Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning, Inc. DBA Summit Wealth & Retirement Partners
(“SWRP, we, us, our, ours”) is a corporation organized under the laws of California. The
San Ramon based investment advisory firm was founded in 1987. SWRP is registered with
the SEC as an investment adviser. Robert Cucchiaro is the majority owner of SWRP and
Harold Porter is a minority owner of SWRP.
SWRP offers financial planning and asset management services to clients.
Financial Planning Services
We create a personal financial plan for you that reflects your current financial
circumstances, financial outlook, and personal objectives.
The planning techniques used to create a personal financial plan fall within the following
general categories:
Wealth Transfer Planning
Estate Planning
Risk Management
Wealth Management
Retirement Planning
Business Planning
Charitable Giving
Multi-Generational Planning
We will prepare a written plan for you. During the year, we will advise you on changes in
economic and tax matters affecting your financial plan. At a time you select, we will also
provide you with the following analysis based on data that you provide:
summarize the progress that you have made in implementing the personal
financial plan,
provide a tax planning update, and
provide an investment planning update.
As part of the planning service, we will provide:
investment planning and asset allocation consulting,
portfolio supervision, and
periodic investment recommendations.
From time to time and when appropriate, we will recommend that you use the services of
third-party money managers or will recommend specific investments in mutual funds,
common stock and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”).
Implementation of financial plan recommendations is entirely at your discretion. Neither
we nor anyone associated with us are attorneys, and therefore no advice that we confer
should be construed as legal advice. Certain associated persons of SWRP are enrolled
agents, but any tax or enrolled agent services are provided through our separate but
affiliated accounting firm: Summit Tax Planning Inc. (“STPI”). We have business
relationships with other qualified professionals and will refer clients to these professionals
as necessary.
In offering financial planning, a conflict exists between the interests of SWRP and the
interest of the client to the extent SWRP recommends itself to assist with implementation
of its financial planning recommendations. The client is under no obligation to act upon
our recommendations, and, if the client elects to act on any of our recommendations, the
client is under no obligation to effect the transaction through us.
Asset Management Services
We also provide ongoing discretionary and non-discretionary investment management
services for clients. From time to time and when appropriate, we will recommend that you
engage third party asset managers to manage all or a portion of your assets. In addition,
your advisory representative will generally recommend direct investments in mutual funds
or ETFs. We will review reports provided to you by the third-party asset managers on a
quarterly basis as part of the investment review process.
Needs and Restrictions
In managing your investment portfolio, we tailor our advisory services to your individual
needs and consider
your
financial situation,
risk tolerance,
investment horizon,
liquidity needs,
tax considerations,
investment objectives, and
any other issues important to your state of affairs.
This information will then be used to make investment decisions or recommendations that
reflect your individual needs and objectives on an initial and ongoing basis. Our investment
decisions and recommendations will allocate portions of your account(s) to various asset
classes classified according to historical and projected risks and rates of return. If we have
been engaged to manage your account(s) on a non-discretionary basis, we will review all
such recommendations with you in advance, and you will have the opportunity to accept or
reject any recommendations. Such clients are under no obligation to accept or implement
any recommendation made by us. If we have been engaged to manage your account(s) on a
discretionary basis, we will be granted a limited power of attorney to buy and sell securities
in your account (generally mutual funds and ETFs), and will manage your portfolio on an
ongoing basis without necessarily consulting with you in advance of each purchase or sale.
Clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain securities or types of securities so
long as such restrictions may reasonably be implemented by us.
We will contact you at least annually, or more often as agreed upon with you, to review
your financial situation and objectives, communicate information to the third party asset
manager, and to assist you in understanding and evaluating the services provided by the
third party asset manager. You should notify us promptly of any changes in your financial
situation or investment objectives or if you wish to impose any reasonable restrictions
upon the management of your account.
Wrap Fee Program
A wrap fee program is an investment program wherein the investor pays one stated fee that
includes management fees, transaction costs, fund expenses, and any other administration
fee. SWRP does not participate in any wrap fee program.
ERISA Accounts
When we provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or
individual retirement account, we are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and/or the Internal Revenue Code
(the “Code”), as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. The way we
make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a special rule
that requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. Under
this special rule’s provisions, we must:
●Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations
(give prudent advice);
●Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations
(give loyal advice);
●Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
●Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your
best interest;
●Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
●Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
Assets under Management
As of December 31, 2023, SWRP managed approximately $458,548,287 in client assets on
a discretionary basis and $262,462,884 on a non-discretionary basis.