About Element Squared

Built to be the firm we couldn't find.

Element Squared is an independent, fiduciary wealth management firm headquartered in Minneapolis and serving individuals, families, and institutions in all 50 states. We manage money by rules, show our work, and answer only to the people we serve.

Schedule a Conversation →Meet the team

The firm

Structure: Registered investment adviser
Standard of care: Fiduciary
Ownership: Independent
Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Custodian: Fidelity Investments

Drew Sweetman

Founder & Chief Investment Officer

Our story

We built the firm we wished existed.

Drew Sweetman entered the financial industry 17 years ago as a junior adviser at one of the largest firms in the country. He became one of the youngest partners in that firm's history and later a Senior Partner.

Those years showed him what the industry does well and where it fails. The central problem was structural: when advice is paid for by commission, the adviser is rewarded for the sale, not for the outcome, and the incentive to keep serving a client fades once the sale is made. Clients are left wondering whether a recommendation is for them or for the adviser.

Element Squared was founded to remove that conflict. The firm is an independent registered investment adviser, compensated by a disclosed advisory fee and held to a fiduciary standard. Portfolios are built by rules and tested against market history, every holding and fee is visible, and no client is ever asked to change what they own unless a direct comparison makes the case.

“We'll do a full analysis of your investment accounts and manage your portfolios intelligently and efficiently.”
Drew Sweetman, Founder & Chief Investment Officer

Financial planning

The plan behind the portfolio.

Chad Rusten leads the firm's financial planning department as Chief Financial Planner. He brings more than two decades in financial services, a degree in financial management, and four professional designations: Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Chartered Advisor for Senior Living (CASL), and Certified in Long-Term Care (CLTC).

His work starts with a simple question: where are you trying to go? Retirement, a home, education, a business sale, care for a parent. Each is a destination with a date and a cost. Chad maps the most direct route between where a client stands today and each of those destinations, weighing returns, risk, and taxes together rather than one at a time.

Plans are living documents here, not binders. Chad and his team revisit each one as life changes, and when a client takes a wrong exit, the job is to get them back on the road quickly, before time, money, or options are lost. Planning is integrated with how the money is invested, so the people building the plan and the people managing the portfolio are the same team.

Chad's strength is making complex financial decisions understandable and, more importantly, actionable. Clients leave a planning meeting knowing what to do next and why.

“Our job is to take the weight of financial decisions off your shoulders, so you can spend your attention on the people and moments that matter.”
Chad Rusten, Chief Financial Planner

Away from the office, Chad and his wife Nattalie are parents to Quinn and Ava. He plays tennis and most racket sports he can find a partner for.

Chad Rusten

Chief Financial Planner

$230M+

Assets under management

50+

Years of combined experience

States served

Fidelity

Custodian of client assets

Our people

Meet the team

A small, senior group that manages portfolios, plans, and operations in-house. You will work with the people below, not a call center.

Drew Sweetman

Founder & Chief Investment Officer

Chad Rusten

Chief Financial Planner

Dominick Calvin

Director – Technical Research

Curt Myran

Director – Operations

Wyatt Schuster

Sr. Wealth Advisor

Jacob Abbott

Wealth Advisor

Logan Swanson

Wealth Advisor Associate

Nora Simondet

Operations Associate

What we believe

Four commitments we don't negotiate.

These are the standards every client relationship is built on. They are the reason the firm exists, and they apply on the first day and every day after.

Fiduciary by structure, not slogan

We are a registered investment adviser compensated by a disclosed advisory fee. The duty to act in your best interest is written into how the firm is built, not added to a brochure.

Measure before recommending

A recommendation to change should be earned by evidence. We compare your current portfolio with ours over the same periods and let the numbers carry the conversation.

Know what you own and what it costs

Every holding, every change, every fee is visible. Clients should never have to wonder why something is in their portfolio or what they are paying for it.

One team for the whole picture

Investments, retirement accounts, and the financial plan are managed together by people who sit in the same room, so decisions are made with everything in view.

How we invest

A process you can read before you invest.

We manage portfolios of individual stocks and ETFs through a small lineup of models, each built for a different balance of growth and protection. Three things make the approach different.

Discipline

Rules decided in advance

Our portfolio models follow written rules for what to own, how much, and when to review. Decisions are made on a schedule, not on headlines.

Evidence

Tested against market history

Each model is examined across decades of market data, including the difficult years, before it is offered to a client.

Quality

Companies, not just tickers

We look at the financial strength of the businesses underneath the funds and stocks we own, and we show clients that quality in plain terms.

See our services →

Where we are

Minneapolis roots, nationwide reach.

We are headquartered in downtown Minneapolis and work with clients in all 50 states. Reviews and planning meetings are held in person or by video, and because client accounts are custodied at Fidelity, the experience is the same wherever you live.

Schedule a Conversation →

Office: 60 S. Sixth Street, Suite 2900 Minneapolis, MN 55402
Phone: 612-429-0424
Meetings: In person, video, or phone
Custodian: Fidelity Investments
Disclosures: Form ADV Part 2A · Form CRS