David Nolet, who worked in J.P. Morgan Securities’ private bank for 24 years, has launched a registered investment advisory under his own name in Fort Worth, Texas, he confirmed today.

For his last 12 years at J.P. Morgan, he managed the multifamily private bank at the Fort Worth office, which had $24 billion in assets under management and a staff of roughly 60. He left at the end of 2022 for personal reasons, he said.

“I needed a break, and that was an ideal time to stop and focus on what I wanted to do,” he said. “I had had a great time there, I had hired nearly everyone who worked for me, and jumping to a competitor was not something that felt right to me and not something I wanted to do.”

Instead, Nolet said he took the year stipulated in his employment agreement to recharge and strategize his next move. His registration of Nolet Wealth Management with the Securities and Exchange Commission was approved under its 120-day rule, under which a new firm attests it will have $100 million in assets under management within four months. 

“I have a really specific idea about what I want and what I can offer. This is not a story about a breakaway firm and taking a bunch of clients,” he said, adding that examining the marketplace and his own skill set led him to his value proposition. “I’m working with families with multiple generations whose liquid net worth is north of $100 million.”

What he’s offering is complete oversight of a family’s investment portfolio, including fee and asset allocation monitoring, and he plans to work with the second or third generation of families to help them find their purpose through philanthropy, new ventures and investment. That’s not a level of service that can be spread too thin, he added.

“I can do that only with a small number of clients, because I need to spend that time with the next generations,” he said. “At a typical RIA or large firm, an advisor can have 50 clients or even 100. In the next three to five years, I hope to have seven to 10 clients.”

Nolet is active in his community, and he said his first clients are coming from longstanding relationships that he’s cultivated outside of his work at J.P. Morgan. In the past, he has been on the board of the Van Cliburn Foundation and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and he currently serves in various capacities with the University of North Texas System Foundation Board, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Trinity Valley School.  

“One of the largest opportunities is someone who heard about what I wanted to do and reached out,” he said. “It’s a wonderful family that never worked with J.P. Morgan, never worked with me.”

Currently, Nolet said his office consists of himself, CPA Jared Cline and officer manager Alison Bates, and while he said he would hire additional staff as needed, he said he also has relationships with external experts to provide support.