What does your approach actually do for my money?

My current advisor talks about my “allocation,” and my pie chart has lots of colorful slices.

A colorful pie chart isn’t a strategy. It’s a snapshot. What our approach does is keep more of your money exposed to what we expect to do well, and less in what we don’t. Much of the advisory and brokerage industry builds allocations on Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), which leans heavily on how asset classes performed in the past and is typically recalculated just once a year. We work from the other direction: forward-looking economic and fundamental expectations, sector and industry analysis, market and technical trends, and the broader macro and political backdrop. We reassess continuously, not annually.

What’s the difference between an advisory firm, a brokerage firm, and a bank-broker?

There are many differences between these “channels” of investment and money management but, primarily, the distinction comes down to responsibility. Registered Investment Advisors (RIA firms) are full fiduciaries of your money whereas, mostly, brokerage firms and bank brokers operate under a different standard called “suitability.” A fiduciary is responsible for the client’s success, whereas a broker or bank-broker is only responsible for the “suitability” of the investments they recommend.

Why is it better to pay an annual advisory fee instead of commissions or transaction costs?

Charging an annual advisory fee based on the value of your account puts us on the same side of the table with you. Simply: if your account value goes up, we earn more. If your account value goes down, we earn less.

What exactly is “Model Investing,” and what does it mean for me?

Singularity in decision-making. The model methodology allows an advisor to manage a model instead of individual client account strategies. By qualifying clients according to model parameters of risk tolerance, return needs, income desired and more, clients can both join an existing strategy and regulate how much of their account is used in each model.

What if I don’t like “Model Investing”?

We can establish a non-model account, but there are natural drawbacks to doing so at our firm. For instance, and among other impacts, model clients always receive priority in trade actions and order executions. Orders taken for non-model accounts are entered manually during the day they are received, but will be entered after model accounts have been traded. This fact may cause order execution price differences between model and non-model accounts.

Are you paying attention to my account during market swings?

Yes, both directly and indirectly, depending on your account needs at the time. Because our business is based on Model Investing, every client enrolled in a Model has their account traded at the same instant. So, in this way, the size of your account is irrelevant and every client is treated equally. However, if your account has a specific circumstance – for instance, we’re investing new funds slowly – your account is tagged and handled directly by the reallocation and rebalancing process.

What is “Discretion”?

Giving your advisor discretion means you’re allowing transactions in your account(s) without contact from your advisor. Strictly, discretion requires no prior contact but, as a practice at WWM, you’ll likely be contacted shortly after a change is made to your holdings. Or we will have already talked about the plans for your account(s) and you’ll be expecting the activity. Although we require that you grant us discretion in order to have an account at WWM, we consider it mandatory that you’ll never have to say you didn’t know what was happening with your money. Our experience shows that clients can accept and handle a losing position periodically, but rarely are we forgiven for our clients’ ignorance of what we’re doing.

Where is my money actually held while you’re managing it?

Depending on your account, your investment dollars are held at our Custodian firm (currently Charles Schwab) or at an insurance company in the case of insurance products. None of your funds are held in any way by WWM or its parent, Worthington Financial Partners.

What’s it cost to invest with you?

Our advisory fee structure is a simple percentage of the assets in your account. We don’t charge commissions or transaction costs, and you’ll never get a hidden or unexpected fee charged to your account. Find out more about becoming a client.

Does Worthington Wealth Management have a minimum account size?

No, we have investment models for investors of all sizes. However, there are minimums to participate in our individual stock and bond product models. For example, our Macch-V model currently has over 50 securities, and it takes a minimum dollar amount in order to purchase at least one share of each of the securities in the model. While we have solutions for all investors, products appropriate for smaller account sizes may carry additional nominal costs not associated with larger accounts.

What’s the transfer process like?

The transfer process is very simple, thanks to two things: the industry’s electronic transfer process (called ACATS) and our Concierge Administration (CA) team that walks you through the entire process from start to finish. Once you sign the forms to establish an account and transfer your assets, things run seemingly on automatic, as our CA team uses decades of experience in the transfer process.

How do I get money out (vacation, tuition, etc.), and how long does it take?

Just give us instruction! We recommend that you are set up for electronic transfers (ACH) to your bank. Once set up, just give us as much lead time as possible and, generally, from the point you give us the instruction, depositing funds from your account via electronic ACH takes just 3 days (subject to banking changes on ACH guidelines).

What if I need regular income? Can you accommodate recurring monthly or quarterly distributions?

Yes! Again, the Concierge Admin (CA) team simply needs to know how much and how often you expect your income to be available. Whether your income planning only involves investment returns or includes a portion of your principal, we can make it happen.

Can I get direct deposit from/to my bank?

Again, very simple. Whether it’s recurring payments or just one-off needs, we can take or send money electronically (subject to the regulations of your bank or financial institution).