- Fee-onlyno commissions
- No account minimumfor investment management
- English & Spanishnatively
- Accepting new clientsIn person in Norwalk, by video, or at your Azusa business
- Fiduciaryin writing, always
- DFPI-registeredCRD #311270
- In business sinceDecember 2020
- Free 15-minute callno obligation
We work with Azusa families where one income is public or university and the other is a small business on Foothill Boulevard or Azusa Avenue — a first retirement account, a 403(b) nobody has ever explained, a rollover after a job change. Nearly two thirds of the city is Hispanic or Latino, so a good deal of the work here is done in Spanish, at whatever hour actually works.
Start with the honest part: we are 23.1 miles from Azusa
We do not have an office in Azusa, and we are not going to imply otherwise with a service-area pin. our principal office is at 12838 Rosecrans Ave in Norwalk, about 23.1 miles away. If a firm's Azusa page does not tell you where its actual office is, that is worth noticing — the August 2026 teardown of this market found out-of-area firms running dozens of city pages each, including one with a Norwalk page containing nothing about Norwalk.
So the question is not proximity. It is whether what we do is worth the drive, a video call, or us coming to you — because we do all three, and evenings run by video. Two things travel perfectly well over distance and are unusually hard to find at any distance: a fee schedule published on the website, and a fiduciary standard you can hold us to in writing. Neither requires us to be down the street.
Is your financial advisor in Azusa actually a fiduciary?
Most people assume yes. The answer depends on how the person is registered. An investment adviser representative owes a fiduciary duty — care and loyalty, across the whole relationship, and it cannot be waived. A registered representative of a broker-dealer is held to Regulation Best Interest, which attaches at the moment of a recommendation and, in the SEC's own words, imposes no duty to monitor an account absent an agreement.
Both can be good at the job. They are not the same promise. You can check any firm in ten minutes: Form ADV at adviserinfo.sec.gov, individuals on BrokerCheck, and the Form CRS. Ours is linked here, and the standard is spelled out on our fiduciary page. Aduna Capital is fee-only: paid by clients, by nobody else, with no commissions and no proprietary products. The full comparison is here →
Who we work with in Azusa
Azusa is a working city that happens to have two colleges attached to it. Azusa Pacific University sits on both sides of Citrus Avenue, Citrus College is a few minutes east over the Glendora line, and between them they put a large number of households on a campus payroll — which sounds tidy until you look at the plans. A private university runs a 403(b); a community college puts faculty in CalSTRS and classified staff in CalPERS. Two neighbours on the same street can be in completely different retirement systems, and neither has been told what that means for them.
The other Azusa runs along Foothill Boulevard and Azusa Avenue: body shops, taquerías, dental offices, contractors, market vendors, the businesses that fill in around the A Line stations at Azusa Downtown and APU/Citrus College. These are owner households, usually with a mortgage, often supporting a parent, with the entire family balance sheet sitting inside the business. The question is almost never which fund to pick. It is how to build something outside the shop that does not depend on next quarter.
A large share of households here would be the first in the family to hold an investment account at all. That is not a smaller version of ordinary planning. It is planning with a second set of obligations built into it — money sent home, a parent's medical bill, a sibling's tuition — and it deserves to be discussed in the language the family actually uses at the kitchen table. Todo nuestro material en español está aquí, and the first-generation guide is here.
The local employer base
Azusa Pacific University
A private university, so faculty and staff are in a 403(b) with no pension behind it. What decides the outcome is the contribution rate, the fund menu, the fees inside it, and whether the Roth option is being used at the right point in a career.
Citrus College
Just over the Glendora line. Faculty are CalSTRS members, classified staff are in CalPERS, and both are usually offered a 403(b) and a 457(b) as well. Which of the three to fund first is a real question with a real answer.
City of Azusa and Azusa Unified
City employees are CalPERS; district teachers are CalSTRS. Service credit purchases, tier differences and the survivor election are decisions made once and permanently, usually with no independent voice in the room.
Foothill Boulevard and Azusa Avenue businesses
Auto shops, restaurants, salons, trades and clinics. Owner households need a plan outside the business — a SEP, a Solo 401(k), or a 401(k) once there are employees — and a straight answer about what each one costs to run.
Public pensions and rollovers
Azusa is a three-system city. Azusa Unified staff are CalSTRS members, City of Azusa and Citrus College classified employees are in CalPERS, and Azusa Pacific runs a private 403(b) with no pension behind it at all. Households frequently contain two of the three. CalSTRS, CalPERS and 403(b) plans each have their own guide. One thing worth knowing if you are a CalSTRS member who also earned Social Security credits: the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset were repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act in January 2025, which reset a good deal of retirement arithmetic that had been settled for decades.
If you are leaving a job, the rollover decision is where the most money is quietly lost — the 20% mandatory withholding under IRC § 3405(c) catches people who take the cheque themselves. The four options, step by step · Seven costly mistakes · Run the numbers. For public employees: CalPERS, CalSTRS, LACERA and OCERS explained.
A first conversation about Azusa money, at no cost
Fifteen minutes on the phone. If your question has a short answer you will get it on the call, and if we are not the right firm for you we will say that too.
Our fees, published
No competing advisor page in this area publishes its fees. Here are ours.
| What | Fee |
|---|---|
| Investment management | 1.5% to 2.0% of assets per year; Advisers may set a rate below the standard schedule, as low as 0%, at their discretion — and whatever rate applies to you is disclosed in writing before you engage. Our Form ADV Part 2A, Item 5, states the fee as up to 2.00% of assets per year, subject to negotiation; the firm may waive all or part of it. Generally billed quarterly in arrears |
| Account minimum | No minimum account balance |
| Commissions and product fees | None — we are fee-only |
| Solicitor compensation | May be received or paid under disclosed arrangements |
| Initial conversation | Free, 15 minutes, no obligation |
Complete fee details in our Form ADV Part 2A, Item 5.
Azusa questions
I work at Azusa Pacific and my wife teaches for the district. Do we plan those separately?
Together, because they behave differently. Your 403(b) is a balance you own and can move; her CalSTRS benefit is a formula built from service credit, age factor and final compensation, and several of its elections cannot be undone. How much of your side should sit in stocks depends partly on how much guaranteed monthly income her side produces. Planning them in separate rooms is how households end up either far too cautious or far more exposed than anyone intended.
Our shop is on Foothill and it is just my wife and me. Are we required to do anything?
With no employees other than owners, the state mandate generally does not reach you — but the opportunity does. An owner-only business can use a SEP IRA or a Solo 401(k), and the Solo 401(k) usually allows a far larger contribution at the same income, with a Roth side available too. The comparison is here. The moment you hire someone the picture changes, and we would tell you before it becomes a penalty.
¿Puedo llevar a mis papás a la reunión?
Sí, y con frecuencia es lo más útil que se puede hacer. Muchas familias de Azusa manejan dos generaciones a la vez: la hipoteca y el retiro de ustedes, y los gastos médicos o el ingreso de sus padres. Es una sola conversación, no dos. Aquí explicamos cómo se planifica eso.
Do you actually meet clients from Azusa, or is this page just for search?
We meet them. Our office is at 12838 Rosecrans Ave in Norwalk, about 23.1 miles from Azusa — clients come to us, we come to them, or we meet by video, and evening appointments can be arranged. What we will not do is claim an office in Azusa that does not exist. Call (657) 571-2607. We are registered as an investment adviser in California.
What is the account minimum?
There isn't one to open. We ask for $50 a month of continuing deposits, because a plan you do not fund is not a plan. Our fee is 1.5% to 2.0% of assets under management per year, billed quarterly, and it is published — which is more than most firms in this market will tell you before a meeting.
¿Atienden en español?
Sí. Atendemos en español, y buena parte de nuestro material existe en español, escrito originalmente, no traducido por máquina.