About Ara
The Advisor Behind the Strategy
Ara Kachadourian brings more than two decades of experience advising ultra-high-net-worth families, business owners, and professional athletes on the full complexity of their financial lives.
25+ Years
Of experience advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families
Newport Beach
Based in Southern California, serving clients nationally and internationally
Holistic Approach
Integrating investments, estate planning, tax strategy, and risk management
Select Clientele
A deliberately limited client roster ensuring each relationship receives full attention
Credentials & Background
A Different Kind of Advisor
Ara Kachadourian founded Platinum Wealth Strategies on a simple conviction: that the wealthiest families deserve an advisor who thinks like a chief financial officer, not a product salesperson. Someone who understands every dimension of their financial life — investments, estate planning, tax strategy, business interests, risk management — and takes responsibility for making the pieces work together.
That conviction was shaped by more than two decades of experience at the intersection of wealth management, private banking, and family office services. Ara has advised families through business sales, generational transitions, divorce, and the full range of life events that test a financial plan. He has seen what works and, more importantly, what fails — and he has built his practice around the lessons learned.
Based in Newport Beach, California, Ara serves a select group of clients whose financial complexity demands the kind of integrated, high-touch advisory relationship that most firms are not structured to provide. His clients include business owners navigating exits, multi-generational families managing inherited wealth, and professional athletes and entertainers facing the unique challenges of compressed earning windows and public visibility.
Investment Philosophy
Conviction Over Consensus
Ara's investment philosophy begins with a rejection of the conventional wisdom that drives most institutional portfolios. The standard 60/40 allocation, the benchmark-hugging equity portfolio, the bond ladder that ignores the opportunity cost of liquidity — these are solutions designed for the average investor, not for families with the scale and sophistication to do better.
At Platinum Wealth Strategies, the investment process starts with a rigorous assessment of each client's true risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and time horizon. From that foundation, we build portfolios that access the full opportunity set available to sophisticated investors — including private equity, private credit, real assets, and other alternatives that are simply unavailable to most.
The result is a portfolio that is genuinely diversified — not just across asset classes, but across return drivers, liquidity profiles, and risk factors. A portfolio designed to compound wealth over decades, not to track an index.
Beyond the Office
The Person Behind the Practice
Ara is a native of Michigan with deep roots in the Southern California community. Outside of his practice, he is an avid student of history and economics, a passionate advocate for financial literacy, and a committed supporter of several charitable organizations focused on education and community development.
He believes that the best advisor relationships are built on genuine trust — the kind that comes from knowing that your advisor's interests are fully aligned with yours, that they will tell you the truth even when it is uncomfortable, and that they will be there when it matters most.
Begin the Conversation
If you are looking for an advisor who will engage with the full complexity of your financial life — not just manage a portfolio — I would welcome the opportunity to talk.