By Ranga Srinivasan and Ramprasad Satagopan
As financial advisors in Cupertino, CA, Everest strives to provide guidance and education on wealth management matters. We hope this article sheds some light on your questions and concerns.
As we head into the holiday season, we would like to reflect back on the progress we have made in 2025. We would like to start by expressing our heartfelt gratitude to all our clients who have entrusted us with the responsibility to be stewards of their hard-earned wealth. The financial markets have had another great year; this brings peace of mind and cheer to the families we serve and us as their advisors.
Since our inception, we have continually looked to add more value and expand our service offering to benefit our clients, and 2025 has been no different.
Our Growth in Numbers
Key Milestones in 2025
- Larry Swedroe, a widely respected investing expert and author, joined Everest as an investment consultant this year. He brings deep experience building portfolios that use both public and private markets, strengthening how we help families pursue strong long-term results.
- Bong-Seok Choi joined Everest in a strategic advisory role. He brings more than 20 years of experience in portfolio design and manager selection for single-family and multi-family offices. His leadership background as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Investment Strategist adds valuable expertise to our investment process.
- To reflect our broader services, we rebranded as Everest Private Wealth. What began with public market stock and bond portfolios has expanded to include private market investments, advanced tax and insurance strategies, estate and debt planning, and philanthropic advisory. Our fiduciary charter remains unchanged as we focus on improving ways to help families grow their wealth.
- Everest was honored by two leading industry publications in 2025. AdvisorHub named Everest to its national “Advisors to Watch” list at #83, and Financial Advisor Magazine recognized Everest as the second fastest-growing firm in the $250–$500M Assets Under Management category.
Key Service Enhancements in 2025
Everest achieved several meaningful platform and strategy upgrades this year that directly enhance client portfolio tax efficiency, risk management, and income generation across public, private, and insurance-based solutions.
PPLI SMA Access With Axcelus
- Everest was approved for Separately Managed Account (SMA) access inside Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) with Axcelus, one of the industry’s leading private placement carriers.
- SMA access allows flexible, open-architecture portfolio management inside PPLI rather than being limited to a pre-set menu of Insurance Dedicated Funds. This allows for cheaper fund costs combined with a broader selection of fund offerings. The combination presents a powerful way to increase estate transfer for wealthy families.
- The qualification and due diligence process for this SMA mandate was highly selective; only a small fraction of RIA firms receive this level of access.
Concentrated Stock and Tax Strategies
Everest added two new solutions for concentrated stock diversification and tax management: a Section 351 exchange structure and a Long/Short SMA structure.
In 2025, clients allocated over $20 million into the Section 351 exchange strategy and approximately $3 million into the Long/Short SMA.
Clients have continued to diversify concentrated stock through exchange funds and separately managed direct indexing accounts, both of which have been available for a few years now.
Retirement Income From Core Infrastructure
Everest expanded income solutions for retirees using core infrastructure investments targeting approximately 8–10% yields in a tax-deferred manner. This allows an efficient method to generate income during retirement without having to touch the principal, thus buffering the portfolio during market declines.
Improved Downside Protection
Everest strengthened downside protection by implementing a trend-following hedge fund solution in a tax-managed format, with more than $5 million allocated to this strategy. This strategy is particularly helpful during long and deep market declines.
Debt and Liability Management
Everest has entered into multiple partnerships (Sora Finance, Arin Risk Advisors, and Tri-state Capital Bank) to allow enhanced solutions for borrowing. For both short-term and long-term borrowing, we have the ability to secure loans at more attractive interest rates than what was available earlier.
Continuing Education
We continue to be active in the area of continuing education. We attended several conferences in 2025. Some noteworthy to mention include:
- Citywire RIA Summit (Nashville)
- South Dakota Trust and Estate Conference (Sioux Falls)
- iCapital RIA Engage 2025 (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Source50 Summit (Scottsdale)
- Nevada Trust and Estate Conference (Las Vegas)
- Risk Mitigation Forum (New York)
Charitable Giving
We have been working with some of you to include charitable giving through donor-advised funds. Giving influences society in positive ways and can be rewarding, both emotionally and by saving you on taxes. No matter what your goals are, there are ways to optimize the process.
Examples:
- For a one-time donation: Cash donations are okay, but donating appreciated securities is ideal.
- To give throughout the year: Set up a donor-advised fund with stocks or cash.
- Retirees wanting to do more: Use QCDs and designate charities as beneficiaries of IRAs.
- Combine legacy planning and charity: Set up Charitable Trusts (CRUTs and CRATs).
Everest has gained expertise in this area through our partner firms, so please feel free to schedule a discussion on how you can take advantage of these solutions.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Our goals for the next year continue to be the same: expand the service offering and improve the financial outcomes for our clients. We have identified several items on our road map for 2026, ranging from tax planning and estate planning to additional investment opportunities in both the public and private markets.
Stay Connected
We encourage our clients to schedule annual reviews with us, so we can go over details of the solution we have in place for you. It will also be a great opportunity to discuss elements of our service offerings that have been enhanced, and how you can take advantage of it.
Everest has grown primarily through the referrals and introductions provided by our clients. We are deeply appreciative of your support and hope you keep us in mind when financial conversations take place with your friends and family.
About Ranga
Ranga Srinivasan is co-founder and principal at Everest Private Wealth, an SEC-registered wealth advisory firm based in Silicon Valley and serving clients across the United States. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati in the field of engineering, Ranga, witnessed the dot-com collapse in the early 2000s and sought to manage his own personal finances. He realized that many of the options available were unsatisfactory for a myriad of reasons. Knowing it could be done better, Everest was founded in 2007 to provide comprehensive wealth management. Ranga and the Everest team are dedicated to caring for the financial needs of the families they serve. With an emphasis on building trust and holding to the fiduciary standard of putting clients first, Ranga strives to offer financial solutions that inspire confidence.
In his free time, Ranga is passionate about staying active; you can often find him swimming, golfing, biking, and playing tennis. He also has a great love for charity and philanthropy work. To learn more about Ranga, connect with him on LinkedIn.
About Ramprasad
Ramprasad Satagopan is co-founder and principal at Everest Private Wealth, an SEC-registered wealth advisory firm based in Silicon Valley and serving clients across the United States. As a self-made, highly educated first-generation immigrant, Ramprasad became passionate about investing after witnessing the dot-com collapse in the early 2000s. He created Everest to help his peer engineering community to build household wealth in a systematic way. Everest has grown over the years while staying true to its fiduciary commitment. Ramprasad and the Everest team take pride in being a firm that brings a reputable, honest, and caring approach to all its clients.
Ramprasad graduated from both the University of Cincinnati and the University of Phoenix with a master’s degree in science and business administration, respectively. When he’s not helping families build a strong financial future, Ramprasad can be found enjoying traveling and reading. To learn more about Ramprasad, connect with him on LinkedIn.
Disclosures:
The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice and it should not be relied on as such. It should not be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell a security. It does not take into account any investor’s particular investment objectives, strategies, tax status or investment horizon. You should consult your attorney or tax advisor.
The views expressed in this commentary are subject to change based on market and other conditions. These views may contain certain statements that may be deemed forward‐looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed as indicative of actual events that will occur.
Investing in REITs involves certain distinct risks in addition to those risks associated with investing in the real estate industry in general. Equity REITs may be affected by changes in the value of the underlying property owned by the REITs, while mortgage REITs may be affected by the quality of credit extended. REITs are subject to heavy cash flow dependency, default by borrowers and self-liquidation. REITs, especially mortgage REITs, are also subject to interest rate risk (i.e., as interest rates rise, the value of the REIT may decline).
No investment strategy or risk management technique can guarantee returns or eliminate risk in any market environment. All investments include a risk of loss that clients should be prepared to bear. The principal risks of Everest Private Wealth strategies are disclosed in the publicly available Form ADV Part 2A.
Everest Private Wealth is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Everest Private Wealth and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure.