Mark Parrett, CFP®

Principal and Financial Planner

As a Principal and Financial Planner at Outpost Advisors, Mark spends his time creating unique financial plans that power our clients’ family visions and dreams for life. Mark is raising three girls in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife Amelia, who practices medicine as an Obstetrician and Gynecologist.

After graduating from Princeton University, Mark began his career at the International Monetary Fund teaching central bankers how to budget (whilst managing interest rates, monetary policy and political instability). In his free time he taught classes in financial literacy to DC-area families dealing with poverty. From there, he moved on to mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac, where he helped to execute the largest preferred equity capital raise in US history. Next, he spent a year at Jones Lang Lasalle managing a $750M asset portfolio for the Army, before relocating to Utah where he helped to build the outdoor retailer Backcountry.  Before leaving to found Outpost Advisors Mark spent 5 years as a leader at ExpertVoice, a technology startup funded by Bain Capital and Sorenson Capital.

Mark has had the great joy of leading individuals and families in budgeting, family visioneering and financial stewardship for more than a decade – often through church connections and volunteer roles. Mark can also often be found blogging about all of these at the website Abraham’s Wallet. Mark holds an MBA from The George Washington University with a focus on finance. When he’s not playing with spreadsheets, Mark enjoys everything on offer in the mountains of Utah, whether it’s skiing, trail running, hunting, climbing or riding bikes with his family.

Steve Manuel

Principal

Steve is a career disciplemaker (26 years and counting) and wants to help build rock solid families who bloom financially and spiritually.

Steve began his entrepreneurial career by quitting freshman Business Math at Texas A&M University because “who cares about profits and stuff”. He later changed his tune when he married a business savant, Dora, and they went on to run several business ventures, including her successful Viva Bella Events (now in year 15!). 

What hasn’t changed is his commitment to build individuals and families in their faith first, then making practicalities like financial management follow gifts and callings.  He LOVES helping people discover, then occupy, their unique place in God’s Household.

Steve serves as a part-time pastor and is a communications trainer, writer and speaker, lover of ice cream, and co-founder of Outpost Advisors. He says that, “as a fiduciary that marries technical excellence in finance with faith-based life coaching, Outpost represents the best of what I can bring to the world.”

Daniel Smyth

Client Success Manager

Daniel wants to see families bring clear direction to their lives so that they can accomplish their dreams and mission. After 15 years of commercial and wedding photography, Daniel is thrilled to bring his communication, tech and strategy skills to Outpost to help individuals accomplish this.

Upon graduating from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music with a B.F.A. in Theatrical Sound & Lighting Design, Daniel lived briefly in India before returning to the US, starting, and subsequently dropping out of seminary after 1 semester. Since then, he has developed a love for helping others tackle their personal, family or business challenges as well as a pretty solid pizza recipe.

Daniel and his wife Rebecca are raising four girls in Cincinnati, Ohio. They occasionally still photograph weddings at The Smyth Collective. Daniel loves camping, reading and biking.

Investment Team

At Outpost Advisors we both manage client investments directly and partner with third parties to manage client accounts with excellence. Currently, we have partnered with two teams that give us additional capacity to manage our clients’ assets at Outpost.

For most clients we recommend building wealth via Altruist platform, which allows us to create investment models based on a clients’ own risk tolerance, goals and time horizon, and leverage the portfolio management tools of the platform to conduct ongoing management of those assets.

When appropriate for a given client, we also work with First Ascent Asset Management to manage client investment accounts. First Ascent aligns beautifully with our approach to investing at Outpost Advisors and we benefit from their experience and skill in managing client accounts with that same client-first mentality that we bring to every engagement as fee-only, fiduciary planners. Beyond the management of individual client accounts, First Ascent provides Outpost with ongoing support and market analysis via their team of Chartered Financial Analyst® and Certified Financial Planner® professionals.