.png){kind=spacer}
Search Bull Run
Wealth Management for Individuals, Businesses, Philanthropic Organizations, and Financial Advisors.
High-Growth Investment Management and Financial Planning Solutions. Proprietary SMA strategies available nationwide through Charles Schwab.
A Fee-Only Fiduciary, built around one simple idea — Elite Investing. Full Planning. Under one roof.
Bull Run Investment Management is a Virginia-based Registered Investment Adviser (CRD #306763) managing four proprietary equity strategies directly on the Charles Schwab platform. We are portfolio-manager-led — the person making the investment decisions is the person you talk to.
We work two ways: with individuals and families who want a complete wealth-management relationship, and with independent financial advisors who want to platform our SMAs for their own clients through Schwab's Managed Account Marketplace®. Same investment strategies, same infrastructure — whichever way serves you best.
Portfolio-manager led.
Chris Passarelli, the founder, personally manages every SMA. No investment committees, no outsourced strategists. The person on the phone is the person managing the portfolio.
Fee-only fiduciary.
No commissions, no product sales, no revenue sharing. One transparent fee for each channel — and nothing else behind it.
Schwab-custodied, always.
Every client asset sits at Charles Schwab. SIPC insurance, institutional pricing, $0 custody commissions, and separation of custody from management — the institutional standard.
Two clean fee structures, one for each way you work with us.
Published. Transparent. No bundled wraps, no hidden layers, no revenue sharing.
Four portfolios, one coherent philosophy.
Each strategy plays a distinct role — from capital preservation to high-conviction growth — and they blend together to match your risk, your horizon, and your goals. Whether you hold one sleeve or all four, the philosophy is the same: own great businesses directly, size them by conviction, hold them through full cycles.
Low Volatility
Defensive, income-oriented equities — consumer staples, healthcare, utilities, quality industrials. Tracks the market with meaningfully lower drawdowns.
Core
Dominant large-caps across semis, retail, financial services, healthcare, and media. Designed to outperform the S&P 500 over full market cycles.
Growth
Durable large-cap growers — internet, software infrastructure, payments, cybersecurity. Built to outperform both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.
Innovation
Concentrated in leading companies across AI, cloud, semiconductors, enterprise software, and cybersecurity. Built to outperform — with conviction.
Blend them to match your risk, your horizon, your goals. Five pre-built risk profiles — Conservative through Aggressive — or a custom allocation designed with the portfolio manager.
Own the businesses, not a wrapper around them.
A Separately Managed Account is the institutional investment structure: you own the individual stocks directly in your own Schwab account — not shares of a fund that owns the stocks. The difference sounds small. In tax outcomes, transparency, and personalization, it's enormous.
The structural advantage: every position is yours.
Because you own the underlying stocks directly — not pooled fund shares — we can harvest tax losses at the individual position level, defer gains, and customize around existing holdings, restrictions, or tax situations. None of that is possible inside a fund wrapper.
SMA vs. ETF vs. Mutual Fund — what actually differs.
Side-by-side on the dimensions that matter to long-term, tax-aware investors.
| Dimension | SMA — Bull Run | ETF | Mutual Fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownershipwhat you actually own in the account | You own the individual stocks directly — each position is yours | You own fund shares; the fund owns the stocks | You own fund shares; the fund owns the stocks |
| Tax-Loss Harvestingoffsets realized gains elsewhere | Position-level harvesting throughout the year — across every individual stock | Only at the fund-share level — no access to underlying positions | Only fund-share level; investors often receive unwanted capital gain distributions |
| Transparencyvisibility into holdings | Every position visible in real time on your Schwab statement | Holdings typically disclosed daily, but you don't own them directly | Holdings disclosed quarterly with a delay — often stale |
| Customizationrestrictions, ESG screens, existing positions | Portfolio can be customized around existing holdings, restricted tickers, or values-based screens | None — you get the fund as-is, every share identical | None — you get the fund as-is, every share identical |
| Cost Structurewhat you actually pay | One advisory fee. Zero fund expense ratios. Zero trading commissions on Schwab. | Expense ratio layered on top of advisor fee (active funds 0.50–1.00%) | Expense ratio + sometimes 12b-1 fees + load charges on top of advisor fee |
| Unwanted Distributionsthe "phantom tax bill" problem | None. You only realize gains when you sell positions — full control over timing. | Rare due to in-kind creation mechanism, but possible | Common. You can owe taxes on gains even if you never sold your shares. |
| Active Manager Accesswho's actually running the strategy | Direct relationship with the portfolio manager | None — manager hidden behind the fund | None — manager hidden behind the fund |
| Minimum Investmentto get started | $100K per strategy (standard institutional minimum) | 1 share (often under $100) | $1K–$3K typical |
ETFs and mutual funds are convenient. SMAs are precise. For households with material taxable assets, the structural advantages of direct ownership compound over years — often meaningfully.
See All Four SMAsWe own businesses, not tickers.
Every position starts as a business thesis — revenue trajectory, competitive moat, management quality, unit economics. We concentrate in 20–35 companies per strategy, size them by conviction, and hold them through full market cycles. Three principles anchor how we invest.
Concentration over diversification theater.
Owning 500 companies isn't diversification — it's an index. We concentrate in 20–35 companies per strategy, the ones we'd want to own if we could only own a few. Every position sized by conviction, not by market cap.
Direct ownership, not fund wrappers.
Clients own the individual stocks in their own Schwab account — not shares of a fund that owns the stocks. Full position-level transparency, systematic tax-lot harvesting, and zero fund expense ratios layered on top.
Hold through full cycles.
Great businesses compound slowly. We underwrite each position with a 5–10 year view, ignore quarterly noise, and sell only when the thesis breaks — not because the market got scared. Low turnover, compounding-first.
Performance that compounds over time.
Three full calendar years of live Innovation SMA returns since the concentrated-growth strategy relaunched January 2023. Ranked against every non-leveraged equity ETF in the U.S. and Canada.
(Jan 2023 – Dec 2025)
Full methodology & longer horizons →
Rolling returns across every strategy.
Annualized performance across 1, 3, 5 year and full Backtested + Live periods. Gross of fees. Full methodology →
| Strategy | 1Y | 3Y Ann. | 5Y Ann. | SI (B+L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innovation | — | — | — | — |
| Growth | — | — | — | — |
| Core | — | — | — | — |
| Low Volatility | — | — | — | — |
| S&P 500 (benchmark) | — | — | — | — |
Performance disclosure. All figures shown are gross of advisory fees unless the Net of Fees toggle is selected. Net performance is calculated by deducting the selected annual fee, applied daily on a proportional basis (annual_rate/252). BRIM's tiered advisory fee ranges from 0.85% to 1.50% annually based on assets under management. Backtested performance is hypothetical, simulated from historical data prior to each strategy's live launch date, and includes known material assumptions and limitations; actual trading and execution costs are not reflected in backtested figures. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Top-percentile ranking calculated gross of fees against the universe of non-leveraged U.S. and Canadian equity ETFs by total return for the period shown. Bull Run Investment Management, LLC (CRD #306763). Full disclosures & Form ADV →
One firm, two doors.
Come to us directly as an individual or family — or access the SMA strategies through your own financial advisor. Same portfolios. Same infrastructure. Different relationship.
Direct wealth management, end-to-end.
A complete relationship with Bull Run — the portfolio manager, the strategies, and the planning team working as one.
- Direct access to the portfolio manager — no middle layers
- Full planning across retirement, estate, tax, and business
- Blended strategies calibrated to your plan and tax location
Platform our SMAs, keep your client.
Deliver high-growth equity to your roster through Schwab's Managed Account Marketplace®. Dual-contract, zero revenue sharing.
- You keep the relationship — separate agreements, zero conflict
- 0.50% flat money-manager fee, uploaded independently into Schwab
- Advisor-shared custody with full trade-level transparency
Tools we built. Platforms we integrate.
Our own simulators, backtesters, and live performance systems — running on top of the same institutional reporting and planning platforms used by firms managing billions. Everything unified under a single BRIM client experience.
Tools we built ourselves.
Every tool pulls live data from our own performance database. Purpose-built for how we actually invest.
Strategy Backtester
Test any of our four SMAs against any benchmark — S&P 500, Nasdaq, custom portfolios — with actual daily returns back to 2008.
Wealth Forecaster
Project long-term growth across brokerage, IRA, Roth, and 401(k) with tax-aware modeling — shown as a range of 1,000 Monte Carlo paths, not a point estimate.
Live Performance Database
Our four SMA fact sheets aren't PDFs — they're live interactive pages. Daily returns, rolling risk metrics, gross/net toggle, always current.
Institutional platforms we integrate.
Best-in-class tools trusted by firms managing hundreds of billions.
BRIM-Branded Client Portal
- Aggregated view across every Schwab account
- Strategy-level performance attribution
- Real-time positions and daily P&L
- Tax lots, cost basis, realized gains/losses
Financial Planning Platform
- Retirement planning & goal tracking
- Roth conversion & tax-bracket modeling
- Social Security optimization
- Estate flow & insurance analysis
Schwab Institutional Custody
- $0 commissions on equity trades
- SIPC protection up to $500K per account
- Advisor-shared custody for RIA partners
- Unified statements across all accounts
Market insights
from the desk.
Weekly analysis, portfolio perspectives, and tax strategy notes — written by the portfolio manager, not outsourced.
The full story, explored on your own time.
Each deck is an interactive experience — not a PDF. Company overview, full SMA suite, and individual strategy deep-dives.
Let's get started.
Two paths — pick the one that fits you. Both get you moving today.
Book a conversation.
30 minutes with the portfolio manager. No obligation, no pitch. Walk through your situation and see if it fits.
Pick a Time
Start using it today.
You don't need us to get started. If you already custody at Schwab, you can place a client in our SMAs right now.
Open a BRIM SMA on Schwab.
All the documents & data you need.
Fact sheets, brochures, ADV, live database — no gated forms, no sales calls required.
Bull Run Investment Management, LLC (CRD #306763) is a Registered Investment Adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Performance shown is gross of fees unless otherwise noted; net-of-fee returns reduce gross by the applicable advisory fee. Backtested returns are hypothetical, simulated from historical data, and include known material assumptions and limitations. Full disclosures & Form ADV →
Questions? Seeking Further Insight?
Connect with our team to discuss your goals. No obligations, no pressure — just a straightforward conversation about how we can help.
Questions? Seeking Further Insight?
Connect with our experts at BRIM.