Item 5: Fees and Compensation
ASI services are provided on a fee only basis. ASI does not sell financial products or accept
commissions or any other compensation from outside sources.
Fees for Asset Management Services:
Fees for asset management services will be charged based on a percentage of assets under
management, according to the following schedule:
Assets Under Management Annual Fee
First $500,000 1.10%
Next $500,000 1.00%
Next $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 0.90%
Over $5,000,000 0.70%
Fees are negotiable under certain circumstances.
ASI will provide a specific fee schedule to each client. Fees for individual accounts for members
of the same family (defined as spouses/partners and dependent children and trusts for the
benefit of such family members), are based on the total account balance of all family accounts.
Fees are computed and billed quarterly, in advance, and are based upon the fair market value
(including cash), of the client’s account on the last day of the preceding calendar quarter.
Investment advisory agreements are effective for one year beginning the date the contract is
signed and shall be automatically renewed for successive one-year terms. A client agreement
may be canceled at any time, by either party, for any reason upon receipt of written notice.
Upon termination of any account, any prepaid, unearned fees will be promptly refunded.
Fees for Financial Planning Services:
ASI estimates and quotes financial planning fees prior to clients engaging our services. In
determining fees ASI considers:
• Time and effort involved
• Complexity of the issues involved
• Involvement of other professional advisors
• Extra costs such as organizing client data and travel
• Time constraints imposed by the client’s situation.
Fifty percent (50%) of the quoted financial planning fee will be due upon signing a contract with
our firm. Fees typically range between $1,750 and $4,000, depending upon the complexity of
the plan. The balance of the fee will normally be billed as work is completed. ASI will never hold
client funds greater than $1,200 for more than six months in advance.
Provided that all information needed to prepare the financial plan has been promptly provided
by the client, a financial plan will usually be presented to the client within 90 days of the
contract date.
In certain limited circumstances, a client may pay for personal financial planning services in the
amount of $375 per quarter billed in advance.
Sub-Advisors
As described in Item 4, ASI does not receive compensation for sub-advised portfolios. If ASI
engages a sub-adviser on the client’s behalf, any advisory fees for the services of the sub-
adviser will be separate from ASI’s fees. For example, ASI may engage a manager to run a
client’s municipal bond investments, and that manager’s fees will be in addition to ASI’s fees.
Cash Balances
Some of your assets may be held as cash and remain uninvested. Holding a portion of your
assets in cash and cash alternatives, i.e., money market fund shares, may be based on your
desire to have an allocation to cash as an asset class, to support a phased market entrance
strategy, to facilitate transaction execution, to have available funds for withdrawal needs or to
pay fees or to provide for asset protection during periods of volatile market conditions. Your
cash and cash equivalents will be subject to our investment advisory fees unless otherwise
agreed upon. You may experience negative performance on the cash portion of your portfolio if
the investment advisory fees charged are higher than the returns you receive from your cash.
Retirement Plan Rollover Recommendations
As part of our investment advisory services to our clients, we may recommend that clients roll
assets from their employer’s retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 457, or ERISA 403(b) account
(collectively, a “Plan Account”), to an individual retirement account, such as a SIMPLE IRA, SEP
IRA, Traditional IRA, or Roth IRA (collectively, an “IRA Account”) that we will advise on the
client’s behalf. We may also recommend rollovers from IRA Accounts to Plan Accounts, from
Plan Accounts to Plan Accounts, and from IRA Accounts to IRA Accounts.
If the client elects to roll the assets to an IRA that is subject to our advisement, we will charge
the client an asset-based fee as set forth in the advisory agreement the client executed with our
firm. This creates a conflict of interest because it creates a financial incentive for our firm to
recommend the rollover to the client (i.e., receipt of additional fee-based compensation).
Clients are under no obligation, contractually or otherwise, to complete the rollover. Moreover,
if clients do complete the rollover, clients are under no obligation to have the assets in an IRA
advised on by our firm. Due to the foregoing conflict of interest, when we make rollover
recommendations, we operate under a special rule that requires us to act in our clients’ best
interests and not put our interests ahead of our clients.’
Under this special rule’s provisions, we must:
• meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give
prudent advice);
• never put our financial interests ahead of our clients’ when making recommendations
(give loyal advice);
• avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in our
clients’ best interests;
• charge no more than a reasonable fee for our services; and
• give clients basic information about conflicts of interest.
Many employers permit former employees to keep their retirement assets in their company
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