We do the financial blocking & tackling behind the scenes so that our time together can also effectively integrate the personal and unique agendas that are your own. Think: your immediate and varied longer-term life goals. We cut the Gordian knot of financial concerns so that you can focus on living life fully.
Converse
Some folks need information and education. Others know where they’re going but need to sharpen the dashboard. We engage in dialogue to frame the big picture and identify the relevant tools.
Craft
Then we go to work. When big decisions are to be made, planning, sorting, and prioritizing is important. It helps to air things out. It helps to model what can be quantified.
Implement
We are incredibly sane and solid, each step of the way. We do nothing in a vacuum. At every turn, we account for how each facet of your financial situation fits into the broader vision for your life.
Butler Financial Services is an investment advisory registered with the Colorado Division of Securities and the State of California Department of Corporations.
Wealth Management
We all aspire to live life fully, yet integrating the economic side of life can be incredibly challenging… this is where we come in. Here are the red and golden threads that run through the ongoing endeavor of wealth management:
- Asset protection
- Investment Management
- Intergenerational transfer-of-wealth issues
- Evaluation and tracking of performance of varied investments
- Due diligence on investments under consideration
- Budgeting strategy, refinements & reconciliation
- Continuity/monitoring apropos taking action on advisory team’s counsel & recommendations
- Tax planning & application across investments & expenditure
- Asset allocation strategy that embeds private investments
Investments
Our principals of portfolio management and securities analysis are informed by the CFA Institute Body of Knowledge, which we regard as the best living exploration of contemporary practices in the domain of investment management.
We closely follow praxis-focused research in academic finance, and adjust our investment management process when novel conclusions prove robust. For instance, we see the merits of factor-based investing (examples of factors are Value, Size, and Momentum), but take the position that factor overweights reliably improve returns only when properly aligned with corresponding behavioral investor types. Our investment management is further grounded in our collective decades of experience, good horse sense, and, indeed, the ability to attune to each investor’s nervous system!
Investment Policy
Carefully crafted at the outset of the advisory relationship, the Investment Policy Statement calibrates to the unique goals and requirements of each client family. What are the specific growth and income objectives? How will these variables change over time? What sort of risk profile does each client-as-investor present, and what are the implications of that? What is the long view? What are the legacy considerations? It is ever our aim to find best-in-class investments and thereby position our client portfolios for strong performance over the long-term, but it is absolutely essential that we establish an investment policy that is also eminently “livable” — that is, one that respects and accounts for the oft-underestimated behavioral finance component.
Fee Based Advisory
Our clients recognize that we are investment advisers who provide ongoing investment and wealth management services. As such, we receive fees for services provided, and these fees are paid directly to us by our clients. This arrangement is distinct from brokers who make their living from the commissions earned from the buying and selling of various products. In the course of our business activity, we receive NO COMMISSIONS of any kind. It is our job as adviser and fiduciary to provide the information, expertise, counsel, and management that we believe will best benefit each client. We believe the fee-based arrangement best mitigates potential conflicts of interest in the client/adviser relationship.
Bio
This is our company, and we take tremendous pride in the quality of the work we do for our client families. Here’s a bit about who we are.
Mikyo Butler, CFA
Mikyo allocates the majority of his Butler Financial time to investment management, including monitoring the portfolio “dashboard”, trading to rebalance or tactically tilt risk exposures or individual positions, and working on investment research, analysis, and due diligence. He also interfaces with Schwab Institutional (the primary custodian) on a regular basis. Internally, he keeps the firm’s information systems running smoothly. For the three years prior to joining the firm in mid-2013, Mikyo served as a Senior Analyst for media research company Latitude, managing studies and performing both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. In 2010 he received his B.A., cum laude, from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, where he majored in both Music and German. He is a CFA charterholder.
Deron Swaby, MBA
Deron is the consummate, seasoned wealth advisor and is a partner/owner at the firm. He joined the Butler Financial ensemble in March 2025. In addition to having a steady hand with the investments, Deron excels at analyzing retirement and tax strategies. His style is highly personable, and he draws on eighteen years of financial services experience, including a recent five-year stint advising clients at Charles Schwab & Co. Deron holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Foster College of Business at Bradley University, as well as a Master’s in Business degree from Mercer University. Originally from Houston, Texas, Deron now lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Jess and two children.
Sarah Church
Sarah handles a variety of tasks with respect to trading, as well as keeping up to date the various monitors associated with the firm’s investment and cash management activities. She also coordinates on key admin matters, interfacing with both firm clients and the Schwab institutional team. Sarah joined the firm in April 2021. Prior to that, she spent six years in diverse operational roles at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., an investment bank in Boston. The fast paced and challenging work environment there laid the solid foundation for her position at Butler Financial. Sarah graduated from Stonehill College in 2014 with a B.S. in Business, and she majored in Accounting and minored in Spanish. Originally from Massachusetts, Sarah now lives in Denver.
Mark Butler, MA
Mark established the investment advisory & wealth management firm that is Butler Financial in 1996, after working for and training extensively with American Express/IDS. He relates directly with clients on matters of investment strategy, wealth transfer, and life transitions. Mark holds a B.A./Philosophy (CU/Boulder) and M.A./Psych (Naropa Univ.). Mark is the author of three “psychology of money” books: Zen Money Blues, a lively and fun Typology about the curiously different styles people exhibit in the realm of personal finance; and, Lion Hearted Love, a journey into the heart of money-in-relationship. Most recently, Mark completed his third work, Open Road, a mapping of the wonderfully rich and complex journey before our twenty-something children and friends. The highest value, naturally, is attending to one’s emerging self and autonomy; though how to do this in a way that doesn’t by-pass navigating money and finances, aka the capital side of life, calls for a special kind of financial literacy and vision.
Contact
Denver Office: 1550 Wewatta St., Suite 200, Denver, CO 80202
Boulder Office: 1200 Pearl St., Suite 314, Boulder, CO 80302
Phone: (303) 444.3380
Fax: (303) 379.6268
FAQ
Questions? Here are answers to some of our most frequently asked questions.
How does this relationship with us begin?
It begins with a 20-minute phone conference during which you share what issues are on your mind and we share how we might address those issues. If we are not the right fit, we will do our best to refer you to a professional who is. The goal of the call is to figure out if it makes sense for us to sit down and consider your situation in more detail. This initial call is confidential and gratis.
How is the matter of confidentiality treated?
Religiously. What is said and with whom we work are private confidential matters.
How do we get paid?
Fees. 100% of our revenues come from fees. Consulting services are by the hour, while wealth management and investment management are either a flat fee or based on a percentage of assets under management.
What is the hourly fee?
$325 per hour for consulting services and management services fees are based on a percentage of assets, depending on overall value of assets and, when applicable, the complexity and comprehensiveness of services required.