fees & business operations

Business Operations for Investment Management

There are three entities involved in setting up your account.

• Aquarius Financial:  Providing investment advisory services to clients.
• The selected investment platform:  Where your account lives.
• Independent Financial Group, LLC:  Our partner broker/dealer providing oversight for compliance of securities regulations, and access to approved investment platforms.

Aquarius Financial
We are not affiliated with any other company or business. This means there is no common ownership nor control relationship between Aquarius Financial and any of its business partners. We work solely in our clients’ best interests.

Aquarius Financial is “independent,” meaning that we have no proprietary products, and our clients have access to a universe of investment solutions. Because fees are based on a percentage of account size, regardless of the specific investment solution, we have no pressure or financial incentives to recommend any one investment over another. This way an advisor can avoid many potential conflicts of interest.

Investment Platforms
The selection of a suitable platform depends on client circumstances and goals.  The function of a platform is to provide specialized portfolio management. You can read about our partners at http://aquariusfinancial.com/about While the platform manages the account, account assets are always held by an independent custodian.

All our investment platforms and custodians are subject to oversight by regulatory authorities. The fraud by criminals such as Bernie Madoff could easily have been avoided if advisors had applied a prudent standard of care in protecting their clients’ assets. The two simple rules we educate our clients about are:

1. Never write a check payable to your advisor (except for fees).
2. Never allow your advisor to be the custodian of your assets (because then there is no independent accounting and record keeping).

Note: ERISA-covered retirement plans (401(k) plans etc.) already have these protections built in, as required by law.

Independent Financial Group, LLC
An advisor also has his or her own set of rules. Independent Financial Group oversees our compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Their mission is to provide support to independent advisors by providing access to investments, investment platforms, and compliance oversight. They have no investment products of their own, and thus are truly independent themselves.

Michael welcomes any inquiries concerning business operations and relationships with partner organizations.

Plan sponsors and trustees, see “getting started” for how our transparency of fees helps you to avoid fiduciary risk.

Fees vary according to the level of services provided and your account’s asset value. All fees are established up-front and may be flat, hourly, or calculated as a percentage of assets.

• Financial planning: fees depend on the complexity of the client’s situation and generally range from $750 to $5,000.
• Hourly: fees range from $200 to $350 per hour.
• Investment Management: An asset management fee is based on the value of your account. Advisors who use this method want your account value to rise, just like you do. Having such a shared goal is an essential basis for an effective long-term partnership.

An example of asset-based advisory fees based upon a customized portfolio of socially responsible funds.