About Avant Capital, LLC
Founded in January 2014 by Mark A. Avant and based in Lafayette, LA, our husband/wife team at Avant Capital, LLC, consists of Mark and Lisa Avant. Together the two have been trusted service providers for more than 35 combined years in the financial and insurance services industry.
A Registered Investment Advisor, the firm provides investment advisory, investment management, wealth management, insurance planning, retirement planning, college funding and employer-sponsored retirement plan services. All services, excluding the sale of traditional fixed annuities and insurance, are offered on a fee-only basis. Our clients include individuals and families, self-employed professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners and their employees, working professionals, and retirees. Having worked with many of our clients for nearly two decades, our many referrals have broadened our reach well beyond Louisiana, and now extend to Texas, Washington, California, Colorado, Mississippi, North Carolina and in between. We are currently expanding into the Florida Panhandle, with a focus on Destin and South Walton, which includes Sandestin, Miramar Beach, Blue Mountain, Grayton Beach, and Santa Rosa.
Our History: the Shift to Independence and Fee-Based Planning
In 2009, after conducting thorough research of a variety of business models and investment management methods, Mark passed the Series 65 exam. This enabled him to offer fee-based investment advisory services to his clients as an Investment Advisor Representative, adding to the services he already offered to his clients as a Registered Representative and Insurance Agent. With this expanded service offering, he was able to introduce his clients to the concept of paying a management fee based upon assets under management rather than a commission for transactions. Clients liked the overall lower internal costs of this type of investment account, and many also stated they felt that they were working together on the same team as their advisor by paying a management fee for service, as opposed to paying a commission per sale to the advisor. When completing a cost comparison of this style of investment management versus the traditional commission-based style, Mark believed this to be a fairer and more cost-efficient method of investment management, and his clients overwhelmingly agreed.
With the encouraging response and feedback from clients after five years of offering both fee-based investing and commission-based investing, Mark further researched business models in order to determine the best fit for his business. Over the years, with diligent research and taking into consideration industry and regulatory trends, he believed that in the best interest of the investors with whom he worked, it was important not be tied to any one insurance, mutual fund, or brokerage company, but rather to offer his services as a fully independent advisor. This would allow for further customization based upon the individual client and no pressure to sell proprietary products or to meet production quotas imposed by any one company. This decision eventually led to the move toward offering independent advisory services and opening the doors of Avant Capital, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, in 2014.