Our Philosophy
At Flat Fee Portfolios, our philosophy is that investors deserve simplicity, transparency, and fairness from their investment advisors.
- Investing should be simple and understandable. It is of utmost importance for all investors to be educated about factors that significantly impact investing. We have created a public Investor Resource Center so that all investors can further their knowledge of investing and the costs involved. In addition, our clients have a dedicated financial advisor who conducts semi-annual* reviews and spends the time answering questions and addressing concerns.
- Investors should know what they’re paying for investment advice. Advisory fees should be transparent. The investor should understand the cost of the advisory fee in real dollars, not in a percentage.
- Investors should only pay for services they are utilizing. Financial planning matters and asset management matters but it makes sense to unbundle them. By separating planning and investment management, the client only pays for the services he or she needs.
- Investors should receive advice with minimal conflict. In order to provide minimal conflicts, we believe that a flat fee relationship is the best arrangement. In this model, the advisor acts as a fiduciary and the compensation is not tied to any specific product or the amount of investable assets that are held with the advisor.
- Advisors should only be compensated by their clients. We believe that a commission-based model where the advisor receives compensation for selling an investment product fosters conflicts of interest.
Mark Cortazzo, CFP®, Founder of Flat Fee Portfolios, considered the challenges above and created Flat Fee Portfolios to address the need for transparent, simple, and fair asset management.
*Clients in the Emerging Investors Program receive annual client reviews.