We charge a flat fee of 55 bps, or just over 1/2 of 1% on assets under management with us. There are also small management fees in some of the investments that we choose for our portfolios. You can learn more about our Honest Pricing here.

Our annual asset management fee of 55 bps on assets under management with us is broken up into 4 equal payments and you are charged each quarter for 1/4 of the total amount. As an example, if you had $100,000 invested with us at the end of the first quarter of the year, you would be charged $137.50 for that quarter. You can learn more about our Honest Pricing here.

In a short answer, they are very liquid. If you need access to any of your funds that are invested with us, you can have access to the funds the next day for that part of your portfolio that is in cash. For that portion of your portfolio that is invested in securities, we can liquidate them and you can have the needed funds in only a few days. Keep in mind that if you are investing in a retirement account, you can still have access to the funds, but there may be some tax liabilities that are required if you take your funds out. If you need access to the funds invested with us, simply let us know and we will get it handled for you.

We have many different types of accounts for virtually any investment need that you have. You can learn more about our account types by visiting our Available Services page here.

Because it gets more difficult to build a well allocated portfolio as the level of investment drops, we have a $1000 account minimum.

Definitely. If you have an old IRA or 401(k) with an old employer, we can help you with the transfer. You can easily start the process from inside your account portal, or contact us directly and we will walk you through it.

We never charge you anything to manage or re-allocate your portfolio. We do not charge any ticket charges or transactions costs of any kind. The only time that you might incur a fee is if you transfer in assets instead of cash and we liquidate those assets in order to get your portfolio setup the first time. The charges are very small, are only for the liquidation of old assets that you transfer in, and will be disclosed upfront so you always know what to expect.

Yes. Our Smarter Portfolios are created based on certain allocation percentages. To maintain the safety and performance of the portfolio, it is beneficial to make sure that the portfolio does not get too far outside of our pre-determined ranges. When funds are added, or when your investments grow in some investments but not in others, we make sure to rebalance your accounts to bring us back to the right portfolio allocation for you.

Yes, we offer many different account types to help you to address all of your specific goals. You can setup as many accounts as you like for as many different goals as you like. You can also setup accounts to consolidate your assets that are underperforming elsewhere. You can learn more about our available services here.

Yes. In fact we encourage it, as regular systematic investing has many benefits for your portfolio. Doing systematic investments is a good way to make sure that you are contributing the maximum amount to retirement accounts like your IRA. Also, you get the added benefit of dollar cost averaging into the market over time. Automatic investing is a great way to avoid trying to time the market and ending up with poor results.

We think it is important for our clients to understand the underlying philosophy behind how we manage money. Take a few minutes and read through our investment philosophy and you will have a better understanding of what makes our portfolios so unique. You can learn more about our Smarter Portfolios here.

Investment Strategies and Asset Management Philosophy

WealthNGen, LLC utilizes “Modern Portfolio Theory” as recognized by the 1990 Nobel Prize.  Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), a disciplined and proven approach to investing, quantifies risk and mathematically explains why and how portfolio diversification works to reduce volatility and/or increase investment returns.  Because MPT recognizes the importance of the inter-relationships among asset classes within an overall investment portfolio, it profoundly shaped how institutional portfolios are managed to optimize market risk against expected returns.  According to MPT, over the long term, stocks have historically provided growth in a portfolio while fixed income (such as bonds and cash) have provided stability.  When combined in a portfolio, stocks and bonds should provide steady growth over the longer term.   Another facet of MPT is asset class correlation.  In order to reduce the volatility of a portfolio, WealthNGen looks for asset classes that are negatively correlated or have a low correlation to stocks. Theoretically, when the stock market is in decline, the presence of asset classes that are negatively correlated or have a low correlation to stocks will increase or hold their value, thus smoothing out the volatility of a portfolio.

Under MPT, portfolios will be constructed using a variety of asset classes in a specific mix to meet the client’s risk tolerance, investment objectives and time horizon.  Examples of the asset classes that WealthNGen uses to diversify a portfolio are: US Large Capitalization Growth, US Large Capitalization Value, US Mid Capitalization Growth, US Mid Capitalization Value, US Small Capitalization Growth, US Small Capitalization Value, Foreign Equities from Developed Countries, Foreign Equities from Emerging Markets, US Corporate Bonds of varying maturities, US Government Bonds of various agencies and maturities, International Bonds from both developed and emerging markets, High Yield Bonds (both foreign and domestic), Real Estate (both foreign and domestic) and various “Alternative” asset classes.  WealthNGen defines “Alternative” asset classes as commodities (oil, gas, gold, etc.), currencies and hedging strategies (long/short, market neutral, inverse, etc.).  In addition, certain tax sensitive portfolios may also contain Municipal Bonds.

Increasing diversification of the portfolio by using multiple levels of asset classes should decrease portfolio risk.  Additionally, investing globally helps to minimize overall portfolio risk.  Investing in equities offers the potential for higher returns when compared to fixed income (such as bonds or cash).  In exchange for higher returns, equities are also more volatile in their performance when compared to fixed income.  Generally, more conservative portfolios will have a higher proportion of fixed income (such as bonds and cash) than stocks and more aggressive portfolios will have a higher proportion of stocks and foreign exposure than fixed income.

WealthNGen assumes that markets are efficient and it is impossible to know ahead of time what sectors of the market will perform in a superior fashion, and therefore, we do not subscribe to market timing.  Market timing of sales and purchases are highly unlikely to increase returns and, therefore, will be avoided.  The underlying approach to this portfolio will be to optimize the risk/return relationship appropriate to the client’s needs and goals using a globally diversified portfolio following the “buy and hold” theory with periodic rebalancing.

WealthNGen may choose to employ the benefits of dollar cost averaging to reduce the impact of short term market fluctuations on the portfolio.  Diversification of asset categories and selection will be deemed critical to take advantage of correlation and risk/return relationships.  This technique will be employed during the entire process.  To the extent that history has indicated that a substantial portion of the return derived from a portfolio is based on its allocation, the portfolio is scheduled to be rebalanced at least annually to maintain the desired allocation.  From time to time market conditions will cause the portfolio’s investment in various classes to vary from the established target allocation.  Keep in mind that the target allocation is only a guideline, and actual holdings will differ from the target at all times.  This will be reviewed periodically and if the actual weighting differs significantly from the established allocation, the portfolio will be reallocated, based on professional judgment, income tax ramifications, and the client’s goals.

Diversification of investment products and asset classes are critical to wealth accumulation and wealth preservation. WealthNGen will recommend specific investment products to clients to be used in their overall investment portfolio.

An investment management account is generally viewed as a critical part of an overall investment strategy. In many instances, ETFs and no load or load waived, no transaction fee mutual funds will be the underlying investments in managed accounts.  Clients will be informed as to the general asset classes that will be used to implement a client’s investment strategy.  Clients will approve the Asset Allocation Model that will be used in advance after completing an Investment Policy Statement, which will include a Risk Tolerance Profile.  Clients may request that WealthNGen, LLC or its Sub-Advisors (if any),  provide a sample asset allocation model in advance of proceeding with the investment strategy as determined in the Investment Policy Statement.  WealthNGen, LLC or its Sub-Advisors (if any), will then implement the Investment Policy Statement and make specific investments on behalf of the Client, without having to obtain specific client consent for each transaction.  Any client who elects to utilize this option shall provide written consent for any such discretionary transactions (i.e. Limited Power of Attorney via an Investment Management Agreement). WealthNGen, LLC and its Sub-Advisors (if any), in using the limited power of attorney, may decide (i) what securities to trade (ii) when to trade the securities (iii) the quantity of securities to trade and (iv) at what price to trade the securities.  In using discretionary authority, WealthNGen will at all times be subject to its fiduciary duty to do only what is in the best interest of the client.  At no time will WealthNGen, LLC, or any related person, take actual custody of client assets, other than as interpreted by the applicable securities laws regarding advisers who directly deduct fees from clients’ accounts.

During the investment selection process, WealthNGen will consider various securities so as to seek superior performance but also to manage investor risk.  Generally, portfolios managed by WealthNGen consist of ETFs and no load or load-waived, no transaction fee mutual funds.  WealthNGen does, in some cases, purchase other securities such as individual stocks or bonds, certificates of deposit, etc.  In selecting the ETFs and mutual funds, WealthNGen will investigate the many characteristics, including but not limited to: manager tenure, gross expense ratios (including 12b-1 fees), performance, independent ratings, style drift, investment methodology (quantitative vs. technical vs. fundamental), net assets, sector weightings, geographic weightings, MPT statistics like R- squared, beta, alpha, Sharpe ratio & standard deviation, yield, performance relative to peers, performance relative to benchmarks, performance in a bear market, performance in a bull market, etc.  WealthNGen will also monitor fees, i.e. trading costs and execution costs, if applicable.  Custodial charges, transaction fees and other administrative costs will also be taken into consideration and minimized, if possible.  There may be occasions when a fund no longer meets the stated criteria for selection in this portfolio.  If, in our collective judgment, a holding falls out of favor, a replacement holding will be selected.