Gil Baumgarten
Advisory Council Member
Gil Baumgarten is a 35-year veteran of the securities and investment industry. After beginning his career at the venerable EF Hutton in the early 1980s, Gil became a top producer for UBS and Smith Barney; what is today Morgan Stanley. However, Gil found Wall Street routinely emphasized its own interests over those of the client. By the time 2010 came about, Gil jumped off the brokerage train to start Segment, a fee-only firm where the interests of the client could align with the interests of the firm.
Named one of the top-20 Exchange Traded Funds thought leaders in America by BARRON’S and the Wall Street Journal, Gil’s expertise is frequently recognized and called upon. He is a multi-year recipient of the BARRON’S Top 1,200 Financial Advisors distinction given to the best financial advisors in the United States; has been ranked by BARRON’S as one of the 35 best advisors in Texas; has been recognized by the Financial Times as one of the Top 300 Registered Investment Advisors in America; and is a perennial recipient of the Texas Monthly Magazine Five-Star Advisor award, which is based on an independent study of client satisfaction. Having participated as one of six beta-testers in a national UBS program on all-ETF portfolios, Gil is one of only a handful of professional money managers with a 16-year all-ETF portfolio track record. Beyond that, Gil has been a guest commentator on Bloomberg Radio and even hosted his own radio talk show called Dollars and Sense.
As an avid outdoorsman, Gil has traveled the world hunting and fishing. Gil excels at sports and activities involving precision. He was his university’s billiard champion and likes golf, archery, darts, skeet, and marksmanship. Gil is an award-winning woodworker, specializing in a particular art form called segmentation, from which the firm’s name is derived. Segmentation is the assembly of various species of wood, cut to fit in a precise pattern. This knack for precision extends to Gil’s investment strategies, where risk components and financial strategies are added and subtracted from client accounts with the same attention to detail.
Gil and his wife Sue are active members of Seven Mile Road Church in Houston. They are former resident house-parents of a ministry called LifeHouse where women who are experiencing unplanned pregnancies are provided housing, help, and hope. Gil and Sue are both present and past board members and volunteers of numerous charities including: Young Life, Young Lives, Coastal Conservation Association, LifeHouse, Star of Hope, Lamar High School Alumni Association board, National Christian Foundation, and others. Gil also serves on the corporate board of Blaze Portfolio Systems, an investment software provider. They have three children who have graduated from TCU, Ole Miss, and Pepperdine.
