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About Via Luce Capital

Built around the discipline of planning.

Via Luce Capital is an independent wealth planning firm in Costa Mesa, California. We work with successful families, business owners, retirees, and institutions who value process over prediction and clarity over complexity.

Brent Rupnow, Founder of Via Luce Capital
Why the firm exists

A different premise about what good advice looks like.

The premise is depth before scale: a limited number of relationships, a consistent team, portfolios constructed to the plan, and personal accountability that stays intact as the firm grows.

Via Luce serves that premise deliberately — one lead advisor accountable for each engagement, and disciplined investment systems doing the work that human judgment shouldn't be doing, like reacting to noise. Boutique by design. Institutional in capability.

The name comes from the Latin via lucis — way of light. Clarity is the deliverable. Everything else is process.

"Clients are better served by disciplined systems and direct accountability than by charisma and prediction."

Brent Rupnow, Founder and Wealth Advisor
About the Founder

Brent Rupnow

CFP® · CEPA® · ChFC® · CLU®

Brent founded Via Luce Capital after more than two decades in financial services, spanning financial planning, investment strategy, and guiding business owners through growth and transition planning.

His credentials reflect breadth across financial planning, exit planning, insurance and risk management, and a working knowledge of accounting that's unusual for an advisor. But credentials matter less than process. Brent built Via Luce around the conviction that clients are better served by disciplined systems and direct accountability than by charisma and prediction — and that boutique scale, used intentionally, lets the firm deliver depth that larger firms struggle to maintain.

He works directly with every client. He'll tell you if you're the right fit for the firm. He'll tell you if you're not.

CFP®
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
CEPA®
Certified Exit Planning Advisor
ChFC®
Chartered Financial Consultant
CLU®
Chartered Life Underwriter
The Team

Boutique by design. Institutional in capability.

Via Luce is intentionally a small firm. Behind it sits substantial institutional infrastructure — the largest independent broker-dealer in the United States*, a quantitative research team supporting portfolio construction, and direct coordination with each client's external professional team.

*As reported by Financial Planning magazine, 1996-2025, based on total revenue.

Brent Rupnow
Founder & Wealth Advisor

Brent Rupnow, CFP®, CEPA®, ChFC®, CLU®

Lead Advisor on every client engagement. Two decades of experience across financial planning, investment strategy, and exit planning.

K. Vandervort
Client Service

K. Vandervort

Operations and client service. First point of contact for scheduling, account servicing, and day-to-day coordination across the engagement.

Kendra Vandervort is an LPL employee and is part of the Admin Solutions program that supports multiple advisors' businesses.

Strategic resources behind every engagement

Investment research, portfolio construction, trading operations, and compliance infrastructure are delivered through Via Luce's strategic resources — including Helios Quantitative Research and LPL Financial. The roles below represent specialists at those firms who support every client portfolio.

Managing Director of Product
Investment Research
Senior Research Analyst
Investment Research
Trading Specialist
Portfolio Operations
Client Service Manager
Portfolio Operations
Investment Analyst
Investment Research
Portfolio Operations Director
Portfolio Operations
How We Work

Five principles that shape every decision.

These aren't aspirations. They're the operating constraints we hold the work to — and the standard a client is entitled to hold us to.

01

Fiduciary first

We act as fiduciaries in advisory relationships. Every recommendation is anchored in what is prudent, defensible, and aligned with the client's stated objectives. Recommendations are made because they belong in the plan — not because they generate activity.

02

Disciplined & evidence-based

Investment and planning decisions follow rules-based frameworks rather than discretionary judgment. The framework defines the action; the markets don't get a vote on the framework.

03

Transparent & defensible

We strive to earn trust through clarity. Process and outcomes are explainable, documented, and available to the client at any time. Nothing rests on language meant to sound impressive.

04

Coordinated, not siloed

Direct collaboration with your CPA, attorney, insurance professional, and other advisors. The plan only works if the people executing it are aligned. We make that our responsibility.

05

Long-term stewardship

Capital is stewarded for goals of growth, risk management, liquidity, and tax efficiency over decades — not quarters. The firm is structured with a goal of being in the relationship for the duration of the plan.

Built with a goal to outlast a market cycle.

The firm and its principles are designed with a goal of remaining consistent through bull markets, bear markets, and the regimes in between. Discipline doesn't wait for conditions.

Office & Contact

Costa Mesa, California.

The firm operates from a private office in Costa Mesa, serving clients across California and across the country. Most engagements run on a hybrid model — quarterly in-person meetings paired with secure video and document exchange between cycles.

Schedule a 30-Minute Call
Address3090 Bristol Street, Suite 400
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Emailbrent@vialucecapital.com
Phone949-691-1498
Institutional Inquiries & RFPsA separate intake path is available for foundations, endowments, reserve portfolios, and institutional fiduciary engagements.
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