FAQ

 How do you charge?

There is no charge for a first consultation. But once a solution is agreed upon, a flat annual fee applies for assets under management (typically 0.5% to 1.5%, using no-load mutual funds). For some solutions like life insurance and annuities, a commission is paid by the insurance companies and there is no fee to the client. I almost always choose lower upfront commissions in order to enjoy a healthy trail of 0.25% to 1% per year in subsequent years. This puts us on the same side of the table, as your asset growth becomes the goal, and it is mutually beneficial. This also reflects my long term commitment to my clients.

 Who are you accountable to?

Firstly, to my clients. Daily operations are supervised by an OSJ (Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction) who has to approve every piece of paperwork (application) generated. The OSJ also tracks the advisor's activities and emails, and does an annual audit on-site. The Compliance Department further oversees and maintains industry compliance standards which all advisors have to abide by. Above all, God sees everything and I want to please and honor Him always.

Will you look out for smaller clients?

All portfolios, small and big, are organized and grouped by models, from conservative to high growth. When a block-trade is placed on a particular model, every portfolio in that model will change together. Every client is thus treated the same. Note that block-trading capabilities ensure scalability of business. Whether it is 100 accounts or 10,000 accounts, a single block-trade entry changes all accounts instantly. Some advisors, surprisingly, do not have block-trading capabilities. This makes it very difficult for them to login to each client account to make changes in a timely manner. Minimum account size is $50K preferably.

How do you advise given the deluge of financial data?

Over the years, I have narrowed down the source of investment advice to just a few proven players. Most do not make the cut. While it is of some importance to listen to what the market (and the myriad of sources) say, it is even more important to watch what the market does. Between the noise of daily gyrations and the unpredictability of the distant future (in years), mid-term trends (weeks and months) can quite often be discerned. Traditional buy-and-hold strategies sacrifice too much gains over years and decades as portfolios ride the market cycles.

What is a Broker/Dealer? What is an RIA? Are they important?

To do business, most advisors and reps commonly use a "backoffice", a company operating as a Broker/Dealer (B/D). A B/D is required by FINRA to supervise and approve all advisors' and reps' business to meet compliance standards. Most (not all) business are done on a commission basis.

The financial industry is shifting towards a fee-based model because the SEC and FINRA want to enforce more stringent fiduciary standards on all reps and advisors. The RIA model (Registered Invesment Advisor) is a pure fee-based model. There is ongoing debate whether fee is always better than commission driven business.

To stay current with industry trends, as of 5/17/2011, Financial Stewards LLC became a Colorado based RIA, while maintaining the traditional model. In essence we've adopted the hybrid model, to offer clients the widest range of solutions. Fee business is conducted directly with clients, while commission business runs through our B/D, Liberty Partners Financial Services LLC.