Who We Serve The common thread isn’t occupation. It’s consequence.
People who built something and intend to keep it, at the point where a mistake would be hard to replace.
For investors and families with $5 million or more, including those approaching a sale, retirement or rollover that will put them there.
More capital, more moving parts. Each one is a decision.
People who built something and intend to keep it.
You’re selling the business, or just sold it.
The biggest financial decision you’ll make, and you make it once. We work before the terms are set and after the money arrives.
Most of your net worth is one stock.
Selling means a large tax. Holding means all of the risk. A hedge is a third choice.
The portfolio is the paycheck now.
A large decline early in retirement costs more than the same decline later. The income has to last through both.
You inherited it, or hold it in trust.
Capital you didn’t build, and decisions that are yours now. Someone has to see the whole of it.
You’re a physician or own a practice.
Decades of high earnings, little time to manage them, and a practice that may change hands.
It’s gotten complicated.
Entities, trusts, properties, partnerships, several advisers. Each one sees a part. No one sees all of it.
Built for the decisions that can’t be undone.
A business sale. A practice changing hands. A large rollover. Most of your net worth in one stock. An inheritance. At those moments the question changes from what to invest in to how much you can afford to lose, and who is managing that risk.
| Capital | What the work adds |
|---|---|
| $5 to $15 million | The portfolio is the paycheck, or soon will be. The work is income designed to last, a decline you can live with, and an estate plan that matches the new number. |
| $15 to $50 million | More moving parts: entities, trusts, real estate, a large single position. The work adds coordination, hedging what can’t be sold, and deciding what to give and when. |
| $50 million and up | The family is running an enterprise. The work adds reporting across everything, family-office capabilities, trustees, and preparing the next generation. |
A loss you can’t earn back.
While you were building it, a bad year could be earned back. Once the capital has to last, it can’t. A 50% decline needs a 100% gain to get back, and that can take years you were counting on.
The bigger the loss, the bigger the gain it takes.
| Loss | Gain to get back | |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 11% | |
| 20% | 25% | |
| 30% | 43% | |
| 50% | 100% | |
| 75% | 300% | |
| Yours30% | 43% | |
On $10 million, a 30% decline is a $3 million loss. Getting back to $10 million takes a 43% gain.
So the loss is decided first, before anything is bought.
Decisions in writing. Conversations when they matter.
We put our thinking in writing, so you can see the reasoning and keep a record of it. When a decision matters, we talk it through.
We’re not for everyone. We’re for capital with consequences.
- You count outcomes in dollars, not against an index.Losing less than an index is still losing.
- You want the downside decided before the upside.We define how much can be lost before anything is bought.
- You want the people you read here to do the work.Mike manages the investments. Christi advises the family. You talk to them.
A straight answer on fit. If we’re not right for you, we’ll say so and point you to someone who is.
Questions about fit.
Who does Shell Capital Management work with?
Shell Capital Management, the independent, fiduciary registered investment adviser behind ASYMMETRY®, works with investors and families with $5 million or more: business owners before and after a sale, executives with most of their net worth in one stock, retirees whose portfolio is now their income, inheritors and trustees, physicians and practice owners, and families whose affairs have outgrown one adviser.
Do I need $5 million to work with you?
Our work is designed for investors and families with $5 million or more in investable capital, including those approaching a sale, retirement or rollover that will put them there. If that’s ahead of you, write to us and tell us what’s coming.
I already have an adviser. Should I still write?
Many people who write to us do. Some want one part managed differently, such as hedging one large position. We’ll tell you plainly whether we would add anything.
Do I need to live in Tennessee?
No. We’re based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and much of the work happens in writing and by phone.
Who will I work with?
Mike Shell manages the investments. Christi Shell advises the family. You don’t talk to an assistant or a junior adviser. You talk to them.
Tell us what changed.
And what the money needs to do now. You’ll get a written reply, then a private conversation.
If you write, I’ll read it myself.
Mike Shell, Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Related: ASYMMETRY® Managed Portfolios, Selling a Business, Sequence of Returns Risk and Who We Are.