Holistic Portfolio Management and Goals Based Financial Planning
Independent
We are 100% independent and seek to recommend the best solutions available in the marketplace for our clients. We do not sell our own products and have no affiliations with any banks or financial institutions. We strive to provide objective unbiased advice to our clients and work to minimize any conflicts of interest. We put our money where our mouth is investing in the same strategies as our clients.
Fee-Only Fiduciary
We never accept sales commissions or push products rather we charge a reasonable fee for our unbiased advice. Being a Registered Investment Advisor we are held by law to a fiduciary standard. This means we are required to act solely in our clients’ best interest at all times.
Holistic
A comprehensive and holistic overview of one’s financial situation is crucial to understand when investing and striving to achieve financial goals in an efficient manner. We believe a sound financial plan and a customized Investment Policy Statement is the foundation to an investor’s success.
Our Mission and Values
Contra Investments strives to be a trusted financial advisor bringing unbiased fee-only advice to our clients. Our goal is to maximize our clients’ wealth and aid them in achieving their financial goals/objectives through a goals based holistic financial planning approach. No product sales, no commissions, and minimized conflicts of interest. Our fee-only service model helps us serve clients better by aligning our interests with client interests.
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Matt MacFarlane, Partner
Matt grew up in Wisconsin, where he grew up participating in a range of sports and academic teams. He attended Cornell University, where he played football and received his engineering degree in Operations Research and Information Engineering. He started his career as an equity options trader at Peak6 Investments, a successful, privately held trading firm headquartered in Chicago. After 7 years as an options trader, he moved to Dallas, where he was Director of Analytics for Apex Clearing, a subsidiary company of Peak6. He founded Contra Investments LLC in 2021.
Matt lives in Denver, Colorado and has two kids. He is on the Board of Directors of Colorado Uplift, a non-profit organization dedicated to uplifting Colorado's urban youth through mentorship and leadership training. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, biking, skiing, and triathlon.
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Paul Borges, CFA, CFP®, MSc, Partner
Paul was born and raised in the Midwest (Milwaukee, WI and St. Louis, MO), but has spent nearly 8 years as an expat studying and working in Scandinavia, initially in Copenhagen, Denmark and most recently in Oslo, Norway.
He has a range of financial industry experience having worked at Ameriprise Financial in Chicago, IL, Nordea Bank in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ernst & Young in Oslo, Norway. Roles have ranged from investment management, investment analysis, financial planning, to consulting.
Paul has a graduate degree in management from Copenhagen Business School and an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Additionally, Paul continuously strives to further develop his skillsets and has earned both his CFA Charter and CFP® certification.
