From its roots in Del Mar to its current bicoastal presence, Torrey Growth & Income Advisors has been there to meet the retirement needs of its clients. George Hoover Jr., Torrey Growth’s co-founder, recently discussed the company’s family culture, including bringing his son into the fold for an expansion to Washington D.C., and other aspects of its continued success:
Q: What types of clients does Torrey Growth & Income Advisors typically work with, and what services do you offer?
Hoover Jr.: Torrey Growth & Income Advisors is a family-owned, fee-only wealth management firm serving clients in Del Mar, throughout San Diego and across the country. Our family has been managing investments since 1967, when my late father left the U.S. Foreign Service and joined Merrill Lynch in San Diego.
We generally work with individuals and families with at least $1 million in investable assets. We tend to be most helpful when there is significant financial complexity, substantial household wealth, or both. Many clients come to us with multiple accounts, large unrealized capital gains, concentrated stock positions, equity compensation, or other holdings such as valuable real estate that need to be considered as part of the overall financial picture.
My father and I founded Torrey Growth & Income Advisors in 2006 to provide customized investment management and financial planning for clients whose needs are not always well served by large financial firms. Today, we manage more than $300 million for families across the United States, with deep roots here in San Diego.
Our services include investment management, financial planning, and wealth and legacy planning. We aim to be the place where all of these financial decisions come together. We’re also fortunate to manage investments for several donor-advised funds and private foundations, and to help families incorporate charitable giving into their financial plans.
Q: How does the company’s family ownership differentiate it from other institutions that offer similar services?
Hoover Jr.: Family ownership allows us to take a long-term approach to supporting our clients. My father served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer with the State Department in Europe and South America before joining Merrill Lynch in 1967. I joined him at a large financial institution in the 1990s, and in 2006 we left to co-found Torrey Growth & Income as an independent, fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm.
Today, my children Zealan, Kian, and Eden are part of the firm, bringing the third generation of our family into the business. Some families my father first advised decades ago are still clients today, including relatives of his former State Department colleagues from the 1960s. That continuity means a great deal to us.
We don’t have sales quotas that we’re trying to meet. And as a fee-only fiduciary, we’re paid directly by our clients rather than through commissions. That means our focus is on what investments make sense for their financial goals, not on selling a specific product.
We’re also independent, which gives us the freedom to develop investment strategies based on what we believe is appropriate for each client rather than working from an approved list of products or portfolios. That’s particularly important when clients come to us with substantial investments they’ve built over many years. Selling those investments may create unnecessary tax consequences. Instead, we can look at what clients already own and build a strategy around their financial situation.
Q: From your roots in Del Mar, how did you expand to a second location in Washington, D.C. and clients in more than 20 states?
Hoover Jr.: My father and I both grew up in Del Mar, and our family’s roots in the community go back decades. Long before entering finance, I was a Del Mar city lifeguard while competing professionally in triathlons. Given that history, it was natural that many of our clients would call San Diego home.
At the same time, we’ve had a broader geographic footprint for much of our history. Some of our earliest clients worked for the State Department and moved frequently for their careers. Later, as our local clients’ children grew up and moved away, many of them became clients as well. Today, we work with families in more than 20 states while maintaining our roots in Del Mar.
Opening an office in Washington, D.C. became a natural next step when my son Zealan joined the firm. Before joining Torrey Growth, Zealan worked at McKinsey & Company, where he advised major companies and financial institutions on corporate strategy. He also served at the White House and as a senior official at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he led major clean-energy financing programs.
Having spent years in public service, Zealan understands that federal employees often have a different set of financial considerations than people in the private sector. From our Washington, D.C. office, he leads our work with current and former federal employees. Their financial planning often involves the FERS pension, the Thrift Savings Plan, FEHB health coverage, federal ethics rules on investing, and the transition to retirement or a second career. He also works with our clients and charitable partners on the East Coast.
Q: What should people know about retirement planning before they retire?
Hoover Jr.: The years just before and just after retirement are often among the most important financial planning windows, and many people don’t realize it. Retirement isn’t simply a finish line where you reach a certain number and stop working. Several decisions around retirement can materially affect a family’s financial outlook for years afterward.
Three decisions come up particularly often. The first is the order in which you draw from taxable, tax-deferred and Roth accounts. The second is when to claim Social Security. The third is whether to make Roth conversions during the years before required minimum distributions begin.
Those decisions interact with each other, as well as with a family’s tax situation, investment portfolio and spending needs. Over a long retirement, getting those decisions right can make a meaningful difference.
That’s why we encourage people to start planning for retirement early. Five or 10 years ahead of retirement is often a much more useful time to begin the conversation than a few months before the last day at work.
Q: Does the company have any particular short- or long-term goals ahead?
Hoover Jr.: My long-term goal is for Torrey Growth & Income Advisors to still be family-owned, independent, and based in Del Mar when our clients’ grandchildren need us decades down the road.
We recently celebrated 20 years as an independent firm, and the next chapter is already underway. My children Zealan, Eden, and Kian are now part of the business, bringing the third generation of our family into the firm. Our team has grown, but we intend to remain small enough that our clients know who they’re working with and we know them.
I’m excited about having a larger team that gives us the capacity to support more families while maintaining the personal relationships that have always been central to the firm. Ultimately, I want the clients we serve to see us as trusted advisors and partners they can turn to at their most important moments over the years.
For more information, go to: torreygrowth.com or call (760) 274-2744. Torrey Growth & Income Advisors is located at 1233 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar.
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