Five Star award winner Curt Sawyer

Choosing a Trusted Advisor

10 principles we have adopted to help us serve as a trusted advisor.

1. Act in the best interest of the client

We provide advice and recommendations that are in the client’s best interest. Period. Not because we are legally obligated to (although we are). Not because it works well as a business model (it does). Simply because it is right. Our other goals are selected to achieve this guiding principle.

Pursuant to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, we follow a fiduciary duty standard of care. This is often referred to as the highest legal duty of care for a client’s welfare, and one we gladly accept — in contrast to the less-stringent suitability standard.

2. Deliver attentive, individualized service

We provide a high level of personal attention. We make a point to get to know all our clients and to learn what is important to them. Developing personalized insight is essential to providing appropriate advice and service to each client.

3. Offer a team for each client

Each client benefits from a team of professionals. Using in-house expertise or carefully selected alliances as warranted, we offer a range of resources to help clients make sound investment decisions.

4. Build customized, integrated financial plans

We develop financial plans that integrate each client’s unique strategy; personal situation; and willingness, ability and need to accept market risk. These plans are formalized within a written Investment Policy Statement to ensure consistent adherence. We take the time to focus on delivering true wealth management services, not just money management. This means integrating estate, tax and risk management into an overall financial plan.

5. Achieve goals and experience long-term success through strategic advice

Our advice is goal-oriented, whether the goals are imminent or long term. We evaluate and make recommendations for achieving them. We also fit each independent objective into the context of achieving an overall investment plan.

6. Focus on professional advice, not on products

We are client-centric, which means we focus on delivering sound advice and targeted solutions. The only incentive we have in offering particular solutions is whether the client’s best interest will be served.

7. Practice full disclosure and seek transparent costs

Potential conflicts of interest as well as any costs incurred are fully disclosed and clearly explained. We give answers in plain English, with whatever level of detail the client seeks.

8. Align our fee structure with clients’ best interests

We provide fee-only investment management services. Fees are based on a percentage of the assets we manage for a client. We feel such an approach best aligns our interests with our clients’, helping us meet our fiduciary obligation as a Registered Investment Advisor firm.

9. Take advantage of academic research

While we strive for our advice to be straightforward and understandable, we base it upon peer-reviewed academic evidence. In addition to seeking broad global diversification according to the tenets of Modern Portfolio Theory, we assist with appropriate asset location between taxable and tax-advantaged accounts.

10. Practice what we preach

We invest our personal assets based on the same set of investment principles, using the same or comparable securities that we recommend to our clients.

This material is derived from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and the opinions based thereon are not guaranteed. The content of this publication is for general information only and is not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting or tax advice. To be distributed only by a Registered Investment Advisor firm. Copyright © 2011, Buckingham Family of Financial Services.

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This award was issued on 10/1/24 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 12/12/23 through 7/9/24. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 2685 St. Louis-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 187 (7% of candidates) were named 2024 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2023: 2,691, 167, 6%, 10/1/23, 12/12/22 - 6/30/23; 2022: 2418, 158, 7%, 10/1/22, 1/24/22 - 7/22/22; 2021: 2683, 164, 6%, 10/1/21, 12/28/20 - 8/6/21; 2020: 2431, 170, 7%, 10/1/20, 1/6/20 - 8/7/20; 2019: 2481, 185, 7%, 10/1/19, 1/14/19 - 8/9/19; 2018: 2533, 179, 7%, 10/1/18, 1/26/18 - 8/15/18; 2017: 1681, 181, 11%, 10/1/17, 1/26/17 - 8/28/17; 2016: 1427, 324, 23%, 9/1/16, 3/3/16 - 8/22/16; 2015: 2194, 358, 16%, 10/1/15, 2/16/15 - 8/11/15; 2014: 1401, 389, 28%, 2/1/14, 2/16/13 - 8/11/13; 2013: 1726, 485, 28%, 2/1/13, 2/16/12 - 8/11/12; 2012: 1800, 455, 25%, 2/1/12, 2/16/11 - 8/11/11.

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Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria - required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP's consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP's consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client's experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria - considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients' assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.