Why did you choose to establish your firm as an independent registered investment adviser?
Andrew S. Lam, Dale S. Lam, Abe J. Shearer
This is the model that we feel is in our clients’ best interest. Since we are independent, we have no proprietary investment products, sales incentives, or other financial bias to cloud our judgement. Our investment recommendations to our clients are objective and in their best interest.
What is the fiduciary duty?
As a fee-only adviser, we are held to the “fiduciary” standard of care for our clients. This means that we are legally bound to put our clients’ interest first. Many working in the financial services industry today are not held to this standard, but abide by a lower standard called the “suitability” standard.
Do you have an account minimum?
Our clients range in account size, but generally average approximately $1 million in assets under management per relationship. We value referrals from clients and other professionals, so there is no hard and fast rule on the size of the account that we will accept as long as we feel the relationship will be mutually beneficial.
Do you receive commissions on the products you sell?
Although very common in our industry, we choose not to receive compensation through commissions to avoid conflicts of interest in our investment recommendations.
How are you compensated?
Strategent Financial is a fee-only investment adviser. This means we charge clients a management fee (no commissions) typically calculated based on a percentage of assets under management. As a caution, many advisers designate themselves as fee-based, which is not fee only. Fee based advisers often charge both fees and commissions on their services.
What is a proprietary investment product?
Many advisers are often affiliated with large brokerage firms that also own companies which sell and market investment products (mutual funds, variable annuities, insurance, etc.). As an independent firm on an independent platform with no proprietary products, we have eliminated the inherent conflicts of interest that can arrive when an investment firm is associated with proprietary products.
What kinds of investments do you recommend to your clients?
Because we are independent, we have access to a broad selection of institutional investments with low expense ratios, high tax efficiency, and funds with long term, proven track records.
Do you prepare tax returns?
We leverage our experience in tax and accounting in servicing our clients. Tax efficient investments, coupled with a sound tax strategy, are significant drivers of one’s long term financial success. While tax efficiency and strategy is a significant component of our service, we do not prepare tax returns for our clients.
We work closely alongside our clients’ accountants (as well as their attorneys and other professional advisers) to assist them with all of the information and assistance needed for your tax preparation. We feel that we cannot effectively run a tax preparation business several months out of the year without detracting from our core business services.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Any indices referenced are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly. See Disclosures.