stuart and carlyon

What stuart and carlyon does

Stuart Carlyon is a privately held, boutique financial advisory firm based in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, founded around 2010 by Susanna Stuart and Deborah Carlyon following their departure from PwC, where they accumulated a combined 21 years of experience. Mark Patton subsequently joined as a third Director and Financial Adviser. The firm serves affluent individuals and families, with a particular focus on pre-retirees and retirees, providing personalized financial planning, tailor-made investment portfolio management, retirement income planning, and trust and estate advisory services under a fee-based, non-commission model.

The core product is a unified financial planning engagement supported by a network of investment, tax, and legal specialists. Service delivery is organized into discrete modules — Build Your Wealth, Enjoy Your Wealth, and Trust and Estate Planning — and is supplemented by an online client portal hosted on mywealth.net.nz and a quarterly newsletter program. The firm explicitly differentiates itself from the commission-based, product-focused segment of the New Zealand financial services industry by emphasizing a disciplined, diversification-led investment philosophy and a life-goal orientation rather than product distribution.

Revenue is generated through recurring advisory fees, with customer acquisition driven almost entirely by referrals from existing clients, accountants, and solicitors, supplemented by content marketing through the firm's blog and newsletter. Operating geography is limited to a single country (New Zealand), with services concentrated in the Auckland metropolitan area. The firm has no disclosed institutional ownership, external funding, or material technology assets beyond its client portal, and no disclosed AI or automation capabilities underpinning its advisory workflow.

Name

stuart and carlyon

Legal name

Stuart Carlyon

Website

https://stuartcarlyon.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Stuart Carlyon is a boutique, fee-based financial advisory firm in Auckland, New Zealand, providing personalized financial planning, investment management, and retirement and estate advisory services to affluent individuals, families, and retirees. Founded in 2010 by ex-PwC practitioners, the firm relies on referrals from clients, accountants, and solicitors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Advisory Services

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Fee-Only Advisory (FSAEAAAL)

Keywords

• Financial planning services
• Investment advisory
• Wealth management
• Estate planning
• Retirement planning

Headquarters

HQ city

Parnell

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Financial Advisory Fees: Boutique fee-based financial planning and investment advisory service. The firm creates tailor-made investment portfolios and provides ongoing financial planning advice to help clients achieve life goals and maintain income requirements throughout retirement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Stuart and Carlyon is a boutique, fee-based (not commission-based) financial advisory firm in Auckland, New Zealand, that delivers investment management and financial planning to individuals and families. The practice is built around two life-stage service streams — wealth building and wealth enjoyment — supported by integrated trust and estate planning advice. The founders bring combined 21 years of PwC experience, and the firm emphasizes diversification, personalized goal-based planning, and transparent fee structures.

Product overview

Stuart Carlyon operates as a boutique, fee-based financial advisory firm offering a unified financial planning service. The core offering combines personalized financial planning with investment portfolio management, supported by a network of investment, tax, and legal specialists. Key services include Wealth Building Advisory, Investment Management, Wealth Enjoyment Advisory (retirement planning), and Trust and Estate Planning. The firm also provides a client portal (Portfolio Login) and regular newsletter publications. The company emphasizes a holistic approach that integrates financial goals with broader life objectives, moving beyond traditional product-focused advisory models.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Financial Planning Services Core fee-based financial planning service for individuals and families in New Zealand, covering goal setting, cash-flow modeling, and a coordinated roadmap across the wealth building and wealth enjoyment life stages.
• Investment Management
• Wealth Building Advisory
• Wealth Enjoyment Advisory
• Trust and Estate Planning

Quantifiable outcome

• Shielded clients from failures during Global Financial Crisis by avoiding finance companies and CDOs

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NZXWTcoreOthersCustodian for client portfolios holding bank deposits. Bank deposits in client portfolios held by NZXWT are protected under the Reserve Bank Depositor Compensation Scheme (DCS) up to $100,000.
• Goodman Property GroupminorOthersProperty holding in client investment portfolios. Goodman Property delivered strong performance due to owning light industrial property. The firm was invited to tour Goodman's industrial properties in south and west Auckland.
• Kiwi Property GroupminorOthersProperty holding in client investment portfolios. Kiwi Property Group owns Sylvia Park Mall and The Base in Hamilton. Referenced as highest rated NZ company within CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) and member of FTSE4Good.
• MagellanminorOthersFund manager referenced in client portfolio investments. Magellan highlighted Italy's economic situation as reason for increasing cash weighting in their Global Fund in which many client portfolios are invested.
• PwCminorOthersFormer employer of founders. Founders shared combined 21 years of experience at PwC before establishing the boutique firm in response to dissatisfaction with the product-focused commission-based business model dominating the industry.
• WWFminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCharitable partnership. Firm sponsored a whale tail sculpture as part of the Whale Tales art project supporting WWF's work to protect Bryde's whales in the Hauraki Gulf. Sculpture created by Jeff Thomson from corrugated iron.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Milford Asset Management: NZ boutique-style investment manager with active funds used by many HNZ advisers; comparable through shared NZ retail/HNW client base and discretionary portfolio management.
• Booster Investment Management: NZ wealth/KiwiSaver and advisory business serving individuals and families with retirement savings and financial planning products; comparable in retail/affluent client focus and KiwiSaver-centric planning.
• Fisher Funds: NZ-based investment manager providing managed funds and KiwiSaver products, with comparable retail/affluent client base and overlap in investment philosophy and portfolio construction.
• Forsyth Barr: NZ-headquartered wealth advisory and investment firm offering personalized financial planning, investment management, and retirement advice to individuals and families — directly comparable boutique/mid-scale advisory serving HNZ clients.
• HUB24 Limited: Australia-headquartered wealth platform providing portfolio administration and investment solutions to financial advisers and their HNW clients — a comparable platform-enabled advisory model, though Australia-focused.
• Jarden (formerly First NZ Capital): NZ wealth and investment advisory offering personalized portfolio advice, retirement planning, and KiwiSaver services to individuals — a comparable HNZ-focused advisory peer with similar fee-based advice elements.
• Craigs Investment Partners: New Zealand boutique investment advisory providing wealth management, investment advice, and portfolio services to individuals and families, closely aligned with Stuart Carlyon's HNW focus and personalized planning model.
• Perpetual Guardian: NZ trust, estate and wealth advisory firm specializing in family trusts, estate planning, and intergenerational wealth — a strong functional peer in the trust/estate portion of Stuart Carlyon's offering.

Broad incumbents

• AMP (Australia): Large Australian wealth manager offering financial advice, platforms, and retirement products to retail and HNW customers; overlaps with Stuart Carlyon's advice offering but at far greater scale and broader product portfolio.

Others

• Magellan Financial Group: Fund manager whose strategies are referenced in Stuart Carlyon client portfolios; relevant as an upstream product/manager dependency rather than a direct advisory competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stuart-and-carlyon-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about stuart and carlyon