How is Stonegate Wealth Management, LLC different from other financial advisory or brokerage firms?
Many factors contribute to the Stonegate Difference:
We are fee only. Recommendations are fair, objective, based on extensive research and focused on meeting the objectives of our clients.
We assume fiduciary responsibility for our client’s accounts and place the interests of our clients first.
We provide comprehensive investment advisory, financial planning and wealth management services.
We are independent and do not have to invest exclusively with single organization or mutual fund family.
The firm is managed by professionals with extensive credentials and financial/related industry experience.
Stonegate has been recognized as one of the top investment advisory firms in the nation. One of our team members has been named as one of the top 250 advisors in the country!
Why is Stonegate Wealth Management, LLC fee-only?
We want to provide you with unbiased advice. We are not pressured to recommend investments based on their income potential.
How long has Stonegate been in business?
The firm was founded in 1993 by Stephen Craffen (at that time, it was known as The Baron Financial Group). Collectively, Steve and the other partners have greater than 70 years of experience in wealth management and related fields.
What are some of the benefits of Stonegate's investment management process?
We offer an integrated approach to portfolio design. Benefits of the process include:
Your portfolio will match your goals, desire for safety, and risk tolerance.
Provide comfort knowing that we are monitoring your assets continuously.
Your portfolio will be rebalanced as needed to mitigate undue risk and avoid weighting the portfolio too heavily within one asset class.
Your financial plan will be updated regularly, providing you with frequent insight into your progress towards goals.
You will receive quarterly reporting of your investment return.
You will also receive complete tracking of your tax basis so that taxation of gains may be minimized and deferred.
What types of investment vehicles do you use?
Investment vehicles may include mutual funds, individual securities, exchange traded funds, and managed accounts. We do not limit ourselves to a specific type of investment vehicle because we believe the quality of the investment is the area over which we have the most control.
How does Stonegate Wealth Management, LLC select outside portfolio managers?
During our analysis of portfolio managers, we focus on the key factors that, according to proven, reliable academic studies, indicate the potential for a manager’s performance to be better than average.
We start our search with automated computer filters and screens that enable us to assess thousands of portfolio managers. Automated filters include such parameters as expense ratio, manager tenure, turnover, and tax efficiency. Generally only 10-15 managers pass the test of our filters in each asset category. We then assess select managers more thoroughly. Stonegate has invested enormously in software and tools that help us properly assess a managers investing skills--greatly increasing the odds that their performance will justify their cost.
We generally prefer investments that offer an investment manager institutional class pricing. For example, management fees for mutual funds are typically .5% lower than the same fund available to the public. We lean toward value rather than growth, a strategy that many academic studies reinforce as the most appropriate strategy for long term investors.
Our philosophy is the same for a publicly available mutual fund, or a separately managed account with limited availability: We cannot control or time markets, but we can control investment policy and the quality of the investments we choose.
How often should I expect trading activity in my account?
Two major sources of activity in your account will be for rebalancing and tax loss harvesting.
Studies show that timely rebalancing can enhance your return and help manage risk. When a portfolio becomes overweight or underweight in any asset class we may consider rebalancing the portfolio. Since our efforts to rebalance are more market-dependent than time-dependent, your account may be rebalanced at any time. Stonegate has invested heavily in the latest technology to enable rebalancing on a timely and efficient basis.
We make trades to capture or harvest tax losses – they are used to offset other capital gains (whether or not generated from Stonegate managed portfolios) and will reduce capital gains taxes. Capital losses may also be carried forward if not used in the year in which they were realized. We do not generally trade based on market events since our investment philosophy is not based on short term timing.
How often will you review my account?
Each account is reviewed at least monthly – more frequently if required by the situation.
If I am one of your wealth management clients, how often will you meet with me?
During your first year as a client, we will meet with you as frequently is necessary to implement your plan and investment strategy. Subsequent to this initial phase we are always available for meetings whether in person or through other media. We do not put any limit on our availability to our clients.
How often will you update me on my portfolio?
You will receive monthly statements from Stonegate Wealth Management's custodian for each account you have with them. You will also receive confirmation statements from our custodian for all trades as they are made.
Stonegate will provide you with a quarterly performance report. These reports typically include: starting and ending values for the quarter in question; a complete inventory of your positions and performance for the current period and selected longer term periods.
In addition to the regular updates we provide, you may contact Stonegate at any time to receive a current statement or performance for other periods not covered by your quarterly statement.
What do you provide me with at year-end to prepare my taxes?
Each year – usually around late January through early February, you will receive a complete analysis of information typically used to prepare your tax return. For your taxable accounts our performance/reporting system tracks the cost basis of each share and mutual fund lot that you own. This facilitates the potential deferral of taxation since the IRS allows you to specifically identify which shares of a position (if you sell a partial position) have been sold. In addition, our custodian will also send you a 1099 form that provides additional comprehensive information regarding your account.
If you wish Stonegate Wealth Management to track the cost basis for investments that you have transferred to us, you must provide us with the original cost basis information.
Do you charge separately for financial planning services?
No. We do not charge separately for financial planning. Our advisory services include wealth management and financial planning.