About
Mark W. Karstrom
Portfolio manager since 1986. Wealth advisor since 2006. Chicago since 1996.
- Based in
- Chicago, Illinois
- Education
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 2006
B.A. Economics, University of Denver, 1984 - Licenses
- Series 7 · Series 66 · Insurance licensed in multiple states
- Affiliations
- Realta Investment Advisors, Inc., a registered investment adviserCRD #134952Realta Equities, Inc., broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPCCRD #23769
- Verify — CRD #1322744
- FINRA BrokerCheck →SEC Adviser Info →Form CRS & Form ADV →
Mark began in 1986 managing personal trust portfolios.
It was trust money — portfolios run for beneficiaries — and it set a standard of care he has kept since. His first decade was spent at United Banks of Colorado, later Wells Fargo Bank, managing personal trusts and bank mutual funds alongside retirement plans and insurance portfolios.
In 1996 he moved to Chicago with ABN AMRO. Over the following decade he managed institutional fixed income at LaSalle Bank, Scudder Kemper, and Principal Financial Group — mutual funds, insurance portfolios, and retirement plans.
Institutional bond work is a particular education. It formed Mark's macro approach to portfolio construction, and it transfers directly to clients whose priority has shifted from building wealth to keeping it.
He completed an MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2006 and established his wealth management business the same year. He joined David A. Noyes Advisors in Chicago in 2014, and since 2020 has practiced as Mark W Karstrom Wealth Management.
He works with individuals, families, and business owners as a fiduciary, on a consultative footing rather than a transactional one: family office coordination, retirement and distribution planning, fixed income, and portfolio management, together with alternative investments — 1031 exchanges and Delaware Statutory Trusts for owners of appreciated real property, and private placements and insurance where they fit.
Away from the practice
Mark grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, and went to Lake Forest Academy. Trips to Colorado took him to the University of Denver, and Colorado kept him coming back — he was an avid skier for years, including a decade on the Loveland ski patrol.
He returned to Chicago in 1996 and settled in Evanston, where he met his wife, Barbara. They were married at Holy Name Cathedral in 1999 and have two children, Joan and Duffy. After five years in Des Moines, the family moved to Flossmoor, Illinois, where they raised their children and where Mark and Barbara live today.
He still plays golf, still gets back to Colorado, and is a regular at Chicago's cultural events.
Record
1984
B.A. Economics, University of Denver
1986 — 1996
United Banks of Colorado (later Wells Fargo Bank)
Portfolio manager for personal trusts and mutual funds.
1996 — 1999
ABN AMRO, Chicago
Fixed income portfolio manager for LaSalle Banks, Scudder Kemper, and Principal Financial Group, managing mutual funds, insurance portfolios, and retirement plans.
1999 — 2001
Scudder Kemper
Insurance portfolio manager.
2001 — 2005
Principal Financial Group
Managing mutual funds, insurance portfolios, and retirement plans.
2006
MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Entered wealth management the same year, at UBS.
2014 — 2020
David A. Noyes Advisors, Chicago
Wealth advisor.
2020 — present
Realta Wealth
Investment Advisory Representative of Realta Investment Advisors, Inc., practicing as Mark W Karstrom Wealth Management. Registered Representative of Realta Equities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.
No legal or disciplinary events are disclosed. See full disclosures.