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Integrated Partners is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment adviser. We are not registered as a broker-dealer.
Brokerage and investment advisory services and fees differ, and it is important for you to understand these differences. Free and simple tools are available to research firms and financial professionals at https://www.investor.gov/CRS, which also provides educational materials for investors about broker- dealers, investment advisers, and investing.
What Investment Services & Advice Can You Provide Me?
We offer to retail investors investment advisory services. Our services are split into three broad categories – financial planning and consulting, investment monitoring and investment management. The offering of these services is materially limited by the information you provide to us about your investment goals, time horizon, risk tolerance and other relevant factors.
Financial planning and consulting involve one of our financial advisors collecting important information from you about your investment time horizon, goals, risk tolerance and other considerations. Our financial advisor then uses that information to consult with you on how to potentially achieve your financial goals and to develop a financial plan for you that may or may not be in writing. Financial planning and consulting do not include investment monitoring or investment management services, which are discussed below.
Investment monitoring is provided with respect to assets that you invest through someone other than us. Our monitoring service is limited to the investments and accounts that are managed by third-party asset managers that we refer you to because we believe that the investment services provided by those third-party asset managers meet your investment goals. As part of our investment monitoring service, we continue to work with you, assessing your investment goals and other criteria to evaluate whether the services of the third-party asset manager continue to meet your investment needs. Investment monitoring does not include financial planning and consulting, discussed above, or investment management, discussed below.
Investment Management involves the management of your investment assets by one of our financial advisors based on important information obtained from you about your investment timeline, goals, risk tolerance and other considerations. Our financial advisor will manage your investments on a discretionary basis, meaning that he or she may not discuss investment changes with you before they are implemented. You can opt out of this discretionary service, in which case you retain the ultimate decision-making authority about the purchase or sale of investments.
We do not limit our advice to proprietary investment products or a limited menu of products or types of investments, though we are the sponsor of an account program that, if chosen, invests assets according to proprietary investment models. This series of investment options is called the Destination Portfolios. Some investment options available through us have minimum account sizes, others do not.
For additional information, please see our most recent Disclosure Brochure, Code of Ethics, Privacy Policy, and account forms.
Conversation Starter: Ask your financial professional :
- Given my financial situation, should I choose investment advisory services? Why or why not?
- How will you choose investments to recommend to me?
- What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education, and other qualifications? What do these qualifications mean?
The following is a description of our principal fees and costs. We are paid for our services to you. For financial planning and consulting services, we are paid a lump sum or ongoing (i.e. monthly or annually) fee. For investment monitoring services, we are paid a portion of the overall asset management fee paid by you to the third-party asset manager. For investment management services, we are paid an asset management fee that is calculated as a percentage of the assets under management by us. Planning and consulting fees are assessed when you agree to engage us for the services or at the conclusion of the planning process. Investment monitoring and management fees are generally assessed on a quarterly basis. Some investment programs, called “wrap fee” programs, assess a fixed fee for certain administrative and operational services like trading costs. The Destination Portfolios™ and some advisory programs developed by account custodians are wrap fee programs. The fees associated with wrap-fee programs will include most transaction costs and fees to a broker-dealer or bank that has custody of these assets, and therefore are higher than typical asset-based advisory fees. While we obviously must be paid for the services we provide, the fact that we are paid results in an unavoidable conflict of interest because we have an incentive to encourage you to use our services. In instances where we charge an asset-based fee we have an incentive to encourage you to increase the assets in your account because you will pay a larger fee relating to the higher asset level.
The following is a description of other fees and costs of our services. In addition to the fees and costs discussed above, you will be charged fees by the custodian where your account is located and/or the investment companies that created the products you are invested in. These fees include account maintenance fees, fees related to mutual funds and variable annuities, and other transactional fees and product-level fees.
You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you are paying.
For additional information, please see our most recent Disclosure Brochure, Code of Ethics, Privacy Policy, and account forms.
Conversation Starter: Ask your financial professional - Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give you $10,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for me?
When we act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the investment advice we provide you. For example, when you invest in the Destination Portfolios™, a fee is paid by you in excess of the management fee charged by our financial advisor. This fee is intended to cover the administrative and operational cost of maintaining the Destination Portfolios™. Since this fee is paid to us, and is in excess of the financial advisor’s fee, it creates a conflict of interest that incentivizes us to encourage you to invest in the Destination Portfolios™. Some third parties such as investment sponsors (i.e. mutual fund and insurance companies) help defray the costs of financial advisor training and meetings. This financial support creates a conflict of interest inasmuch as it creates an incentive for us to recommend or sells certain investments.
Conversation Starter: Ask your financial professional - How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?
For additional information, please see our most recent Disclosure Brochure, Code of Ethics, Privacy Policy, and account forms.
How do your financial professionals make money? Our financial advisors are independent contractors. Their primary source of revenue relating to services they provide to you is a percentage of the fees paid by you to us. In addition, financial advisors may receive waivers of fees, lump sums of compensation under forgivable and repayable promissory notes, or non-cash compensation such as free or reduced cost attendance at training events and seminars. Some of our advisors are registered representatives of an SEC registered broker-dealer and/or insurance agents. Your advisor may offer you securities brokerage services through the broker-dealer, insurance services through third parties or investment advisory services through us. Brokerage, insurance, and investment advisory services are different, and the fees we, insurance organizations and broker-dealers, charge for those services are different. Your advisor may earn additional transaction-based compensation and have additional conflicts of interest as a result of providing brokerage or insurance services. You are encouraged to learn by reviewing the broker- dealer’s relationship summary and having a discussion with your advisor about brokerage, insurance and advisory services.
Conversation Starter: Ask your financial professional - Are you also registered as an insurance or securities sales agent? If so, what is the lowest cost means by which I can receive services through you.
Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history? Our investment advisory firm does not have any legal or disciplinary matters to report for the Company. Some of our financial advisors, however, do report legal or disciplinary matters that are publicly available for review through a free and simple search tool at https://www.investor.gov/CRS. We encourage you to use this search tool to research us and our financial professionals.
Conversation Starter: Ask your financial professional - As a financial professional, do you have any legal or disciplinary history? For what type of conduct?
For additional up-to-date information about our services, you can reach out to us through your financial advisor, directly at 781-890-3045, or at compliance@integrated-partners.com. You can also obtain information on your own through the following websites: https://www.investor.gov/CRS; https://brokercheck.finra.org/; and https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/.
Conversation Starter: Ask your financial professional - Who is my primary contact person? Is he or she a representative of an investment adviser or a broker- dealer? Who can I talk to if I have concerns about how this person is treating me.
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