Western Wealth Management (WWM) is a large financial advisory firm founded in 2016. WWM is a fee-based firm. The firm is a full-service financial advisor, offering wealth management and financial planning to clients in various financial situations.
Though Western Wealth Management is not a broker-dealer itself, many of its investment advisors are registered with LPL, a broker-dealer. This means that the advisors can make investment recommendations and complete the transactions for you. As a result, you’ll be paying them a commission, which is a potential conflict of interest.
Western Wealth Management Background
WWM was founded in 2016. It registered with the SEC as an investment advisor in the same year. G.E. Buenning, who serves as the managing member, is the sole owner.
Western Wealth Management Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
Most of the clients at WWM are individuals. The vast majority of them are not classified as high-net-worth, though some are. There are also institutional clients at the firm, including pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, corporations and other business types.
The minimum account size at WWM depends on what program you take part in:
- Guided Wealth Portfolios: $5,000
- Model Wealth Portfolios: $10,000
- Optimum Market Portfolios: $10,000
- Manager Access Select: $50,000
- Manager Access Network: $100,000
- Personal Wealth Portfolios: $250,000
Services Offered by Western Wealth Management
WWM is a full-service financial advisor. It offers the following services:
- Comprehensive portfolio management
- Use of third-party managers
- Financial planning
- Consulting
- Investment planning
- Divorce planning
- Retirement planning
- 401(k) investment advice
- Estate planning
- Charitable planning
- Education planning
- Tax planning
- Real estate analysis
- Insurance analysis
Westerm Wealth Management Investment Philosophy
Advisors as WWM use charting, fundamental analysis, technical analysis and cyclical analysis to make investment decisions. Long-term purchases and short-term purchases may both be used, in addition to trading, short sales, margin transactions and option writing.
Possible investments include stocks, bonds, bond funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds.
WWM also offers a variety of programs through its partnership with LPL. The investment strategies of those programs is as follows:
- Guided Wealth Portfolios: This is a robo-advisor solution that is enhanced by the use of live advisors. Clients using this will be invested in up to nine beta-focused ETFs.
- Model Wealth Portfolios: The program is a professionally-manager mutual fund asset allocation strategy. Money is invested in various mutual funds.
- Optimum Market Portfolios: Clients using this program have money invested in Optimum Funds Class I Shares.
- Manager Access Select: In this option, client money is invested with the help of professional portfolio management firms. Advisors help clients select a portfolio manager,
- Manager Access Network: This allows individual investors to access institutional asset managers. Money is invested in a variety of securities including equity, fixed-income, mutual funds, ETFs and speciality strategies.
- Personal Wealth Portfolios: This is a fairly standard asset management program. Money is invested using asset-allocation model portfolios designed by LPL.
Western Wealth Management Fees
Fees for investment management are charged based on a percentage of assets under management (AUM). For comprehensive wealth management, the annual fee will not exceed 3.00% of AUM. The exact fee schedule will be determined based on the custodial platform and the client’s preferences.
If you are using one of the LPL programs through WWM, the maximum annual fees vary as follows:
- Guided Wealth Portfolios: 1.40%
- Model Wealth Portfolios: 2.50%
- Optimum Market Portfolios: 2.50%
- Manager Access Select: 3.00%
- Manager Access Network: 3.00%
- Personal Wealth Portfolios: 2.50%
The annual fee for institutional asset management won't exceed 1.00% annually. Financial plans are charged between $100 and $500 hourly or $100 to $25,000 on a flat fee basis.
What to Watch Out For
There is a single disciplinary disclosure for Western Wealth Management on its Form ADV. This is attributed to an advisory affiliate of the firm.
As noted above, advisors at the firm may also be registered broker-dealers and earn commissions for selling securities. This is a conflict of interest. Though they must act in your best interest when serving as an advisor, these advisors have a financial interest in selling you securities that will earn them higher commissions, even if it is not the best choice for your situation. If you don’t want that potential conflict of interest, consider finding a fee-only financial advisor, who do not earn commissions.
Opening an Account With Western Wealth Management
If you want to open an account with Western Wealth Management, you can call the office over the phone at (720) 206-1390 if you'd like. You can also submit a question on their contact page.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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