Firm : Granite Harbor Advisors

Total Value of Policies: $3.5 billion

Background : In high school, Brian Sak was the friend everyone came to with their problems. So he enrolled in Texas A&M, planning to turn his natural tendency into a career as a psychologist. Midway through college, he realized that path would require more school than he wanted, so he added a business finance minor and found financial planning through a posting at the career center. Sak started at Equitable Advisors in Houston in 2003, after the Dallas office rejected him two weeks prior, and went on to become one of the office’s top producers. In 2009, he joined Granite Harbor Advisors as a partner, then a group under Equitable. Four years later, Granite Harbor went fully independent and formed its own RIA, affiliating with Lion Street. At the time, Sak said the firm had roughly $80 million in assets. By 2020 assets had tripled to about $240 million.

Competitive Edge: Sak says his edge starts with understanding psychology, describing much of his work as behavioral, helping clients avoid panic, spot risks before they turn urgent and make choices when uncertainty might freeze them. “People don't make decisions based on the IRR expectations of their universal life policy at age 90. They make decisions based on the problem that the solution solves. That's psychology-based, not finance,” he says.

Investment Philosophy/Strategy: Sak’s philosophy starts with helping clients define what their money is actually for. “If the goal is just to have money, that's like saying the goal is to have a full tank of gas, but you don't have plans to go anywhere,” he says. The firm uses the acronym LIMIT to walk through the major risks it manages for clients: longevity, inflation, market, interest and taxes. For market risk, Sak says Granite Harbor avoids putting money clients may need soon into volatile investments, instead keeping enough in accessible, conservative assets so longer-term investments have time to ride out market swings. Taxes and legacy planning are two of the biggest concerns he is hearing from clients, with many focused on avoiding unnecessary taxes and transferring assets or ownership to the next generation.

Market Outlook: Sak is watching for opportunities in private markets that can benefit from falling interest rates. He expects rates to gradually decline over the next few years, which he believes could improve cap rates and boost sale prices for certain real estate projects, especially in multifamily housing, senior living, and build-to-suit manufacturing. At the same time, he says the rise of AI is fueling a wave of new venture companies and private-market activity.

Building Relationships : Sak says Granite Harbor’s team-based model is a major part of how it serves clients. Around 2020, he pushed to develop a more collaborative approach with each client served by a dedicated three-person team. Granite Harbor works primarily with business owners, entrepreneurs, and successful families with more complex planning needs. The firm serves roughly 500 households in 48 states.

Best Advice: Sak advises building a plan that does not change with every headline, whether clients are worried about war, a pandemic, currency shifts or market volatility. “We try to take [clients] away from current market events because there’s no way you can control what's happening in the market. Let's focus on the things that we can control: fees, taxes, diversification and behavior,” he says.