Newport Beach, CA Dove Street Office

J. Derek Lewis & Associates, Inc. advises individuals (both non‑HNW and high‑net‑worth), pension and profit‑sharing plans, charities and businesses with discretionary and non‑discretionary portfolio management focused primarily on mutual funds and ETFs, and it also provides advice on Section 529 college savings plans and third‑party manager arrangements. In its Form ADV the firm reports about $2.28 billion in regulatory AUM across roughly 7,943 accounts and operates with a team of about 12 advisors.

The firm’s process emphasizes investor profiling, a formal investment policy guideline and proprietary risk models to build mutual fund/ETF asset allocations, with implementation and custody typically handled through Charles Schwab or directly through mutual fund transfer agents. Monitoring is framed for longer‑term mutual fund and ETF holdings—annual reviews are standard with more frequent reviews as needed—and JDLA may place portions of client portfolios with third‑party managers when individualized separately managed accounts are preferred.

JDLA is atypical among multi‑team firms in several ways: it operates with a very high client‑to‑advisor load (several hundred accounts per advisor), maintains an affiliated broker‑dealer (JDLS) and an insurance agency whose licensed personnel can receive commissions (the brochure discloses fee offsets for certain 12b‑1 payments). The firm also documents use of third‑party managers and pension consulting relationships (for example, Lederer & Associates as a sub‑advisor), and discloses related conflict‑of‑interest controls rather than offering standalone comprehensive financial planning as a primary product.