About Us
Your Future Deserves Passionate Stewardship
As a boutique fiduciary firm, we are passionate stewards of your capital. We provide fee-only, personalized, long-term wealth management grounded in a genuine relationship with you.
Our Founder's Story
Grounded in Three Decades of Wisdom and Stewardship
My uncle helped me buy my first shares of stock when I was just six years old. From early childhood, I was taught about the stock market and becoming a fundamental investor. That began a lifelong passion for investing with a contrarian mindset. After studying economics in college, I was hired in 1996 by A.G. Edwards and have been serving clients utilizing this investment approach for the past three decades.
My Dad practiced law in a small town, and was never taken to court. From him, I’ve acquired a unique perspective about business ethics. He taught me that educating clients was the ethical approach to stewardship. Honest, hard-working people entrusted him to achieve their dreams–like buying a home, starting a business, preparing their estate, and sometimes just getting through difficult times. Because he empowered his community in an honest and ethical way, he could always look himself in the mirror at the end of the day knowing he helped others. It’s quite impressive that in a small town, he never had to avoid anyone walking down the street.
Similarly, I have built our boutique wealth management shop with the same mindset. At Absher Wealth, we focus on transparency, delivering unbiased advice, and managing your capital as a fiduciary. I believe our success is entirely related to building bespoke portfolios that are well-stewarded, and differentiated from the asset allocation models routinely employed as the default by the industry.
Where Our Stewardship Approach Has Taken Us
Asset 250 Best RIA Firms in United States
Ranked as one of the 250 best RIA firms in the United States by Forbes and Shook research, one of only four in North Carolina.
Top 1,200 Financial Advisors
Recognized Mike Absher as one of the top 1,200 Financial Advisors in the country seven times in the past eight years.
Forbes & Shook Best-in-State
Forbes and Shook Research recognized Mike Absher as one of the top advisors in North Carolina eight consecutive years in their Best-in-State ranking.
250 Best RIA Firms in United States
Ranked as one of the 250 best RIA firms in the United States by Forbes and Shook research, one of only four in North Carolina.
Get to Know Our Philosophy
Curating a Bespoke Collection of Assets for Your Unique Success.
Margin of safety is in our DNA. Statistically, we know that managing for downside participation has a greater impact on your long-term returns than having the best gains in the up years. We’ll encourage you to enjoy your affluence and optimize your wealth, while staying within the margin of long-term growth.
We’ll actively manage your holdings–individually and in aggregate–based on fundamental research, not a home office report or investment banking relationships. We seek to own quality assets that are not being fairly valued in the marketplace and to be long-term investors in those assets. These holdings are a curated collection of assets, not intended to mimic or resemble the broader markets, but rather for their unique qualities that we believe will provide absolute returns regardless of broader market conditions.
Philosophy Pillar
Echoing Warren Buffet’s Wisdom
Echoing Warren Buffett’s wisdom, we seek to own exceptional businesses and to buy them when they are priced below that expectation. Valuation matters, but it is not our only criteria.
Philosophy Pillar
Removing Layers of Management Costs
Costs matter. Our portfolios do not involve layers of additional helpers and products. We buy high-quality stocks with companies that we expect to own for many years, and when appropriate, invest in bonds issued by the government while we wait for better equity purchase prices.
Philosophy Pillar
Generating Exceptional Long-Term Returns
We seek to generate exceptional long-term returns through consistency and avoiding unnecessary downside risks. We have seen that producing the best gains in the rallies is far less important than avoiding catastrophic losses during the valleys.
What Sets Us Apart
Who We Are
We’re dedicated to your success: We care deeply about your financial success, so we work diligently to develop the most prudent advice, investing in advanced and continuing education for our team members to stay up-to-date.
We’re value-oriented investors: We seek to own quality assets that are not being fairly valued in the marketplace and to be long-term investors in those assets. We don’t try to play the market. We believe our approach will outperform the market over time by avoiding bubbles on the way up and the temptation to cash out during downswings.
We’re passionate about your life and legacy: Our greatest joy is seeing you improve your financial future. We do it by owning a concentrated and focused portfolio of stocks—a combination of investments designed to help you succeed.
Who We Are Not
We’re not Product Salesmen: We aren’t motivated by product commissions or hidden layers and fees. We won’t pretend to see the future, or create fantastical strategies that somehow avoid all market risks. And we certainly won’t farm out your asset management.
We’re not Closet Indexers: Some investors use diversified Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and mutual fund-based portfolios that mirror index funds. Unfortunately, the lackluster returns from a closet index portfolio could ruin your retirement plans. When you play the middle ground, you stay there. We won’t let you.
We avoid volatile market temptations: Our focus is in long-term investing on inflation-adjusted returns, not short-term volatility. Our investment strategy will seek to avoid low quality businesses, sometimes entire sectors, when the risk-reward isn’t attractive. We’ll always benchmark our performance to help you know how you’re doing.
Do you resonate with our philosophy? Let’s get to know each other.
You deserve a financial advisor who will always put your needs first. Let’s talk about your financial goals and how to get you there.