Gil Baumgarten
is a 41-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. In 2010, Gil left the brokerage world to start Segment, a fee-only firm where the interests of the client could align with the interests of the firm. In 2022, the Houston Business Journal honored Gil with the “Most Admired CEOs in Houston” award.
In 2021, Gil published his first book, FOOLISH: How Investors Get Worked Up and Worked Over by the System. The best-selling book highlights the hidden problems endemic among Wall Street brokerage firms, as well as the deeply rooted self-destructive tendencies of investors, and provides investors with an actionable path forward.
Named one of the Top-20 Exchange-Traded Fund Thought Leaders in America by Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal (2019), Gil’s expertise is frequently recognized and called upon. 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 an estimated all-ETF portfolio track record for over 20 years.
Gil is a multi-year recipient of Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors in America distinction and as of 2025, he is once again ranked among the “Top 20 Financial Advisors in Texas.” (See ranking methodology.)
Gil is also ranked on Forbes‘ list of Best-In-State Wealth Advisors, specifically in Houston’s Private Wealth category, as of 2025. (See ranking methodology.)
(Please see Important Disclosure Information.)
Beyond that, Gil has been published in Barron’s, Forbes Finance Council, and Financial Advisor Magazine, and featured in publications such as Think Advisor and Business Insider.
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 board members and volunteers of numerous charities, including National Christian Foundation, Turning Point USA, and LifeHouse Houston, a ministry where women who are experiencing unplanned pregnancies are provided housing, help, and hope. Learn more about the organizations Gil has dedicated his time and resources to.
The Baumgartens are active members of The Story Church in Houston and have three children who have graduated from TCU, Ole Miss, and Pepperdine.
*Please Note: Limitations. The achievement of any professional designation, certification, degree, or license, recognition by publications, media, or other organizations, membership in any professional organization, or any amount of prior experience or success, should not be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results or satisfaction if Segment Wealth Management, LLC is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services.
*Please Note: Limitations. Neither rankings nor recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, publications, media, or other organizations, nor the achievement of any professional designation, certification, degree, or license, membership in any professional organization, or any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that the client will experience a certain level of results if the investment professional or the investment professional’s firm is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A fee was not paid by either the investment professional or the investment professional’s firm to receive the ranking. The ranking is based upon specific criteria and methodology (see ranking criteria/methodology). No ranking or recognition should be construed as an endorsement by any past or current client of the investment professional or the investment professional’s firm. ANY QUESTIONS: Segment Wealth Management, LLC’s Chief Compliance Officer remains available to address any questions regarding rankings and/or recognitions, including the criteria used for any reflected ranking.