Brian D. Holmes, MS, CFP®, AIF® is the CEO of SEIA and one of the firm’s four founding partners, who have shared more than two decades of collaboration. With over 40 years in the investment management industry, Brian leads a successful independent private practice, advising a team that serves more than 300 clients.
In 2019, Brian was named to the Barron’s Hall of Fame, recognized as one of 145 advisors nationwide who had appeared in ten or more Barron’s Top 100 Advisor Rankings. He is the only advisor from Los Angeles and Orange Counties to make the elite Barron’s Top 100 Independent Advisors for 11 consecutive years (2008-2018). Worth Magazine ranked him among the nation’s Top 250 Financial Advisors of 2008 and featured him in its “Leading Wealth & Legal Advisors” lists from 2010 to 2019.
Beyond client work, Brian has served on the Schwab Institutional Advisory Board and the UCLA Department of Economics Board of Visitors, where he helped enhance the Business Economics curriculum. He has been retained for speaking engagements by many notable clients, executive groups, corporations, and universities, and has been a guest lecturer in UCLA’s undergraduate Economics and Investments courses.
A longtime resident of Malibu, California, Brian has lived there since 1987 along with his wife, son and daughter. He is also actively involved with numerous charities in the Southern California area.
Brian received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an emphasis in Business Administration from UCLA in 1983, and a Master of Science in Financial Planning from the College of Financial Planning in 1994. He became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional in 1988, after completing the professional education program through the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. In 2011, he earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) designation from Fiduciary360, after receiving formal training in investment fiduciary responsibility. He is also a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #0657377).
The Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame is a designation by Barron’s, an American weekly magazine/newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, and was awarded in September 2019. A number of factors were considered for this ranking including but not limited to AUM, revenue, industry designations, industry tenure, and charitable and philanthropic activities. The Financial Times (FT) 400 Top Financial Advisers 2020 was awarded in April 2020 and determined based on an evaluation process conducted by Ignites Research, a division of Money-Media, Inc., on behalf of the FT, a daily newspaper with a focus on business and economic news. Neither SEIA nor its Financial Advisors paid a fee to Ignites Research or FT in exchange for the ranking. This ranking is an independent listing produced based on data gathered from RIA firms, regulatory disclosures, and the FT’s research. Criteria included six broad factors which calculate a numeric score for each adviser: assets under management, growth rate of assets under management, years of experience, compliance record, industry certifications, and online accessibility. Third-party rankings and recognitions are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation.