve advisors better than they have been served in the past. They are on the front lines fighting an important battle on behalf of their clients and we are just trying to support them in that effort.”

First Ascent’s efforts to support advisors were recognized earlier this year in the T3/Inside Information Advisor Software Survey where First Ascent was ranked #1 in user satisfaction in two categories: TAMP Service Providers and Online Portfolio Management Tools.