WealthSource Partners, LLC
WealthSource Partners is a financial advisor firm with billions in assets under management (AUM). WealthSource Partners' home office is in San Luis Obispo, California. The firm offers services such as financial planning, portfolio managment and pension consulting.
WealthSource Partners Background
WealthSource Partners, LLC is a limited liability company that was organized in November 2015 in California. It was created from the merger of the assets of Vellum Financial, LLC and Avant-Garde Advisors LLC (AGA). The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of WealthSource Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation.
WealthSource Partners Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
WealthSource Partners primarily advises the following types of clients:
- Individuals
- High-net-worth individuals
- Pension and profit-sharing plans
- Charities
- Corporations
In general, the firm requires a $100,000 account minimum for its advisory accounts.
Services Offered by WealthSource Partners
WealthSource offers a number of investment advisory services on a discretionary or non-discretionary basis through its advisors. These services may include, but are not limited to, customized investment and/or asset allocation strategies, and/or customized portfolio allocations to model portfolios. The firm is also able to recommend the portfolio management services of other unaffiliated, independent investment advisors (i.e. third-party investment managers).
Other services that the firm offers include pension consulting services (on a fee-only, non-discretionary basis) primarily to corporate retirement plans, stand-alone financial planning services as well as insurance. planning services (on a discretionary or non-discretionary basis) recommended and/or sold by DPL Financial Partners, LLC.
Finally, WealthSource sponsors a program called the WealthSource Managed Wrap Fee Program, only available to clients already enrolled in the program on or prior to December 30, 2019. In a wrap fee program option, the client receives investment advisory services, execution of securities brokerage transactions, custody and reporting services for a single specified fee.
WealthSource Partners Investing Philosophy
WealthSource Partners may directly or indirectly use many different methods of analysis when creating investment advice or managing client assets, including but not limited to the following:
- Fundamental analysis - attempt to measure the intrinsic value of a security by looking at economic and financial factors
- Technical analysis - analysis of how the market has performed historically
- Cyclical analysis - measurement of the movements of a particular stock against the overall market
The main sources of information the firm uses include Morningstar reports, financial newspapers and magazines (such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc.), research materials prepared by others, corporate rating services, annual reports, prospectuses, filings with the SEC and company websites and press releases.
Fees Under WealthSource Partners
Annual fees for WealthSource discretionary investment advisory services consist of either of the following:
- An investment advisory fee
- An investment advisory fee and a WealthLink platform fee
- An investment advisory fee and an asset management fee
- An investment advisory fee and a sub-advisory fee
Annual feesl for WealthSource non-discretionary investment advisory services consist of either of the following:
- An investment advisory fee
- An investment advisory fee and a WealthLink platform fee
Fees for both kinds of investment advisory services are typically based on a percentage of AUM, but clients may have other types of arrangements for fees with the firm (such as flat fee arrangements) for other services. Asset-based advisor fees range from a minimum of 0.50% to a maximum of 2.00%. Advisor fees are generally charged monthly in advance. It's important for potential clients to keep in mind that the investment advisory fee portion of an advisor's fees at WealthSource are negotiated individually with each client, so two similar clients may be charged different fees, based on the factors of their individual situations.
Clients utilizing the WealthLink platform to receive services are charged a non-negotiable fee of 0.35% of the market value of the client's assets on the platform.
For insurance planning services, WealthSource negotiates, calculates and determines fees in the same manner as investment advisory fees, but uses the cash value of the insurance products sold by DLP to the client. Furthermore, while insurance planning fees are negotiable, the fee rate and arrangement must match the client's negotiated investment advisory fee for investment advisory services.
It is important to note that WealthSource investment advisory fees do not include bank services fees, interest on loans and debit balances, wire transfer and electronic fund transfer fees, interest on margin accounts, borrowing charges on securities sold short, transfer taxes and other fees and taxes on brokerage accounts and securities transactions.
With regard to third-party money manager services, clients may have to pay solicitation fees for WealthSource's role as a solicitor for the third-party investment manager.
With regard to pension consulting fees, the firm's annual fees for non-discretionary pension consulting services are based on either a percentage of the market value of pension assets in question, generally from a minimum of 0.35% to a maximum of 1.00%, or a flat amount. All of these arrangements are negotiated individually with each retirement plan client.
Financial planning fees for stand-alone financial planning services are based on either a fixed, hourly or annual fee basis - negotiable in all instances. Hourly fees generally run $300 per hour for advisors and $75 per hour for administrative time. Fixed fees for these services range between $1,000 to $50,000 depending on scope and level of services. Annual fees for these services are based on a negotiated fixed fee, payable quarterly in advance.
WealthSource's annual wrap program fees are based on a percentage of the market value of AUM in the program. They are generally charged monthly in advance. They range from a minimum of 1.00% to a maximum of 2.50%. All wrap fee arrangements are negotiated individually with each client based on various factors, including investment strategy, level and scope of services. Clients may also separately pay markups/markdowns on fixed-income transactions as well as bank service fees, wire transfer and electronic fund transfer fees, interest on loans, transfer taxes and other fees and taxes on brokerage accounts and other transactions.
Learn more about advisors' typical costs here.
What to Watch Out For
WealthSource Partners has a disclosure listed on its latest SEC-filed Form ADV from November 2019, when the firm was fined a civil and administrative penalty of $5,000 when an advisory affiliate placed trade orders for a client's account based on instructions from the client's spouse, who had not been previously authorized in writing by the client, to do so. The advisor paid the fine and received a 90-calendar-day suspension of registration.
It is important to note that advisors at WealthSource Partners may also be broker-dealers. Employees acting in these non-advisor roles generally receive transaction-based fees, which can be a potential conflict of interest. That said, as an SEC-registered investment advisor, the firm is legally obligated to uphold its fiduciary duty and work in clients’ best interests at all times.
Opening an Account With WealthSource Partners
To open an account with WealthSource Partners, you can visit the firm's website or call (805) 546-1000.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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