MutualFundWire.com: 13Y and $50B In, a DMV Duo Sees an Acceleration Point

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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

13Y and $50B In, a DMV Duo Sees an Acceleration Point

The folks at a 13-year-old defined outcome asset manager in the DMV are celebrating a big milestone for the firm.

Karan Sood
Vest Financial LLC
CEO, Co-Founder

Last week, Jeff Chang, president and co-founder of Vest Financial LLC, and Karan Sood, CEO and co-founder, revealed that the McLean, Virginia-based firm has surpassed $50 billion in AUMS. Sood and Chang co-founded Vest in 2012, a spokesperson for Vest confirms, and the firm has grown to nearly 50 employees.

Vest's offerings now include six Vest open-end mutual funds and two Vest ETFs. The firm also subadvises for the fund firm First Trust, powering 129 of its ETFs and two of its open-end funds. (First Trust is also the single largest shareholder of Vest Group, Inc. and the distributor of Vest's funds. Vest is also backed by Y Combinator.)

Jeffrey Yi-Bing "Jeff" Chang
Vest Financial LLC
President, Co-Founder

The Vest team lays claim to launching the industry's first buffer fund in 2016. The firm specializes in what they describe as "outcome-based investment solutions." Sood calls Vest's growth a demonstration "that the financial advice and planning industry has shifted." Chang adds that "client expectations have evolved" and that advisors are "increasingly turning to outcome architects instead of traditional stock pickers."

"The adoption of outcome-focused tools transforms investing from hope-based to precision-based, giving advisors the tools to deliver more outcome certainty in volatile and unpredictable markets," Sood states.

"Today's conversations aren't about beating the market — they're about delivering defined outcomes and protecting portfolios from market shocks like we saw in 2022," Chang states. "This moment isn't a victory lap for Vest — it's an acceleration point for the entire industry."

"As advisors rethink portfolio construction in today's market, defined outcome strategies have become an essential tool for delivering more certainty, clarity, and control," Chang adds. "We're proud to have pioneered this category, and we're just getting started."

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