Jamie Battmer, Chief Investment Officer, Creative Planning

July 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Jamie Battmer, chief investment officer of Creative Planning, discussed the firm’s holistic approach to wealth management, Tampa Bay’s appeal for high-net-worth individuals, and why clients are demanding broader advisory services. “How markets and the world have changed continues to help Creative Planning add value to our clients in a unique way,” Battmer said.

What key changes over the past year have had the greatest impact on Creative Planning?

Creative Planning has a very healthy organic growth rate, and we remain attractive to outside firms that want to join us and participate in that growth. What has driven it is the same thing that has been driving us for decades: a focus on a holistic, financial planning-led approach.

We were recently ranked as the only large RIA with a five-star rating by The Wall Street Journal for comprehensive wealth management, and we were very happy about that because we look at everything far beyond the investments to help people navigate their estate dynamics, financial plan dynamics, and tax dynamics.

We have over 300 CPAs on staff. We manage over $10 billion for expats, and it is not us thinking that we can outsmart the markets. It is helping people navigate the unique tax jurisdictions they have to deal with because that is completely within our control.

All the volatility we have seen and all the geopolitical issues reinforce what we do. We took advantage of the volatility for tax optimization, and some of the regulatory changes for business valuation adjustments for our business owners, including ways they depreciate and value assets. The only certainty is change. How markets and the world have changed continues to help Creative Planning add value to our clients in a unique way.

How does the investment and wealth management sector contribute to the Tampa Bay economy?

Being from the Midwest, I can say Tampa and the Tampa Bay area are very popular destinations for Midwesterners like myself. Aside from the beautiful weather and the idea of not having to deal with tornadoes, freezing temperatures, or frozen streets, a lot of what is driving interest is the tax benefits.

For people who have accumulated sizable wealth or people who have successful businesses that may create a liquidity event, adjusting their state of tax domicile can have a material impact. We were working recently with a client who was about to sell their business. They loved where they were from up north, but the tax savings they would have from the liquidation of their business would allow them to build a very nice house in the Tampa area and fly private back and forth to their original home.

What key trends are shaping the investment management industry?

Investors are waking up to the reality of what is beneficial and what is not. If an adviser’s perceived value proposition to clients is that they have clairvoyant power to tell whether Coke is going to do better than Pepsi, or whether China is going to do better than India, all the underlying data says that does not work.

More than 90% of professional Wall Street investors who try to outperform their benchmarks fail to do so. What is changing is that people are demanding more from their advisers. You cannot just charge 1% to manage assets. Advisers need to be analyzing taxes, updating estate documentation, helping with business valuation dynamics, and supporting people with matters like Medicare.

We have dedicated Medicare specialists to help people not only optimize and time their enrollment appropriately but also make sure it aligns with everything else in their financial life. It makes people less vulnerable to stockbrokers who, by all analytical accounts, have added negative alpha to their clients over the long run.

What are the most pressing challenges for businesses in the region?

The challenges are always just that — challenges. That is why it is important to embrace the right type of fiduciary to be on your side of the table and help you navigate them. You do not have to become a subject matter expert in business valuations. You do not have to become a subject matter expert in ERISA law or proper estate dynamics. You need a trusted adviser who is focused on that instead of trying to sell you stocks.

There have been recent changes in the regulatory stream and updated regulatory legislation that has a material impact for business owners. There are also opportunities to make sure estate planning exemptions remain part of the conversation. While those exemptions stayed higher, there is always the risk that political winds change.

People who have accumulated wealth need to make sure they are keeping more of it to pass on to their heirs, charitable organizations, or whatever organizations they want to support instead of giving a significant portion to the federal government. That is within people’s control, and that is where they need to focus. Those are the changing dynamics. Do not get focused on things that are outside of your control.

How are you approaching talent attraction and development within Creative Planning?

It is all about having dedicated subject matter experts. The one adviser or one stockbroker who is supposed to be the jack-of-all-trades for their clients cannot work. We are not all experts in everything. The idea is to have an entire team that is part of it, including tax subject matter experts, CPAs, and estate lawyers who can look at estate planning dynamics.

The great thing is there is always opportunity in that space. People with a tax background are the types of team members we are always looking to add. People with a financial planning background are the types of team members we are looking to add. People with an investment analysis background are not necessarily what we are looking to add, because the data says that, more than 90% of the time, that approach gets it wrong.

We want to focus on where the opportunity to truly add value to clients is, and it is in those services. The idea is to look for talent that has specialized skill sets in areas where we can add value, such as tax, estate planning, and business valuation. That is even more important than pretending you can be a master of all, which often ends up meaning you are not especially strong at anything.

What are your key goals and priorities for the firm over the next two to three years?

We are continuing to grow, and our goal is to provide additional service capabilities to our clients. We are growing internationally to help people who end up moving to Portugal, the Dominican Republic, or Southeast Asia. People still want to be able to sit down with someone, so having localized capability is important.

We also want to drive down pricing associated with our investments. Saving money is the easiest form of making money, but we will never sacrifice quality for some kind of discounting mechanism. As we continue to grow, many of our investments can be accessed at up to a 60% discount compared to anyone else investing in the exact same thing. We want to pass 100% of those savings on to our clients and create higher positive returns on an after-tax and after-cost basis.