When SGH Wealth Management, a Lathrup Village, Mich.-based independent RIA with $617 million in AUM, got its start in 2005, its main clientele were executives from Detroit’s auto-manufacturing companies. Since then, the firm has expanded to include business owners and private equity executives, with its bread-and-butter clients being sophisticated high-net-worth investors who are at or nearing retirement—the 60-plus-year-olds who suddenly discover they would like the help of a financial advisor to navigate a new phase of life.

With that in mind, Sam Huszczo, the firm’s founder, is very aware of how market timing will impact SGH clients’ net worth. A traditional downturn—the kind the U.S. market hasn’t seen in a while, Huszczo…