Kutscher Benner Barsness & Stevens Inc

ITEM 5 – FEES AND COMPENSATION
FEE ARRANGEMENTS                                        account statements issued by the custodian may
                                                        differ from the value used by us for advisory fee
Most of our clients compensate us with a fee that       calculation purposes.
is recalculated when we conduct our portfolio
review and/or financial planning process. Our
standard fee arrangement covers financial               STANDARD SCHEDULE
planning services including phone calls, meetings,
and activities associated with financial counseling        Portfolio Value   Advisory Fee
and appropriate monitoring of their accounts
throughout the year. This “fixed fee”                   Base Component          $500
arrangement has served us and our clients well          First $500,000          0.80%
through time, allowing us to consider special           Next $1,500,000         0.70%
factors for fair and reasonable compensation. In        Next $2,000,000         0.60%
assessing what is a fair fee, we typically apply the    Next $5,000,000         0.50%
standard schedule to a client’s “investment             Next $9,000,000         0.20%
portfolio” and then adjust as appropriate.
On occasion, when making more substantial               SET-UP FEE (INITIAL YEAR)
adjustments from the schedule, we consider the
complexity of the relationship, the time, effort        This one-time fee covers initial information-
and skill required to perform the necessary work,       gathering, issue identification, reports, letters and
anticipated future earning capacity, as well as the     meetings associated with our becoming acquainted
responsibility entailed in providing financial          with a client’s overall financial situation. The fee is
counseling services. As a result of the above,          generally equal to 35% of the annual fee, subject to
similarly situated clients could pay different fees     a $2,000 minimum and a cap of $10,000. It may be
and similar advisory services may be available          waived in some cases if we determine that the
from another investment advisor for similar or          typical set-up process is not required.
lower fees.
                                                        SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
“INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO” BASE                             Limited Scope. We also provide some clients with a
Subject to the negotiated adjustments described         more limited scope engagement, which typically
above, the following standard schedule is applied       focuses less on financial planning and more on
to a client’s “investment portfolio,” which typically   investment advice. Under this arrangement, we
includes all assets held predominantly for              waive the base component and simply charge
investment return, including cash, which we view        clients 0.7% of the investment portfolio.
as an asset class. An investment portfolio does not     In cases where the family relationship exceeds $5
include a client’s residence, personal use vacation     million, a limited scope engagement may be
home, cars or other property held solely for            charged 0.5% of the investment portfolio. Note
personal use. Client-owned businesses are usually       that this discount does not carry over to our
excluded, and client-owned rental/investment real       standard schedule for financial planning
estate may be considered part of the portfolio          relationships.
depending on the need for related financial             Inflation Adjustment. In some instances, our
counsel. The market value reflected on periodic         fixed fee compensation arrangement is adjusted

SEC Form ADV Part 2A

at the time of the review/report based solely on       PAYMENT AND TIMING OF FEES
changes in inflation (CPI) rather than changes in a    The specific manner in which fees are charged is
client’s investment portfolio.                         established in a client’s written agreement with us,
Other Arrangements. We don’t typically provide         and we provide any update to our fees in our
financial counseling services for limited-duration     financial reviews. Fees are generally withdrawn in
projects, and generally we don’t charge by the         advance of each calendar quarter directly from
hour. We make exceptions from time to time at          client accounts, and notice of the fee withdrawal is
these hourly rates:                                    noted in the client’s custodian’s account
 Professional Financial Planner: $500
                                                       statement. In some cases, clients are billed for fees
 Financial Associates: $350
                                                       already incurred but not yet collected. Client
                                                       relationships initiated or terminated during a
                                                       calendar quarter will be charged a prorated fee.
DISCOUNTED, DONATED AND PRO BONO SERVICES              Upon termination of a client relationship with us,
                                                       any prepaid, unearned fees will be promptly
We may provide pro bono advice to non-profit
                                                       refunded, and any earned, unpaid fees will be due
organizations, individuals, family members, and/or
                                                       and payable at that time.
may provide planning or advice to employees (of
our firm or of the KHBB Law Firm or “KHBB Law”) at
a reduced cost. In addition, certain pre-existing      EXPENSE RATIOS
clients have agreed to a service offering different
from those described above.                            Mutual funds, private funds, and exchange-traded
                                                       funds also charge internal management fees, which
...

ITEM 7 – TYPES OF CLIENTS
DESCRIPTION
Our clients are generally individuals, families and trustees. New clients are accepted on the basis of their
alignment with our philosophy and process. New clients generally must have sufficient assets to support an
annual fee of $10,000; however, we may accept new clients with a smaller amount of investment assets
where clients have a reasonable prospect of adding significantly to their investment portfolios over time (i.e.,
anticipated future earning capacity, anticipated future additional assets, dollar amount of assets to be
managed), are related to existing clients, or where we determine the relationship is otherwise merited on
both sides.

FOR QUESTIONS: Our Chief Compliance Officer, Cameron Barsness, remains available to address any questions that a client or
prospective client may have regarding client-related issues.

SEC Form ADV Part 2A