Focused Wealth Management is a financial advisor firm headquartered in Newburgh, New York millions in assets under management. The vast majority of the firm’s clients are individuals, but it also provides advisory services to pension plans, high net worth individuals and charities. Using a continuous and comprehensive approach to asset allocation and investment selection, the firm offers investment management services, financial planning services and several wrap fee programs to its clients.
Focused Wealth Management Background
Focused Wealth Management was founded in 1994 under the name Passante Associates LLC. It adopted the name Focused Wealth Management in 2010 when the current managing director of wealth management, Philip J. DeAngelo, assumed ownership of the firm.
Focused Wealth Management Types of Clients and Minimum Account Sizes
Focused Wealth Management’s clients include individuals, high net worth individuals, pension and profit sharing plans, charitable organizations and government entities.
Focused Wealth Management does not have a set minimum for its investment management services. The annual management fee for these services is negotiated with each client, with 2% being the maximum management fee.
Services Offered by Focused Wealth Management
Focused Wealth Management offers a standard range of services to its clients, separated into a handful of programs. The Financial Advisor Wrap Fee Program is a bundled program in which Focused Wealth Management connects clients with investment managers at Securities America Advisors, a separate SEC-registered investment advisor. You’ll pay a single bundled fee for advisory services, custody, execution and clearing services.
Focused Wealth Management also offers its own proprietary wrap fee program in which the firm’s investment management committee monitors the accounts. Your bundled fee in this program will be based on a percentage of your assets. In addition to these wrap fee programs, the firm also offers conventional investment management, financial planning and consulting services.
Focused Wealth Management Investment Philosophy
Focused Wealth Management weighs several factors when selecting both asset managers and exchange traded funds (ETFs). These include trading platform availability, performance relative to assumed risk, assets under management, stability and growth in assets over time. The firm believes that proper asset allocation is the most important factor to consider when thinking about how to achieve long-term growth.
When analyzing equity and fixed income options for clients, the firm examines factors such as a company's balance sheet, income statement, liquidity, profitability, price volatility and credit rating. The firm also factors in market conditions, economic conditions, legislative risks and competition. Typically, the firm reevaluates its selections on a quarterly basis.
Fees Under Focused Wealth Management
Focused Wealth Management doesn't maintain a fee schedule for its advisory services based on the size of your account. For the Financial Advisors Program, the Focused Wealth Wrap Fee Program and any other investment management services, the firm will negotiate an annual fee with clients; as stated above, the fee will not be more than 2% of your account size.
The Financial Advisors program charges fees monthly in advance. The Focused Wealth Wrap Fee Program charges fees monthly in arrears. For any other investment management services, you'll pay the fees quarterly in advance. For financial planning and consulting services, fees won't exceed $150 per hour. These fees will be paid upon completion of the work performed or on a monthly basis.
Learn more about advisors' typical costs here.
What to Watch out For
Representatives at Focused Wealth Management are also registered representatives with Securities America, Inc. (SAI), which is a broker-dealer registered with FINRA. As representatives of a broker-dealer, these individuals may buy or sell securities and receive commissions. This means that if your account with Focused Wealth Management uses SAI as a custodian or broker-dealer, your Focused Wealth Management representative could be presented with a conflict of interest. Your representative would have an incentive to conduct transactions that would result in commissions, regardless of whether of whether they're best for your needs.
Focused Wealth representatives also serve as separately licensed insurance agents and may receive the commissions typical of the sale of certain insurance products. This also creates a potential conflict of interest since the representatives will have an incentive to recommend these insurance products independent of what is in your best interest.
Focused Wealth Management is bound by fiduciary duty to act in its clients' best interest and to make its clients aware of these potential conflicts of interest before entering into any sort of advisory relationship. The firm also makes clear that its clients are under no obligation to purchase those products for which its advisors would receive commissions.
According to its latest SEC-filed Form ADV, Focused Wealth Management doesn’t have any disclosures.
Opening an Account With Focused Wealth Management
To get in touch with Focused Wealth Management, you can fill out the contact form on the firm's website. You can also call the firm at (845) 691-4035 to start the process of speaking with an advisor.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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