ABOUT ACADIA · CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
Years guiding clients through every market
We're paid only by our clients.
Your interest always comes first.
An owner-operated firm.
Your money is held at Fidelity or Schwab.
THE FOUNDER
Frank has been in the investment business for more than thirty years. The first twenty were at large Wall Street firms, including Kemper Investments, Wheat First Butcher Singer, Robinson Humphrey, Avondale Partners, and MicroCapital.
In 2010, he started his own practice in Charlottesville to build a firm where clients worked directly with the same advisor year after year. It began as Tell-Tale Capital and later became Acadia Wealth Advisors, named after Acadia National Park.
In 2006, Frank was named a Forbes StarMine Stock Picker, an award given to analysts and portfolio managers for the accuracy of their published calls. He has managed client money through every major market cycle since the mid-1990s, including 2008 and 2020. Experience of that depth matters most when markets turn.
APPROACH
Frank’s approach is long-term and built around each client’s goals, timeline, and tolerance for risk. He doesn’t chase trends or react to whatever the market is doing this month.
We favor equity investing as the primary way to grow assets over time. Client portfolios are built using two core strategies, weighted to match where each person is in their investment life.
G@RY (Growth at the Right Yield) is a research framework Frank developed. It screens more than a thousand stocks each day against a set of growth, yield, and quality measures. The screen favors companies with steady earnings, reasonable valuations, and consistent dividends. That research informs portfolio decisions where it fits the client’s strategy. When a different investment is a better match, that’s what goes in the portfolio.
Growth & Opportunity uses the same screening foundation with a greater emphasis on companies positioned for above-average growth. The selection involves more qualitative judgment alongside the quantitative screen.
The balance between the two strategies depends on where a client is in their investment life. We think of it in three stages: accumulation (building wealth), conservation (protecting it), and distribution (drawing income or gifting). These stages overlap and shift as life changes. Every client’s mix is different, and when bonds or alternatives belong in the picture, we add them. For a closer look at what we own and how the strategies work in practice, see our Investment Management page.
PERSONAL
Frank's son Nino is nonverbal autistic. Nino is the reason Frank has spent years working through financial planning questions specific to families with a special needs child, in his own life and in his client work. That work is now its own service at Acadia.
STRUCTURE & CREDENTIALS
How Acadia is organized, what rules the firm answers to, and the credentials behind the advice.
Acadia is a Registered Investment Advisor that operates independently. Frank owns the firm, makes the decisions, and is accountable directly to clients.
As a fiduciary, Frank is required to put the client's interests first in every recommendation he makes.
Clients pay Acadia directly for advice and management. That's the only way Frank gets paid.
Client accounts are held at Fidelity or Schwab. We manage the accounts, the custodian holds the assets, and the two functions stay separate. Clients log in to their custodian directly to see balances, holdings, and every transaction at any time.
Frank is pursuing the Certified Financial Planner designation, with the exam scheduled for November 2026. Planning work is already part of how the firm serves clients today, and the credential will add a formal layer to that work.
No parent company, no outside investors, no sales targets. Frank built the firm and runs the firm. Decisions about how the firm operates are his alone.
The Firm Brochure (Form ADV Part 2) covers our services, fees, conflicts of interest, and regulatory disclosures in detail. It’s publicly filed and always current.
LET'S TALK
The first step is a free call. You share what’s on your mind, Frank asks questions, and by the end you have a clearer sense of whether there’s a reason for a second conversation.
