Avocet Capital Management is led by Alan Loewy, a former VP in private banking at JP Morgan, where he managed some $300 million in client assets. He joined JP Morgan in 2009 from the investment management division of Goldman Sachs.

Loewy's new firm operates on an advisory fee-only basis, and without any outside brokerage or commission revenue, Avocet said. The firm says it is founded on the principles that affluent investors do not need to take on high levels of risk to preserve their wealth, and that “fees and trading costs matter.”