Roman Franklin, our President, worked in the financial services industry for over 5 years at one of the largest banks and brokerage firms in the world when a customer of the firm asked him “How much exactly have I paid in total expenses this year, for services rendered?”  When Roman tried to calculate the fees he realized that it was no wonder this client was having a difficult time getting to a bottom line number, the fees and commissions weren’t communicated clearly.  The firm had received commissions from the companies whose life, long term care insurance, and annuities had been sold to the client, in addition to the fees paid by the client for investment transactions and financial planning. 

Once an accurate sum was determined, Roman realized that she was paying over 4% in total fees and commissions. During this year her investment portfolio only returned 2.5% at a time when the S&P 500 had returned nearly triple that.  At this point, Roman experienced a reality check and decided that clients deserve better portfolio performance and more transparency about fees than the majority of the industry traditionally provides.  This AH-HAH! moment led him to establish our investment philosophy and fee-only compensation structure.