Duluth, MN Office

Great Waters Financial serves individuals (both non‑high‑net‑worth and high‑net‑worth), as well as business entities, trusts, estates, charitable organizations and retirement plans, managing roughly $1.235 billion across about 1,627 client relationships with a 23‑advisor team. The firm provides discretionary and non‑discretionary portfolio management alongside financial planning and consulting, organized into tiered service programs that combine asset allocation, 401(k) management, income and distribution planning, tax strategy, and specialized planning for long‑term care and for clients’ children.

Investment decisions draw on both fundamental and technical analysis and employ long‑ and short‑term purchases across individual equities, fixed income, mutual funds and ETFs, including access to certain funds that may only be available through selected advisers. Portfolios are reviewed on an ongoing basis with at‑least‑quarterly reporting; the firm generally recommends Charles Schwab as custodian, treats cash as an asset class with specific cash‑sweep practices, and has an AI use policy requiring human review of AI‑generated output.

Compared with many peers, Great Waters is also licensed as an insurance agency and some representatives may sell commission‑based insurance products, a practice the firm discloses as a potential conflict of interest along with referral and marketing arrangements it maintains with outside law firms and an insurance wholesaler. The firm also provides services that are less common among peers — including optional in‑house tax preparation and access to third‑party estate‑planning technology — and permits clients, by agreement, to access higher tiers of service that can influence implementation choices.