2017
Serving clients since
100+
Utah families
$90M+
Assets under management
CFP®
Led by a CFP® professional
Fiduciary
By legal obligation
Schwab
Independent custodian

Assets under management shown as of May 2026. Canyon Strategic Wealth, LLC is a registered investment adviser; CRD #325175. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.

If you are researching wealth management in Davis County — Bountiful, Centerville, Farmington, Kaysville, or anywhere along the corridor — you are doing exactly the right thing. A household with $1 million or more in investable assets is making a decision that compounds for decades.

Rather than claim a title, this page does something more useful: it gives you six criteria for evaluating any wealth management firm, and a concrete way to verify each one. Use it on every firm you are considering. We have included how Canyon Strategic Wealth measures up against each criterion — verifiable, not asserted — so you can hold us to the same standard as everyone else.

Canyon Strategic Wealth is an independent, fiduciary registered investment adviser and virtual family office, founded in 2017 and based in Bountiful. The point of this page is not to tell you we are the best. It is to make you a sharper buyer.

A Better Question

Stop asking which firm is best. Start asking which firm is best for you.

"Best" is the wrong question because it has no fixed answer. A firm that is excellent for a retiree living on a portfolio may be a poor fit for a business owner heading toward a sale. The firm with the most assets under management is not automatically the firm that will serve you best.

The better question is structural: does this firm's standard of care, expertise, range of services, and way of working fit the financial life I actually have? That question does have an answer — and it is one you can investigate.

The six criteria below turn a vague search for the best into a checklist you can verify. A good firm will welcome the scrutiny. Be cautious of any that does not.

The Framework

Six criteria for evaluating a wealth management firm

Apply all six to every firm you consider — including this one.

  1. A fiduciary standard

    The firm should be legally obligated to act in your best interest, all of the time. To verify: confirm the firm is a registered investment adviser on the SEC's adviser site, and ask for the answer in writing. Canyon is a registered investment adviser held to a fiduciary standard, verifiable under CRD #325175.

  2. Real credentials

    Look for meaningful, hard-won credentials such as the CFP certification, not just a job title. To verify: check the credential at the issuing body's public registry. Canyon's advisor, Jake Cazier, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

  3. Transparent compensation

    You should be able to learn precisely how the firm is paid, and whether any commissions or outside payments create conflicts. To verify: ask for a plain walk-through of all compensation, and read the Form ADV and Form CRS. Canyon is fee-based — mostly advisory fees, with commissions possible on certain insurance or annuity products, always disclosed.

  4. Breadth of coordination

    For a complex financial life, investment management alone is not enough — tax, estate, insurance, and business planning all have to be coordinated. To verify: ask the firm to describe how it handles each, and how it works with your CPA and attorney. Canyon operates as a virtual family office, coordinating all of it as one strategy.

  5. An independent custodian

    Your assets should be held by a separate, independent custodian — not by the firm advising you. To verify: ask who holds the assets and who sends your statements. Canyon’s client assets are custodied at Charles Schwab; the firm never takes custody.

  6. Genuine fit

    The firm should serve households like yours, communicate the way you want, and be a relationship you can trust for decades. To verify: ask who the firm is built for, how often you will meet, and who your point of contact is — then take the complimentary first meeting and judge for yourself. Canyon is built for Utah families and business owners with $1M+ in investable assets, with two formal reviews a year and direct access between them.

In the First Meeting

Questions worth asking any firm you meet

Beyond the six criteria, a few direct questions reveal a great deal about how a firm really works.

Who, exactly, are you built to serve?

A firm that serves everyone specializes in no one. A clear, specific answer signals a firm that knows its lane.

What happens in the first year, and every year after?

You are buying an ongoing relationship, not a one-time plan. The firm should be able to describe a clear, repeatable process.

How do you work with my CPA and attorney?

The answer reveals whether the firm coordinates your whole picture or simply manages an account in isolation.

What does this cost me, in total?

You should leave with a complete, understandable picture of every fee and any other form of compensation the firm receives.

Who this framework is for

This page is written for the person doing the homework — specifically:

Hold us to the standard

If this framework is useful, use it — on every firm you are weighing, Canyon included. We wrote it because the buyers who ask the hardest questions tend to make the best decisions, and tend to become the clients we serve best.

If you would like to put these questions to us directly, a discovery call is complimentary and carries no obligation.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

There is no single best firm — there is the firm best suited to your situation. The right approach is to evaluate each firm against clear criteria: a fiduciary standard, real credentials, transparent compensation, breadth of coordination, an independent custodian, and genuine fit with your needs. This page lays out all six and how to verify them.

At a minimum: a fiduciary standard, meaningful credentials such as the CFP certification, fully transparent compensation, the ability to coordinate tax, estate, and insurance alongside investments, an independent custodian, and a clear sense of whether the firm is built for households like yours.

Confirm the firm is a registered investment adviser on the SEC's investment adviser public disclosure site, read its Form ADV and Form CRS, and ask the advisor — in writing — whether they act as a fiduciary at all times.

Not necessarily. Size can bring resources, but it can also bring rigid product menus and a less personal relationship. What matters more is the firm’s standard of care, the breadth of its coordination, and how well it fits your specific situation.

Canyon is a registered investment adviser held to a fiduciary standard (CRD #325175), led by a CFP professional, fee-based with full disclosure of any commissions, structured as a virtual family office that coordinates tax, estate, and insurance alongside investments, and using Charles Schwab as an independent custodian. We encourage you to verify each point — and to apply the same test to every firm you consider.

Canyon is a fee-based fiduciary firm. Most of our compensation comes from straightforward advisory fees for managing assets and providing planning. As a fee-based firm, we may also receive a commission on certain insurance or annuity products when a client chooses to implement one; whenever that is the case, we disclose the arrangement and the conflict of interest it creates.

See How Canyon Fits Your Financial Life

Schedule a complimentary, no-obligation discovery call. We'll talk through your situation and show you what coordinated looks like.

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