Why Fee Based Advisors?

An RIA acts as a fiduciary for their clients which is a higher standard of care than other financial advisors. An RIA must put client interests first and only make recommendations that are specific to the client and in their best interest. All other financial advisors are only held to a suitability standard meaning if the recommendation is suitable to someone in your financial position it is ok even though in your specific situation it may not be the best answer.

RIAs work on their client’s behalf (not for the financial institutions) on a fee basis. There are no commissions for most investment products. Fees reduce the initial impact on investments when using new products or reallocating current accounts.

RIAs perform a number of services for their clients as disclosed in their customer account agreement and ADV disclosure. These services could include but are not limited to:

• Financial Planning
• Investment Analysis & Management
• Insurance recommendations
• Trust Creation & Management
• Performance Reporting
• Tax Mitigation & Planning

The RIA may on your behalf and with your permission coordinate with other professionals you work with i.e. CPA, Attorney etc. To help save you time and fees by making sure there is no duplication of efforts, maximize the benefits of estate management, tax planning etc.

The RIA manages these services for clients and keeps the client informed with review meetings to be held quarterly, semi-annually, or annually depending on client needs.

When selecting and recommending investment options and other financial products for the client’s consideration the RIA will base the recommendation on the clients risk tolerance (established through the use of a risk tolerance questionnaire), time horizon, all financial factors including their tax status, other assets and liabilities, and financial goals that must be accomplished.

Keeping in mind that most retail mutual funds must stay invested and have ongoing fees along with upfront commissions. As well most variable annuity sub-accounts have the same issue of staying invested and have fees usually much higher than mutual funds. In order to mitigate these disadvantages:
 

• We will use institutional money managers that cannot usually be accessed directly by the consumer.
• Use institutional shares for mutual funds
• Use non-commission-based products (to the extent they are available)
• Use active money managers with the ability to go to cash
• Help the client take advantage of rebalancing
• Provide aggregated reporting for full and efficient disclosure