Investment Management for Retirees and High-Net-Worth Families in Dallas–Fort Worth, TX

Portfolio management built around your goals, your taxes, and your time horizon, using the full range of tools available to you, not a single model applied to everyone.

Get a Second Opinion

This conversation costs nothing and comes with no strings attached.

Serving Dallas–Fort
Worth families since 2014

Nick Lalonde is a CERTIFIED
FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional

Affiliated with LPL Financial, a Fortune
500 company; Member FINRA/SIPC

Check the background of this firm on FINRA’s BrokerCheck.

The Problem

Most investors own some version of the same portfolio. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs, packaged into a model and applied to nearly everyone who walks in. It's familiar, it runs easily at scale, and for a long time it was most of what existed.

It's also one layer of four.

The other three, the ones most investors are never shown, are separately managed accounts, outcome-oriented strategies, and alternatives. No layer is inherently better than another, and not every layer is right for every investor. But most people are only ever offered the first.

That matters more than it used to, because the trend has reversed. Amazon went public in 1997 worth about $440 million, then did nearly all of its growing in public view, where any investor could take part. Compare that with SpaceX. It stayed private for more than two decades, and by the time it finally went public in 2026, at a valuation near $1.8 trillion, the largest IPO in history, nearly all of that value had already been created in private hands. Companies are waiting longer than ever to go public, and building more of their worth before everyday investors ever get a seat. An estimated 87% of U.S. companies with over $100 million in revenue are privately held. A portfolio built only on public markets draws from a narrowing share of the whole.

Which of these layers actually belongs in your portfolio isn't a question a model can answer. It depends on your goals, your taxes, and your time horizon, and it's the first thing worth a real conversation.

Get a Second Opinion

¹ TechCrunch, "A look back at Amazon's 1997 IPO" (2017). Amazon's May 1997 initial public offering valued the company at approximately $440 million.

² CNBC, "SpaceX IPO: the largest in history" (June 2026); Nasdaq Newsroom (June 2026). SpaceX listed in June 2026 at a valuation of approximately $1.77 trillion.

³ Apollo Global Management, Apollo Academy, "Many More Private Firms in the US" (Torsten Slök, 2024). An estimated 87% of U.S. firms with revenue greater than $100 million are privately held.

What it Looks Like When Done Right

You've seen all four layers of what's available to you, and you know which ones belong in your plan and which ones don't.

You can explain, in one sentence, why you own everything you own, reviewed against your income needs, taxes, and time horizon.

Your portfolio is doing the job it needs to do at this stage of life, not the job it did fifteen years ago. Somebody besides you is watching all of it.

The concentrated position that used to worry you now has an actual strategy behind it.

Get a Second Opinion

The Third Act Investment Pyramid is Built to Close That Gap.

We manage your portfolio as one part of a coordinated wealth strategy and match the layer to what your plan actually calls for, instead of placing every client in the same allocation.

Core Market Exposure

The foundation: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds across public markets.

Personalized Portfolio Management

Separately managed accounts that bring in specialist managers and strategies built around your specific tax picture.

Outcome-Oriented Strategies

Options-based strategy products aimed at a specific job: managing downside risk or generating income.

Alternatives

Access to different markets, real assets, and strategies beyond traditional investing, for the portion of a portfolio where they may fit.

No layer is inherently better than another, and not every layer is suitable for every investor. Alternative investments in particular may not be suitable for all investors and are typically limited to the risk-capital portion of a portfolio. The point is breadth: matching the tool to the plan, rather than fitting every plan to one tool. And the portfolio itself is one piece of a larger coordinated picture.

Our Investment Management Process

Third Act operates on a fee-based model. Advisory fees, fund expense ratios, and any platform fees are put in writing before you make a decision.

We work with clients who have $1 million or more in investable assets.

Get a Second Opinion

See the full picture

Every relationship starts with a Complimentary Second Opinion: roughly 10 to 20 hours of real planning work, including a real look at your current portfolio against your income needs, risk tolerance, and tax situation.

Our Approach

Build the strategy

We design your allocation with the Investment Pyramid, balancing risk, reward, costs, and taxes, weigh the danger of bad early-retirement years if you're near them, and place each investment in the account where it does its job best.

Keep it current

We monitor the plan between meetings and act when something needs attention, drawing on the research and analyst support of LPL Financial, a Fortune 500 company, and we rebalance as part of your regular reviews.

Why Us

Four Reasons Families Choose Third Act for Investment Management

Four layers, not one model

The Investment Pyramid gives us four distinct layers to work with: core market exposure, personalized portfolio management, outcome-oriented strategies, and alternatives. Your plan uses the layers it calls for, not a house model applied to every account.

The first years of retirement get special care

The same bad market does more damage in your first years of withdrawals than at any other time. We manage that risk on purpose as you approach and enter the spending years, instead of discovering it after a bad first year.

Managed with the whole picture in view

Your investments get managed in the same conversation as your tax and estate planning, by an advisor who knows your whole picture, so decisions like which investment sits in which account are made deliberately.

Costs and taxes get managed like returns

Fees, fund expenses, and the tax cost of every move are part of the portfolio's design, because what you keep matters more than what the market prints.

Get a Second Opinion

What Our Clients Say

Nick has been a trusted source of financial advice and support for us for years. He takes the time to really understand your goals and risk personality. His knowledge, diligence, and patience in answering questions, make him an adviser I recommend

Debra B

Nick and his team have been great to work with. One of the best decisions I have ever made regarding my money and future!

Mark M

I have been working with Nick for five years now and have been very pleased with his service. Nick is knowledgeable and attentive and truly wants the best for all of his clients. I highly recommend Nick and Third Act

Lance M

Frequently Asked Questions

What is your investment philosophy?

Cost efficiency, tax efficiency, and a risk-reward balance built around your actual goals and tolerance, not a house model applied to every account.

What is the Third Act Investment Pyramid?

It's how we organize the tools available to us: core market exposure as the base, personalized portfolio management, outcome-oriented strategies, and alternatives for the portion of a portfolio where they fit. We use the layer your plan calls for, not the same layer for everyone.

Why does it matter that the public markets are shrinking?

As more companies stay private, a portfolio limited to public stocks and funds draws from a narrowing share of the overall market. That doesn't mean private or alternative investments are right for you; they carry their own risks and aren't suitable for everyone. It means the decision should be made on purpose, with the full range of options in front of you, rather than by default.

Do you offer proprietary investment products?

No. Through Nick's affiliation with LPL Financial, we have access to thousands of investment options across many providers.

What is sequence-of-returns risk, and why does it matter to me?

It's the outsized damage an early loss can do to a portfolio you're drawing from instead of adding to. We manage for it deliberately once you're in or near the distribution phase.

I have a large position in my employer's stock. Can you help?

Yes, and that work has its own page. Employer stock, RSUs, and options get planned grant by grant as part of our equity compensation work.

Equity Compensation Planning

Are you a fiduciary?

Yes, in our fee-based advisory relationships. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, Nick is also held to a fiduciary standard under the CFP Board's Code of Ethics.

Still have a question?

The first meeting is free, and it's the easiest place to ask it.

Get a Second Opinion

Let's find out whether your portfolio is actually built for the job it needs to do right now, and whether you've seen the full range of what's available to you.

Get a Second Opinion

Prefer to call?

+1 (214) 764-2095

Older man in white shirt leaning on a glass wall, smiling with blurred trees in the background.

Investing involves risk including the possible loss of principal. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives. Diversification does not protect against market risk or guarantee a profit. Rebalancing may cause investors to incur tax liabilities and does not assure a profit or protect against a loss. Alternative investments may not be suitable for all investors and should be considered as an investment for the risk capital portion of an investor's portfolio.