Eagle Strategies, LLC
Headquartered in New York, Eagle Strategies offers financial planning and investment management in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, and many of its advisors are licensed agents or representatives of the insurance company and its subsidiaries, New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation and NYLIFE Securities.
With billions in assets under management, Eagle Strategies almost entirely serves individual clients above and below the high-net-worth threshold. It also provides advisory services to pension and profit-sharing plans, traditional, Roth, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, trusts and estates, charitable organizations, donor-advised funds and businesses. Generally, its financial planning clients have a net worth or income greater than $50,000.
Eagle Strategies markets its services to financial advisors, not retail clients. However, retail clients can work with the firm through its extensive network of investment advisor representatives (IARs). These advisors may also be insurance agents or representatives of a broker-dealer. In these other roles, they may earn additional compensation in the form of sales commissions. This makes Eagles Strategies a fee-based advisory firm.
Eagle Strategies Background
Eagle Strategies started as NYLIFE Advisors in 1988. It changed its name to Eagle Strategies, Corp. in 1994 and re-formed as an LLC in 2007.
Greg Webster, the president and CEO of Eagle Strategies, is also a vice president at New York Life Insurance Company. Previously, he held leadership roles at Financial Services Industry Advisory and Consulting, Headwaters SC Group, HSBC Brokerage and Park Avenue Securities.
Eagle Strategies Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
The bulk of the firm’s business is with individual clients. Roughly 80% of them do not have a high net worth, while the rest do. As mentioned earlier, the firm also serves retirement plans, charitable organizations, corporations and businesses.
Eagle Strategies offers many different advisory programs with optional features, and account minimums vary, depending on the program and features.
Services Offered by Eagle Strategies
Eagle Strategies’ primary business is providing financial planning and investment management services. It offers many different programs and variations of them. Generally, though, they fall into three categories: wrap fee, non-wrap fee and solicitor. It’s also possible to have a brokerage, mutual fund or other securities product account. Additionally, the vast majority of investment accounts are managed on a non-discretionary basis, meaning advisors will not make trades without getting a client’s approval first.
Under the wrap fee program, there are four programs, collectively called the Lifetime Wealth Portfolio Programs:
- Fund Advisory
- Separately Managed Account
- Representative Directed
- Unified Managed Account
The Lifetime Wealth Portfolio Programs, in turn, get support from Envestnet Asset Management, Inc. (for platform managerial services), National Financial Services (for custody, clearing and administrative services) and NYLIFE Securities (for brokerage services).
Under the non-wrap fee program, Eagle Strategies offers what it calls financial plans, limited financial planning services, financial seminars and fee-based hourly advice.
Finally, with the solicitor program, where Eagle Strategies will connect clients to unaffiliated third-party advisors to provide investment advisory services, there are two programs: one with Brinker Capital Inc. and one with Frontier Asset Management, LLC.
Eagle Strategies Investing Philosophy
Eagle Strategies has no single, overarching investing philosophy, as one of its selling points is access to its diverse network of investment services professionals.
Fees Under Eagle Strategies
Fees vary, depending on the program. Generally, the wrap fee programs base their fees on a percentage of billable assets under management, which roughly amount to the value of securities and cash. On top of the Eagle Strategies’ fee, there is the fee of the investment program sponsor. Here is a breakdown of how much a wrap fee program participant could pay at most:
| Eagle Strategies Fee Schedule | |||
| Programs | Advisor Fee | Sponsor Fee | Total Client Fee |
| FA Program | 1.50% | 0.27% to 0.57% | 1.77% to 2.07% |
| SMA Program (Fixed-Income Strategies) | 1.50% | 0.40% to 0.62% | 1.90% to 2.12% |
| SMA Program (Equity and Balanced Strategies) | 1.50% | 0.58% to 0.82% | 2.08% to 2.32% |
| Representative Directed Programs | 1.50% | 0.15% | 1.65% |
| UMA Programs | 1.50% | 0.27% to 0.77% | 1.77% to 2.27% |
| Eagle Strategies Prosper Portfolios | 0.50% | 0/30% | 0.80% |
What to Watch Out For
According to Eagle Strategies’ most recent SEC-filed Form ADV, it has 30 disclosures on its record. All but three of these apply to advisory affiliates of the firm.
As mentioned earlier, many Eagle Strategies advisors are also broker-dealer representatives or licensed insurance agents who receive commissions. However, they are bound by their fiduciary duty to work in your best interest.
Opening an Account With Eagle Strategies
To contact Eagle Strategies, send an email to Eagle_Strategies_Marketing@newyorklife.com. Alternately, you can go to their website and find an advisor near you by typing in your zip code.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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