Welcome to the Little Rock Office
Since our launch in 2013, we’ve been committed to putting our clients first. Our team works diligently to provide exceptional service and help our clients become disciplined investors while meeting their financial goals.
Meet Your Team
Brad Raines
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Heather Berry
TEAM INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Lamar Rochell
TEAM INVESTMENT ADVISOR
David Cleveland
TAX & INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Chris Williams
CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICEROur Services
-
Create a financial plan.
Our goal is to first understand what we call your Personal Economy, which is everything you own, owe, earn, and spend. Once we fully understand your complete financial picture, we can make recommendations that align with your best interest. From there, we work with you to execute and improve your evolving financial plan.
-
There is a different way to invest.
Guided by a strong belief in efficient markets and academic research, we help clients build and manage well-diversified portfolios in a cost effective manner. We serve clients who want transparency and results. Our goal is to help clients become disciplined investors who understand the investment process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Background & Qualifications
-
We are an investment management firm built on discipline, transparency, and trust. Our Principal Investment Advisor, Brad Raines, launched the firm in 2013. Now with over 20 years of industry experience, he wanted to create a better platform to serve committed investors.
Today, we manage over $385 million in assets across our Little Rock and Nashville offices. We teach our clients how to become better investors so they can focus on enjoying their life.
-
Two minds, one mission. At Applied Capital, every client is served by a two-person advisor team led by our Principal Investment Advisor, Brad Raines. By pairing Brad’s 20 years of experience with a second layer of attention, we ensure your accounts are efficiently invested, every detail is managed, and someone who knows your story is always available.
-
For transparency and protection, we use independent third-party custodians, such as Charles Schwab or Altruist, to safely hold your investments. Applied Capital manages the investments for you or with you, but you always have direct access to your accounts.
-
We are a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) hired to work in the best interest of our clients. This means we are paid directly by our clients for our advice and investment management, which minimizes conflicts of interest common in commission-based sales structures.
-
We pride ourselves on transparency. We help you understand not just our investment management fee, but also the internal costs (expense ratios) of the investments themselves, which we strive to keep as low as possible. We believe an informed client is a more productive investor.
-
Yes. As a Registered Investment Advisor, we are legally and ethically bound to act in your best interest at all times. No gray area or seemingly justifiable motives tied to sales or questionable compensation.
-
You certainly can, provided you have the time to stay informed and the discipline to hold yourself accountable to a long-term plan. The real challenge is remaining unemotional during market swings. It’s easy to stay the course when things are calm or rising, but much harder when normal declines occur. Most of our clients hire us to act as a steady, objective hand so they can focus their time on their families and careers instead of watching and worrying about the markets.
Cost & Transparency
Financial Planning Process
-
Your personal economy is your total financial pictures including everything you own, owe, earn, and spend. We don’t just look at your investments; we look at your entire financial life to ensure every piece works together.
-
We start by bringing everything into focus. Through a document deep dive, we help you map out your personal economy, organizing everything you own, owe, earn, and spend into one clear picture.
Most clients come to us with pieces of their financial life scattered in different places. We consolidate those moving parts into a single strategy and handle the heavy lifting of the transition, so you can stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling in control.
-
It is 100% custom to you. That’s why they call it personal finance. We don’t believe in "set-it-and-forget-it" templates because your life doesn't stand still. We build what we call a living, breathing financial plan that is centered entirely on your unique personal economy.
We start by looking at your specific goals, whether that’s retiring early, funding a grandchild’s education, or selling a business, and then we build the optimal strategy to match. As your life changes and milestones shift, your plan evolves right along with you.
-
Yes. Our goal is to ensure your plan stays as dynamic as your life. After the initial setup, we maintain a regular schedule of reviews to evaluate your personal economy and update your strategy. Whether it’s a scheduled deep dive or a quick check-in during a market cycle, we are committed to being your long-term partner, not just a one time consultant.
-
Don’t worry. Your plan is designed to be flexible. Whether it’s a sudden inheritance, a career change, or a shift in your retirement timeline, we are here to help you navigate those transitions. We proactively adjust your strategy to ensure it stays aligned with your new reality, making sure your money is always working for where you are now.
-
We believe in efficient markets and academic research rather than trying to "beat" the market through speculation. We focus on cost effective, well diversified portfolios that prioritize long term discipline over short term trends. Just because it may seem simple and boring doesn’t mean it’s less effective. We choose this investment approach because it has shown to be more productive over time than any other strategy.
-
It means your money is managed based on decades of financial data and Nobel Prize-winning economic theories, focusing on factors that historically drive returns like asset allocation and low internal costs.
-
No. We believe market timing is a losing game. Instead, we capture market returns through a disciplined strategy that stays invested across various sectors and global markets. We think like a casino, not a gambler. Our adjustments are not predictive, but rather reactive taking advantage of what we know to be true. We do not want our investment results hinging on hope similar to the outcome of a gambler.
-
We manage risk through strategic diversification and by ensuring your portfolio is aligned with your specific personal economy, meaning we don't take more risk than your goals require. Our clients only take compensated risk meaning that they will always be paid in exchange for tolerating certain risks. We nearly mitigate and highly discourage potentially uncompensated risk which is usually associated with concentrated positions and predictive moves.
Investment Approach
-
The first step is a simple, no-obligation conversation. You can click "Ask a Question" or "Connect with an Advisor" on our website to schedule a brief introductory call.
-
As often as you need us. Our goal is to manage our capacity where your advisor team is always easily accessible. Since we focus on managing your investments rather than selling you products, you’ll never get a sales pitch call from us. Instead of forcing a rigid schedule, we leave the door open for you to reach out whenever you have a question or want to review your portfolio. We’
-
We believe our value should keep you here, not a restrictive contract. If it becomes evident that we are no longer the right fit for your needs, there is no hassle and no penalty to end the relationship. We maintain an open door policy. We make the transition as smooth and professional as possible, because we believe you should always have total freedom over who manages your personal economy.
-
Yes! Many of our most successful partnerships began as referrals from current clients. We are always open to discussing potential relationships with your friends, family, or colleagues to ensure they receive the same level of care and professional oversight you have come to expect from us.