By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Robert Kuhn is the president and founder of Kuhn Capital Partners, a registered investment advisory firm based in Oakbrook, Illinois. The firm manages retirement and wealth planning for individual clients using strategies Kuhn says are modeled on those used by institutional investors and family offices. Kuhn, who also hosts the firm’s weekly radio program on AM 560 WIND Chicago, says the approach is meant to close a gap between what major institutions offer wealthy clients and what average retirees receive.
Kuhn has spent more than 28 years in wealth management and retirement planning, building his practice around the idea that retirees should have access to the same tools available to institutional investors. He says the firm’s clients are primarily families, business owners and entrepreneurs approaching or already in retirement. “[They] have spent decades saving and need to make sure that money works for the life they want to live,” he says.
Kuhn’s firm is known for its use of structured bank notes, yield-bearing instruments issued by banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS and TD Bank. The notes are built in three tiers, each with a 30 percent downside buffer that keeps paying coupons unless the tracked index or stocks fall more than 30 percent. “Very few people have a strategy in their portfolio that has a 30% buffer before you don’t get paid a coupon, and we’re talking double-digit coupons,” he says. Kuhn says the firm has surpassed $100 million in new note issuance this year, which he attributes to investor demand driven by market volatility and elevated interest rates.
Kuhn also runs Bison, a private fund that takes equity stakes in Permian Basin oil and gas drilling projects operated by companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Matador Resources. He describes the fund as a tax reduction tool, saying it can lower a client’s taxable income by about $80,000 for every $100,000 invested — a benefit he says appeals to high earners offsetting large capital gains or Roth IRA conversions. Client assets in both the notes and the energy fund are held at Charles Schwab, and the energy fund is administered annually by a third-party fund administrator.
Kuhn holds periodic tax seminars for clients, including one scheduled for Nov. 11 at Gibson’s Steakhouse in Oakbrook. He is critical of advisory firms he calls “lifestyle practices,” saying complacency has replaced client advocacy at some firms. He says investor education is the most effective way to close the gap between institutional and retail investors.
Kuhn can be reached at 630-492-1912 or through kuhncp.com.
