- Fee-onlyno commissions
- No account minimumfor investment management
- English & Spanishnatively
- Accepting new clientsIn person in Norwalk, by video, or at your Palmdale business
- Fiduciaryin writing, always
- DFPI-registeredCRD #311270
- In business sinceDecember 2020
- Free 15-minute callno obligation
Palmdale households split three ways: aerospace and defense on the production side at Plant 42, federal civilian work with FERS and the Thrift Savings Plan, and a large commuting population that bought a house here for what it cost. Nearly 64% of the city is Hispanic or Latino, so a good deal of the work here is done in Spanish, and in the evening by video.
Start with the honest part: we are 57.8 miles from Palmdale
We do not have an office in Palmdale, and we are not going to imply otherwise with a service-area pin. our principal office is at 12838 Rosecrans Ave in Norwalk, about 57.8 miles away. If a firm's Palmdale 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 Palmdale 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 Palmdale
Air Force Plant 42 is a government-owned production and flight test complex on the north side of Palmdale, and the manufacturers operating out of it — Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and their supply chains — make it the single most important economic fact about the city. Around it sit Palmdale Regional Medical Center, the Antelope Valley Mall, the school districts, and a very large residential base spreading east and west of the 14 along Rancho Vista Boulevard and Avenue S.
Two retirement systems dominate and they are nothing alike. Federal civilian employees are in FERS: an annuity, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan with agency contributions worth up to 5% of pay. Contractor employees are in private 401(k) plans, often with restricted stock units, sometimes with a pension frozen years ago that still sits there quietly. People move between the two sides far more than outsiders realise, and the result is a household with a small deferred federal annuity, a TSP balance, two old 401(k)s and no single page showing what any of it adds up to. Reconstructing that is usually where we start.
The third Palmdale is the commuting one. A great many families are here because a house cost what a house ought to cost, and they pay for it with two or three hours a day on the 14 or on the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line into Union Station. That is a real financial structure: a long mortgage, high transport costs, and an earner who is away for most of the waking day. It makes automatic saving essential — money that moves on payday without anyone having to remember — and it makes disability and life cover a genuine question rather than a sales pitch, which we will look at without selling you any. Nuestro material en español · el 401(k) explicado.
The local employer base
Air Force Plant 42 contractors
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and their suppliers. Private 401(k) plans, frequently with restricted stock units that are taxed at vesting and then need an actual decision about whether to go on holding the shares.
Federal civilian employees
FERS participants with the Thrift Savings Plan: a five-fund menu plus Lifecycle funds, at costs almost no private plan matches. The agency match is worth 5% of pay and is the first line to check on any pay stub.
Palmdale Regional Medical Center and health care
Nurses, technicians and support staff in private 401(k) or 403(b) plans with vesting schedules on the match. A move between employers before the vesting date has a specific price attached, and it is usually not mentioned at the interview.
Palmdale School District and Antelope Valley Union High School District
Teachers in CalSTRS, classified staff in CalPERS, with 403(b) and 457(b) options on campus of extremely variable quality. A district salary is often the stable half of a household whose other half is contract work.
Public pensions and rollovers
Palmdale's public-pension picture is federal first and Californian second. FERS is a three-part system and the Thrift Savings Plan is the part the household actually controls, so it deserves the attention. Where a spouse teaches or works for the city, CalSTRS or CalPERS enters the picture, and the two sets of rules have nothing to do with one another — different vesting, different survivor elections, different treatment in a divorce. Anyone with service on both sides should have it mapped once, properly, well before retirement. CalSTRS · CalPERS · retirement projection.
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 Palmdale 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.
Palmdale questions
My RSUs vested and the tax bill was enormous. What did I do wrong?
Probably nothing. Restricted stock is taxed as ordinary income on its value at vesting, and the shares withheld to cover it are often not enough at higher incomes, so a shortfall lands at filing. The larger question is what you do with the shares afterwards. Holding them is a decision to buy your employer's stock with after-tax money, which is not the same thing as having been given it — and a household whose salary and savings both depend on one company is more concentrated than it looks from inside.
Between the 14 and the job I have no time. Is any of this doable remotely?
Entirely. Video meetings, documents shared on screen, evening appointments over video — and the plan itself built to run without you: contributions automatic on payday, rebalancing automatic, and a written order of operations so the decisions are already made when you are too tired to make them. If you would rather do it in person, the office is on Rosecrans in Norwalk and people do combine it with a trip down. Book fifteen minutes.
¿Trabajan con familias que tienen un negocio pequeño aquí en Palmdale?
Sí. Muchos negocios del Antelope Valley — construcción, restaurantes, talleres, limpieza y jardinería — ya están obligados a ofrecer acceso a un plan de retiro en California, y el dueño también necesita el suyo propio. Aquí explicamos las opciones y aquí están las guías por industria. La primera llamada no tiene costo.
Do you actually meet clients from Palmdale, or is this page just for search?
We meet them. Our office is at 12838 Rosecrans Ave in Norwalk, about 57.8 miles from Palmdale — 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 Palmdale 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.