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Covenant Wealth Advisors

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Richmond, VA
Covenant Wealth Advisors

We do our best work helping clients age 50 plus who have over $1 million in investments and retirement savings.

Covenant Wealth Advisors is an independent, fiduciary, fee-only financial advisory firm and financial planner specializing in retirement income planning, investment management, and tax planning. Founded in 2010, Covenant Wealth Advisors is an independent, fee-only financial planning firm and fiduciary advisor serving clients in Richmond VA, Williamsburg VA, and virtually across 21 states in the U.

S.

Our mission is to help individuals retire with peace of mind through a lifetime of clarity, insight, and partnership. Our financial planning, retirement income planning, and investment management services help you enjoy life without the stress of money. As a fiduciary, we are required by law to always put client interests first. Rather than simply sell products, we take the time to personalize strategies around your total financial life. As a fee-only firm, we never charge commissions or accept third-party payments. While technology drives our work, we're driven by real relationships and transparent communication. A culture of learning, teamwork, and dedication to always doing what's right for our clients drives Covenant's people.

07/16/2026

66% of individual stocks trailed their own index over 40 years.

After the run tech stocks have had this year, a portfolio that started the year balanced can end it concentrated — one position quietly doing all the heavy lifting.

J.P. Morgan studied every stock in the Russell 3000 from 1980 to 2020. The odds facing any single stock were sobering.

The numbers:

→ 66% delivered worse returns than the index itself
→ 42% lost money outright over their lifetime
→ More than 40% fell 70%+ from their peak and never recovered
→ Only about 1 in 10 became a "megawinner"

To be fair: a concentrated position may be how you built your wealth in the first place. And unwinding one has real trade-offs — capital gains taxes and IRMAA surcharges (if 65 and over) chief among them. The right move depends on your situation.

But hope is not a plan. If a single stock now dominates your portfolio, put the exit rules in writing before the market writes them for you: staged sales, charitable gifts of appreciated shares, an exchange fund, and more...

Educational only — not individualized advice.

07/15/2026

79% of active large-cap funds lost to the S&P 500 last year.

And 2025 was supposed to be a stock picker's market — a near-bear-market drop in April, the highest S&P 500 dispersion since 2009, then a sharp recovery.

It was still the fourth-worst year for active large-cap managers in the 25-year history of the SPIVA Scorecard.

The numbers:

→ 79% of active large-cap U.S. funds trailed the S&P 500 — up from 65% in 2024

→ 82% of investment-grade bond funds trailed their benchmark

→ The exception: only 41% of small-cap funds underperformed

Some managers do beat their index. The problem is picking them in advance — and SPIVA finds underperformance rates rise as time horizons lengthen. Over 15 years, no fund category shows majority outperformance.

On a $2M+ portfolio, the cost of funds that trail their benchmark compounds quietly for decades. Review every active holding against its index — net of fees — over a full decade, not last year's leaderboard.

Is there any part of your portfolio where you'd still pay up for active management?

Educational only — not individualized advice.

07/14/2026

The 2026 estate tax exemption was scheduled to fall to roughly $7M.

Instead, it's $15 million per person — $30 million for a married couple. Last year's tax law canceled the scheduled sunset, raised the exemption, and made it permanent, indexed to inflation.

The numbers:

→ 2017: $5.49M per person
→ 2018: $11.18M after the exemption doubled
→ 2026: $15M — up $1.01M from 2025 alone

For most households under $15M, federal estate tax is now off the table. But "permanent" removes the urgency, not the planning:

Several states tax estates at far lower thresholds — some starting around $1M — regardless of the federal number.

Portability isn't automatic. A surviving spouse only inherits the deceased spouse's unused exemption if the executor files an estate tax return at the first death, even when no tax is owed.

And a $15M estate growing at 7% can outrun an exemption growing at the pace of inflation. The gap compounds quietly.

Permanent also means "until Congress changes it." Documents written for the old sunset may now be doing the wrong job — worth a review.

Educational only — not individualized advice.

07/09/2026

The average fund investor gave up 1.2% a year — to their own trading.

Morningstar's Mind the Gap study compares what funds returned to what the average dollar inside them actually earned, over the decade ending 2024.

Funds: 8.2% a year. Investors: 7.0%.

The difference isn't fees. It's timing — money tends to move in after gains and out after losses.

The numbers:

→ The 1.2-point annual gap equals roughly 15% of the return funds generated over the decade

→ Investors in all-in-one allocation funds kept nearly 97% of their funds' return — the narrowest gap measured

→ Funds with the heaviest trading activity showed 1.8-point gaps, vs. 0.8 for the most stable

Scale it: apply those two rates to a hypothetical $2M portfolio for ten years and the ending values differ by roughly $465K. Hypothetical
example, for illustration only.

To be fair, not every dollar of the gap is a mistake — retirees withdrawing income create some of it mechanically. But the pattern
holds: the less discretionary trading, the more return kept. Consider fewer, broader holdings, scheduled rebalancing, and a written rule for
when you'll actually trade.

Our free retirement checklists can help you pressure-test a trade before you make it — link in the first comment.

Educational only — not individualized advice.

07/08/2026

A Roth conversion this year can raise your Medicare bill in 2028.

Medicare doesn't look at what you earn today. It looks at your tax return from two years ago.

So the conversions, capital gains, and big IRA withdrawals you take in 2026 set your premiums in 2028 — long after the decision is made.

And these aren't gradual phase-ins. They're cliffs.

The numbers (2026, joint filers, per person):

→ Standard Part B premium: $202.90/month

→ Cross $218K of MAGI by even $1 and it jumps to $284.10 — about $975 more per year, per spouse

→ Above $410K, Part B alone runs $649.20/month, before Part D surcharges

None of this means skipping a smart conversion. Paying two years of higher premiums to move six figures out of a future RMD problem can
still be the right trade. It means knowing which tier the income lands in before you pull the trigger — and whether a few thousand
dollars less keeps you under a line.

Brackets adjust with inflation, so 2028's thresholds will sit slightly higher. The lookback rule won't change.

Educational only — not individualized advice.

07/07/2026

Workers plan to retire at 65. Retirees actually left at 62.

That three-year gap has held for decades, and this year it widened: 46% of retirees left earlier than planned, up from 40% last year.

And it usually wasn't a choice. In 76% of unplanned early exits, the cause was outside the person's control — a health problem, a layoff, or a family member who needed care.

The numbers, from EBRI's 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey:

→ Median expected retirement age: 65. Median actual: 62.

→ 39% of workers expect to work to 70 or beyond — only 10% of retirees actually did

→ 29% of retirees were done before 60. Just 12% planned to be.

For a household with $1M+ saved, three fewer earning years means three fewer years of contributions, three more years of withdrawals, and a health-coverage gap before Medicare at 65. If your plan only works when you work to 65, it isn't finished. Run it again at 62 and see what changes — savings rate, spending, or claiming strategy.

If work ended for you three years early, would your plan still hold?

Educational only — not individualized advice.

07/04/2026

Honored and grateful: Covenant Wealth Advisors has been named to Worth magazine’s Top RIA Firms list for 2026.

Fitting that we get to share this on Independence Day 🇺🇸 — because independence is one of the things this recognition is actually measuring.

Worth’s Leading Advisors program, developed with Institutional Shareholder Services using SEC regulatory filings, screens for firms with over $500 million under management, a predominantly high-net-worth client base, a deep focus on financial planning, and complete independence from broker-dealers.

That last one matters most to us. As a fee-only fiduciary, the only people who pay us are our clients. No commissions, no product sales, no divided loyalties. That’s been our model since day one, and it’s the reason recognition like this means something.

Two thank-yous:

-To our financial advisory team in Richmond, Reston, and Williamsburg VA — this is your award. The care you bring to every plan, every review, every phone call is what builds a firm worth recognizing.

And to our clients — thank you for trusting us with what you’ve spent a lifetime building. Helping you retire with confidence is the privilege of our careers.

I’m grateful to live in a country where freedom gives hard work a chance to flourish. We see it every day in the clients we serve.

Happy Fourth of July!

Disclosure: Covenant Wealth Advisors was named to Worth magazine’s Top RIA Firms 2026 list, published July 2026 by Worth Media Group in collaboration with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), based on data from SEC Form ADV filings. Selection criteria include AUM over $500M, a predominantly high-net-worth clientele, substantial planning clientele, and independence from broker-dealers. Covenant did not pay a fee to be considered for or included on the list. Third-party ratings are not indicative of future performance or any client’s experience.

04/15/2026

We're honored to share that Covenant Wealth Advisors has been named one of USA Today's Best Financial Advisory Firms in the United States for 2026 — ranking 3rd out of 21 firms in the state of Virginia.

This recognition, developed by USA Today in partnership with Statista, is based on the growth of our assets under management and, importantly, recommendations from clients and industry peers. That second piece is what means the most to us.

Because this isn't about a ranking on a list. It's about the families who trust us to help them navigate retirement with confidence. It's about the clients who refer their friends and neighbors because they believe in what we do. And it's about a team that shows up every single day committed to doing right by the people we serve.

To our clients — thank you for your trust. You are the reason we exist, and rankings like this are simply a reflection of the relationships we've built together.

To the Covenant Wealth Advisors team — you guys rock! Your preparation, your attention to detail, your genuine care for every family that walks through our doors. None of this happens without you.

We're a fee-only, fiduciary firm in Virginia, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Here's to continuing to earn the trust placed in us — one family at a time.

Winners list: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/04/14/top-best-financial-adviser-firms-2026/89482619007/

Awarded each March based on data from a 12-month period through January 2026.

Address

8001 Franklin Farms Drive, RM 208
Richmond, VA

Opening Hours

Monday	8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 5pm
Thursday	8:30am - 5pm
Friday	8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+17572590111

Website

http://www.covenantwealthadvisors.com/

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