Thirty years of navigating the complicated moments.

Private Asset Management was founded on a belief: that the people who need the most from a financial advisor are exactly the ones that large institutions are least equipped to serve.

The Beginning

Mike Thayer founded Private Asset Management in the mid-1990s with a clear vision of who he wanted to serve and how. He had seen what institutional wealth management looked like from the inside — standardized portfolios, rotating advisors, clients who felt like account numbers. He believed there was a better way.

The name said it all. Private — because real wealth management is a personal relationship, not a product. Asset — because it's about the whole picture: investments, real estate, business interests, estate, and the complicated intersections between them. Management — because managing wealth isn't passive. It requires attention, judgment, and a willingness to engage with the messy realities of financial life.

For three decades, that vision has guided every client relationship. PAM has helped business owners navigate exits they thought were impossible. It has helped families resolve estate disputes that were threatening relationships. It has advised clients through divorces, inheritances, business sales, real estate transactions, and market crises.

In each case, the approach has been the same: go deep, stay engaged, and always tell the client the truth.

Today, PAM is building its next chapter. Robert Wuflestad has joined as President to help grow the firm while preserving everything that makes it distinct. Kiani Christian has joined as Client Service Manager, bringing a commitment to client experience that reflects PAM's values. The team is small by design — because a small team means every client is known, and every client matters.

PAM is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, at the heart of one of the most significant concentrations of technology and business wealth in the country. The firm serves clients across the Pacific Northwest, in Phoenix and Scottsdale, and in California, Colorado, Florida, and Massachusetts. It has built international client relationships through connections that reflect Mike's global perspective and personal ties.

The firm manages approximately $100 million for approximately 45 client households. By institutional standards, that is not a large number. By design, it is exactly the right one.

Mike Thayer

Founder & Senior Advisor

Mike Thayer has been doing this long enough to have seen almost everything.

In 30 years of wealth advisory, he has navigated business transactions with distressed financials and difficult counterparties. He has helped families resolve complicated estate issues — including situations where the wealth threatened to divide what it should have unified. He has developed real estate partnerships, acquired and managed apartment complexes and commercial properties, and advised clients on situations that no other financial advisor would touch.

What sets Mike apart isn't a credential. It's judgment — the kind that comes from decades of engagement with complicated, high-stakes situations across investments, real estate, business transitions, and family dynamics. Clients and professional advisors call Mike when a situation is too complicated, too personal, or too consequential for a standard answer.

He is a member of the University of Washington Club and the Northwest Forum, with deep roots in the Pacific Northwest's professional and civic communities. His perspective on markets is shaped by decades of direct experience — reflected in the quarterly Economic Commentary he publishes for clients.

Mike founded Private Asset Management with one conviction: that the most valuable thing an advisor can offer isn't a portfolio — it's the confidence that someone deeply trustworthy is watching over the whole picture.

Robert Wuflestad joined PAM as President to build the firm's next chapter — expanding PAM's reach while protecting the personal, high-touch model that has defined its first three decades.

Robert brings a focus on client experience, firm operations, and growth — ensuring that as PAM serves more clients, every client continues to feel like the only one.

Robert Wuflestad

President

Kiani Christian

Client Service Manager

Kiani Christian is the first voice many PAM clients hear and the consistent presence behind the day-to-day experience of working with the firm. Her attention to client care reflects the values at the core of PAM — warmth, responsiveness, and a genuine commitment to every individual relationship.

The PAM Experience

Most financial relationships are transactional. You send a document, it gets processed. You call with a question, you wait for a callback. You receive a quarterly report that describes what already happened. Somewhere along the way, the relationship between an advisor and a client became a relationship between a client and a system.

PAM is different by design.

When you work with PAM, you work with the same people throughout your relationship. Mike Thayer or Kiani Christian will know your name, your situation, your goals, and your concerns — not because they pulled your file before a meeting, but because they have been engaged with your financial life.

We are proactive in a way that most advisors are not.

When something in the market, the regulatory environment, or your personal situation creates a risk or an opportunity, we reach out — before you have to ask. We anticipate, because we know your picture well enough to see what's coming.

We show up for the complicated moments — not just the ones that appear on a portfolio statement. The business sale that turns more complex than expected. The estate issue creating family tension. The real estate decision that feels overwhelming. The life change that makes everything else feel uncertain. These are the moments PAM was built for.

We believe that extraordinary client care is not a feature — it is the foundation. Everything else we offer — the investment management, the research capabilities, the expert network — is in service of that relationship. The relationship comes first.

Our Institutional Infrastructure

The private, boutique character of PAM is a choice. The institutional infrastructure behind it is not a compromise — it is the same infrastructure that powers the largest wealth management firms in the country.

  • PAM's clients benefit from custody through Charles Schwab Advisor Services — institutional-grade trading, reporting, and account protection. Schwab Bank and Schwab Private Banking provide banking, lending, mortgages, and credit solutions. Client assets are protected by Schwab's industry-leading fraud insurance.

  • We provide access to the full spectrum of investment vehicles: domestic and international equities, fixed income, ETFs, mutual funds, alternatives, and structured products. Multi-market trading, including IPO participation. Dedicated programs for clients with concentrated stock positions — a common challenge for tech executives and business owners.

  • Investment decisions are backed by institutional research from CFRA, Argus Research, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock, YCharts, and Morningstar — synthesized and applied by advisors who know your specific situation.

  • PAM operates on Advyzon — an integrated advisory platform that provides real-time portfolio visibility, performance reporting, and account management. You have access to your complete financial picture, on demand.