Personalized wealth management for families in Athens and Saint Simons Island, Georgia. We take the long view — managing your wealth with the same patience and discipline it takes to build something lasting.
OUR FIRM
Disciplined, Transparent Wealth Management
Island Asset Management is an independent, fee-only Registered Investment Advisor. Our premise is simple: disciplined investing beats chasing trends. We manage portfolios using a low-cost, diversified, rules-based strategy — one built to be explained plainly, followed consistently, and to hold up through market cycles rather than react to them.
As fiduciaries, we’re legally and ethically bound to act solely in our clients’ best interest — full fee transparency, no commissions, no product sales, no conflicts of interest.
Our approach goes beyond portfolio construction:
- Proactive, plain-language communication on a regular cadence
- Tax-aware management, including loss harvesting and thoughtful asset location
- Planning built to withstand downturns, not just benefit from upturns
- A trusted advisor and problem-solver for the complexity of building a multi-faceted financial foundation
ABOUT US
Experienced Leadership Rooted in Georgia
Our team combines decades of institutional financial experience with real-world entrepreneurial insight to deliver deeply personal, grounded wealth guidance. Together, we are dedicated to placing your best interests first and helping you build a lasting financial foundation.
Thomas Neely founded Island Asset Management in 2021 with a simple goal: bring thoughtful, personalized investment guidance to clients on the Georgia coast and beyond. As Managing Member and Investment Advisor Representative, Thomas oversees the firm's advisory services and serves as its Chief Compliance Officer, personally reviewing the firm's practices to ensure clients always come first.
Thomas brings decades of experience in financial services, having held advisory roles with Synovus Securities, Coastal Bank of Georgia, Investment Professionals, Inc., Ameriprise Financial Services, and TNB Financial Services before founding Island Asset Management. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia.
Davis Knox brings a uniquely grounded perspective to wealth management. Based in Athens, Georgia, Davis serves clients of Island Asset Management as an Investment Advisor, drawing on more than two decades of experience building and operating businesses to guide individuals and families toward lasting financial success.
Before transitioning into wealth management, Davis spent 20 years as an entrepreneur and business owner — navigating cash flow, capital allocation, and risk firsthand. That experience gives him a practical understanding of what's at stake for clients, whether they're business owners planning an exit, professionals building toward retirement, or families protecting what they've worked hard to create.
Davis holds a degree in Finance from the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, and serves on the boards of the Georgia Foundation for Public Education, the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation, Gamma Holdings and the Rumsey Hall School.
WHO WE SERVE
Tailored Financial Stewardship for Every Chapter of Your Life and Business
Individuals and Families
We are committed to being a resource for clients of all ranges, whether you are just getting started with your career, building a family or expanding your business.
Investment Management
Our team collaborates with you to construct tailored investment portfolios that reflect your unique circumstances, strategic planning objectives, and specific market preferences. Utilizing the robust platform at Charles Schwab, we achieve this through a disciplined selection of diversified options, ranging from individual equity management and fixed-income securities to both rules-based passive and actively managed strategies. We also offer access to alternative investments and private equity for accredited or qualified investors.
Qualified Savings
Saving for education, healthcare expenses and retirement are core components of a sound financial plan. We help clients maximize the benefits of using qualified accounts.
Wealth Planning
We develop an all-encompassing financial plan designed to bring you clarity, mitigate risks throughout your life, help safeguard and expand your wealth while optimizing for tax efficiency along the way.
Charitable Gift Planning
We work alongside you to recommend the strategies and tactics for maximizing the impact of your charitable giving while considering tax implications.
Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
Investment Management
Our team collaborates with you to construct tailored investment portfolios that reflect your unique circumstances, strategic planning objectives, and specific market preferences. Utilizing the robust platform at Charles Schwab, we achieve this through a disciplined selection of diversified options, ranging from individual equity management and fixed-income securities to both rules-based passive and actively managed strategies. We also offer access to alternative investments and private equity for accredited or qualified investors.
Wealth Planning
We develop an all-encompassing financial plan designed to bring you clarity, mitigate risks throughout your life, help safeguard and expand your wealth while optimizing for tax efficiency along the way.
Corporate Retirement Plans
We can assist you with a corporate retirement plan that fits the needs of your workforce and gives you the flexibility to invest in your employees.
Endowments
Financial Stewardship
We work with endowments to help them protect and grow capital over the long term and to ensure a steady stream of income for charitable purposes or an educational mission. We develop policy statements, diversified portfolios and ensure the fund strictly complies with the complex fiduciary standards, legal regulations and institutional spending guidelines.
Athletes & Entertainers
We understand the complexities of irregular income and managing cash flow. This area of our practice focuses on helping you establish the right structures to invest, produce investment income and ultimately safeguard your assets so that you have peace of mind for years to come.
Investment Management
Our team collaborates with you to construct tailored investment portfolios that reflect your unique circumstances, strategic planning objectives, and specific market preferences. Utilizing the robust platform at Charles Schwab, we achieve this through a disciplined selection of diversified options, ranging from individual equity management and fixed-income securities to both rules-based passive and actively managed strategies. We also offer access to alternative investments and private equity for accredited or qualified investors.
Wealth Planning
We develop an all-encompassing financial plan designed to bring you clarity, mitigate risks throughout your life, help safeguard and expand your wealth while optimizing for tax efficiency along the way.
Family Office Services
We serve high-net worth individuals with a multitude of services to simplify their lifestyle and ultimately keep them focused on their life passions.
Family Engagement
We can lead discussions and planning sessions to help you enable financial success for the next generation. Our clients aim to leave a lasting financial legacy while also preparing the next generation of financial stewards.
- Facilitating multi-generational family meetings
- Preparing the next generation for wealth inheritance
- Helping define family goals and developing a plan to achieve them
- Building a family philanthropic strategy
Estate Coordination
We work alongside estate planning attorneys to set in place the key components of a robust estate plan including wills, trusts, POAs and beneficiary designations.
Charitable Giving
We help you develop your family’s philanthropic focus and investment strategy so that you can leave a lasting legacy of impact. We help establish appropriate structures, processes and oversight for charitable giving.
Lending
We can serve as your liaison to debt financing partners across loan types and unique underwriting needs including business lines of credit, mortgages and pledged asset lines.
OUR SERVICES
Comprehensive Wealth Services Built to Grow and Simplify Your Financial Life
Our team combines decades of institutional financial experience with real-world entrepreneurial insight to deliver deeply personal, grounded wealth guidance.
Active Portfolio Management
- Asset Allocation: Tailoring your mix of stocks, bonds, and cash based on your specific risk tolerance and timeline.
- Disciplined Portfolio Rebalancing: Periodically resetting your portfolio to its original targets so you do not accidentally take on too much risk.
- Institutional Resource & Funds Access: Opening the door to exclusive, institutional-grade investment options and research.
Tax and Wealth Optimization
- Tax-Loss Harvesting: Strategically selling losing investments to offset capital gains taxes, keeping more money compounding in your account.
- Smart Asset Location: Placing highly taxed investments into tax-deferred accounts while keeping tax-efficient assets in standard brokerage accounts.
- Maximizing Account Types: Guiding your contributions toward advanced vehicles like Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or specialized 529 college savings trusts.
- Wealth Planning: Developing a financial plan to mitigate risks throughout your life, safeguard and expand your wealth, optimize tax efficiency and prepare for your retirement.
Comprehensive Life Planning
- Retirement Income Mapping: Charting exactly how to draw down your savings, optimize Social Security benefits, and manage Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).
- Estate and Legacy Coordination: Pre-planning how to transfer assets efficiently to heirs or charities before looping in an estate attorney.
- Windfall Navigation: Assisting you in managing sudden cash influxes, such as an inheritance, a corporate bonus, or a business sale.
- Pre-Transaction Planning: Working in conjunction with you to prepare business for large real estate purchases, selling a business or navigating a buyout.
Behavioral Coaching and Guidance
- Preventing Emotional Selling: Serving as a voice of reason during sudden market downturns to stop you from selling low out of panic.
- Goal Accountability: Keeping you strictly on track with your long-term savings rate and preventing financial lifestyle creep.
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CONTACT US
Create your custom financial plan with us.
Your questions deserve expert answers. Book a session to talk to an advisor now and turn doubts into decisions.
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