Chris Patterson
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- Full Name
- Christopher "Chris" Patterson
- Title
- Managing Partner / Independent Advisor Representative
- Firm
- Retirement Planning Specialists, Inc.
- Firm Type
- SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) — comprehensive retirement & financial planning (not an angel/venture fund)
- Investment Stage
- N/A — the firm manages retirement portfolios for individual clients, not venture/seed-stage startups
- Check Size
- N/A (firm manages ~$269M in client assets in aggregate)
- Target Company Profile
- N/A — clients are individuals: retirees and pre-retirees, not companies
- Sector Focus
- Retirement income planning, investment planning, estate planning, insurance/tax planning
- Geographic Focus
- Southern Oregon and Southern California (client base)
- Location
- 241 Maple Street, Suite #101, Ashland, OR 97520
Background
Chris Patterson is a Managing Partner and Independent Advisor Representative at Retirement Planning Specialists, Inc. (RPS), a comprehensive financial-planning firm in Ashland, Oregon that specializes in serving retirees and pre-retirees. He has more than 13 years of experience in the financial-services industry and is licensed in Life, Health, and Long Term Care insurance (Oregon insurance producer). He co-leads the firm alongside Chad M. Smith, CFP®, who has over 25 years in the industry.
RPS was originally founded in 1987, building its reputation on income-tax planning and retirement-income planning. Patterson and Smith took over as the firm's managing partners roughly a decade ago (approximately 2015). The firm reports managing around $269 million of client investments and partners with TD Ameritrade Institutional (now Schwab) for custody and clearing. Its long-tenured support team includes Heather Thurgood (Director of Operations & Trading, with the firm since 2008) and Dana McLean (Office Manager, since 2007).
Public records do not indicate a formal listed education or a CFP® designation for Patterson specifically (his partner Chad Smith holds the CFP® mark). His practice centers on retirement income, investment, estate, and insurance planning for individuals rather than on backing early-stage companies.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Client-focused, not company-focused: RPS builds comprehensive retirement plans for individuals and households — its "investments" are managed portfolios (stocks, bonds, funds, insurance products) for retirees and pre-retirees, not equity stakes in startups.
- Specialty: Retirement income planning and income-tax planning — the firm's founding differentiators since 1987.
- Fiduciary/RIA model: Operates as an SEC Registered Investment Advisor using an independent custodian (TD Ameritrade Institutional / Schwab).
- Geographic concentration: Serves clients primarily in Southern Oregon and Southern California.
- No verifiable angel/seed thesis: No public statement, portfolio, or deal history ties Chris Patterson to startup, seed, or angel investing.
Notable Investments
- No startup or venture deals could be verified for this Chris Patterson. As a retirement-planning RIA, the firm's role is managing individual client assets (~$269M aggregate) rather than making named company investments.
- *(Note: unrelated individuals named "Chris Paterson" — a Canadian agtech venture partner at Tall Grass Ventures, and others — appear in venture databases like CB Insights and were an early backer of Teachable.net's 2009 seed round. These are almost certainly different people and are not associated with `[hidden]`.)*
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