Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between a fee only Registered Investment Advisor and a broker?
A: There are two main differences between registered investment advisors and brokers:
Relationship to clients: By law (the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) have a fiduciary duty to their clients. They have to put the interests of clients ahead of their own and they have to recommend the best investments for the clients, not just suitable ones. Brokers, some of whom call themselves Financial Advisers, are regulated under a different law and they simply have to recommend suitable investments to their clients. In many instances, brokers are salespeople who help their clients trade stocks. They are not held to the same fiduciary responsibility as Registered Investment Advisors and it’s perfectly legal that the interests of the brokerage firm come ahead of that of the clients’.
Compensation: Fee-only Registered Investment Advisers are paid a percentage of assets under management. Hence, their objective is the same as that of the clients’ which is to maximize the value of the account. Since they are not paid in commissions, they only recommend trades that they believe would satisfy the stated objectives of the account.
Most brokers are compensated on a transaction-based system through commissions. Although many brokerage firms have recently introduced asset-based fee accounts, many brokers still have a financial interest in client transactions through sharing Mutual Fund sales loads for example.
Q: Do you have an account minimum?
A: Yes, the account minimum is $150,000.
Q: Which broker do you use for trades?
We use TradePMR as our platform for managing investments and trading. Our clients enjoy the transparency and user-friendly aspect of the TradePMR website for account access including holdings, market prices, history, performance reports, cost basis and tax information.
Q: Who has custody of my funds?
Your money will be held with third-party custodian Sterne Agee, a company that has been in business over 100 years.
Q: Do your fees cover both financial planning and wealth management?
A: Not necessarily. There is no charge for financial planning if the client has more than $1,000,000 under management with us. Otherwise there is one time charge for financial planning if you are an investment management client. For those who are not investment management clients, there is an hourly fee. Please see our fee schedule.
Q: How often will I get account updates?
A: Atas Capital will send you quarterly account reports.
Q: How often will I meet with my adivsor?
A: We encourage active communication. Meetings and consultations are generally held semiannually, although quarterly meetings are available if the client deems it necessary. We are also always just a phone call or email away.
Q: How often is my portfolio reviewed by Atlas Capital?
A: We work closely with our clients to develop an appropriate asset allocation policy. Once these target levels are set, we do not shift allocations based on near-term market moves. We do, however, actively manage the allocation process to continually rebalance portfolios to the target allocation. All target allocations are reviewed at least annually to assure that a particular asset mix continues to meet the current needs of the clients.
Q: Will you help me understand my investments and what economic circumstances may affect them?
A: Absolutely. This is one of the most rewarding parts of the job for us. Our goal is that the clients feel comfortable with their investments and understand the risk/reward tradeoff of anything they are contemplating, including investments for the long-run, tax issues, and retirement planning.
Q: Will I have to sell all or part of my current investments to work with you?
A: In some cases there are some significant changes we would recommend, but often they can be implemented over time, or can be adapted to some of your current holdings. For example, some clients may have significant unrealized investment gains in their current holdings that could trigger large income taxes if they were sold. In other cases clients have specific holdings that they have a particular desire to keep. In all cases we will use our best judgment to recommend the most appropriate portfolio for you, then adjust and adapt it to accommodate specific concerns.
Q: Can you help me with tax issues?
A: While we are not CPAs and do not do taxes, we certainly do give advice on tax issues related to capital gains and dividends as well as estate tax issues. We can analyze everything from the tax benefits of your mortgage payment to which securities should be sold in order to minimize your taxes. There are also multiple ways to lower your tax bill by looking for tax-friendly ETFs vs mutual funds and ETFs that are not tax-friendly. This can be a complicated subject and is one we are ready to help you with.
Q: Can you provide advice on how I should invest the money in my company’s 401(k) Plan?
A: Yes. If you are actively participating in your company’s 401(k) plan, we will provide guidance on how to choose among the available funds in your company plan.
Q: What is the process to start working with you?
A: We recommend starting with a brief 10-15 minute phone call to understand what your overall objectives and needs are, and to plan the first meeting. Before our first meeting, we will send you an investor profile form and a financial planning questionnaire to gather some information.
During our first meeting, which normally lasts one hour, we will explore your needs and expectations in much more detail, introduce you to our investment approach and reasoning behind it, and describe how we believe our approach could best be applied to your situation.We will answer any questions you might have about how we would work with you.
If our approach makes sense to you, we would then offer to prepare a specific investment proposal, at no cost or obligation to you.In our second meeting, we will present this proposal and show you exactly how we would design and implement a customized investment program for you, and how we would address any financial planning issues. At this point, if you have decided to work with us, we would take you through the steps of establishing our advisory relationship and the specific implementation steps for your investment program.
Q: Do I have to enter into a long-term contract with Atlas Capital Management?
A: No. Clients are free to leave and transfer their money any time they wish.
Please contact our office at 303-415-2082 or click here to send us an e-mail inquiry.
303-744-0513 | info@AtlasCapitalMgt.com ©2010 Atlas Capital Management
A: There are two main differences between registered investment advisors and brokers:
Relationship to clients: By law (the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) have a fiduciary duty to their clients. They have to put the interests of clients ahead of their own and they have to recommend the best investments for the clients, not just suitable ones. Brokers, some of whom call themselves Financial Advisers, are regulated under a different law and they simply have to recommend suitable investments to their clients. In many instances, brokers are salespeople who help their clients trade stocks. They are not held to the same fiduciary responsibility as Registered Investment Advisors and it’s perfectly legal that the interests of the brokerage firm come ahead of that of the clients’.
Compensation: Fee-only Registered Investment Advisers are paid a percentage of assets under management. Hence, their objective is the same as that of the clients’ which is to maximize the value of the account. Since they are not paid in commissions, they only recommend trades that they believe would satisfy the stated objectives of the account.
Most brokers are compensated on a transaction-based system through commissions. Although many brokerage firms have recently introduced asset-based fee accounts, many brokers still have a financial interest in client transactions through sharing Mutual Fund sales loads for example.
Q: Do you have an account minimum?
A: Yes, the account minimum is $150,000.
Q: Which broker do you use for trades?
We use TradePMR as our platform for managing investments and trading. Our clients enjoy the transparency and user-friendly aspect of the TradePMR website for account access including holdings, market prices, history, performance reports, cost basis and tax information.
Q: Who has custody of my funds?
Your money will be held with third-party custodian Sterne Agee, a company that has been in business over 100 years.
Q: Do your fees cover both financial planning and wealth management?
A: Not necessarily. There is no charge for financial planning if the client has more than $1,000,000 under management with us. Otherwise there is one time charge for financial planning if you are an investment management client. For those who are not investment management clients, there is an hourly fee. Please see our fee schedule.
Q: How often will I get account updates?
A: Atas Capital will send you quarterly account reports.
Q: How often will I meet with my adivsor?
A: We encourage active communication. Meetings and consultations are generally held semiannually, although quarterly meetings are available if the client deems it necessary. We are also always just a phone call or email away.
Q: How often is my portfolio reviewed by Atlas Capital?
A: We work closely with our clients to develop an appropriate asset allocation policy. Once these target levels are set, we do not shift allocations based on near-term market moves. We do, however, actively manage the allocation process to continually rebalance portfolios to the target allocation. All target allocations are reviewed at least annually to assure that a particular asset mix continues to meet the current needs of the clients.
Q: Will you help me understand my investments and what economic circumstances may affect them?
A: Absolutely. This is one of the most rewarding parts of the job for us. Our goal is that the clients feel comfortable with their investments and understand the risk/reward tradeoff of anything they are contemplating, including investments for the long-run, tax issues, and retirement planning.
Q: Will I have to sell all or part of my current investments to work with you?
A: In some cases there are some significant changes we would recommend, but often they can be implemented over time, or can be adapted to some of your current holdings. For example, some clients may have significant unrealized investment gains in their current holdings that could trigger large income taxes if they were sold. In other cases clients have specific holdings that they have a particular desire to keep. In all cases we will use our best judgment to recommend the most appropriate portfolio for you, then adjust and adapt it to accommodate specific concerns.
Q: Can you help me with tax issues?
A: While we are not CPAs and do not do taxes, we certainly do give advice on tax issues related to capital gains and dividends as well as estate tax issues. We can analyze everything from the tax benefits of your mortgage payment to which securities should be sold in order to minimize your taxes. There are also multiple ways to lower your tax bill by looking for tax-friendly ETFs vs mutual funds and ETFs that are not tax-friendly. This can be a complicated subject and is one we are ready to help you with.
Q: Can you provide advice on how I should invest the money in my company’s 401(k) Plan?
A: Yes. If you are actively participating in your company’s 401(k) plan, we will provide guidance on how to choose among the available funds in your company plan.
Q: What is the process to start working with you?
A: We recommend starting with a brief 10-15 minute phone call to understand what your overall objectives and needs are, and to plan the first meeting. Before our first meeting, we will send you an investor profile form and a financial planning questionnaire to gather some information.
During our first meeting, which normally lasts one hour, we will explore your needs and expectations in much more detail, introduce you to our investment approach and reasoning behind it, and describe how we believe our approach could best be applied to your situation.We will answer any questions you might have about how we would work with you.
If our approach makes sense to you, we would then offer to prepare a specific investment proposal, at no cost or obligation to you.In our second meeting, we will present this proposal and show you exactly how we would design and implement a customized investment program for you, and how we would address any financial planning issues. At this point, if you have decided to work with us, we would take you through the steps of establishing our advisory relationship and the specific implementation steps for your investment program.
Q: Do I have to enter into a long-term contract with Atlas Capital Management?
A: No. Clients are free to leave and transfer their money any time they wish.
Please contact our office at 303-415-2082 or click here to send us an e-mail inquiry.
303-744-0513 | info@AtlasCapitalMgt.com ©2010 Atlas Capital Management