This Disclosure document is being offered to you by Clarus Wealth Advisors, LLC (“CWA”
or “Firm”) about the investment advisory services we provide. It discloses information
about our services and the way those services are made available to you, the client.
Clarus Wealth Advisors is an independent, fee-only investment advisory firm providing
portfolio management to clients. The firm was established by Joshua Cooper and Bert
Cooper in 2015. Clarus Wealth Advisors is owned by Clarus Wealth Advisors, LLC. Clarus
Wealth Advisors became a registered investment adviser in 2015.
We are committed to helping clients build, manage, and preserve their wealth, and to
provide assistance to clients to help achieve their stated financial goals. We may offer an
initial complimentary meeting upon our discretion; however, investment advisory services
are initiated only after you and Clarus Wealth Advisors execute an engagement letter or
client agreement.
Investment Management and Supervision Services
We offer discretionary investment management and investment supervisory services for
a fee based on a percentage of your assets under management. These services include
investment analysis, allocation of investments, quarterly portfolio statements and
ongoing monitoring services for the portfolio. We primarily allocate client assets among
various mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), and individual debt (bonds) and
equity securities in accordance with their stated investment objectives.
We determine your portfolio composition based on your needs, portfolio restrictions, if
any, financial goals and risk tolerances. We will work with you to obtain necessary
information regarding your financial condition, investment objectives, liquidity
requirements, risk tolerance, time horizons, and any restrictions on investing. Clients have
the ability to place reasonable restrictions on the types of investments that may be
purchased in an account, however we retain the right to decline to enter into a
management agreement with any clients whose investment are contrary to our firm’s
investment strategies. (Please see Item 16, Investment Discretion for additional
information concerning discretionary authority.) This enables us to determine the
portfolio best suited for your investment objective and needs.
In performing our services, we shall not be required to verify any information received
from you or from other professionals. If you request, we may recommend and/or engage
the services of other professionals for implementation purposes. You are under no
obligation to engage the services of any such recommended professional.
Once we have determined the types of investments to be included in your portfolio, and
allocated them, we will provide ongoing portfolio review and management services. This
approach requires us to review your portfolio at least quarterly.
We will rebalance the portfolio, as we deem appropriate, to meet your financial
objectives. We will trade these portfolios and rebalance them based on the combination
of our market views and your objectives, using our investment process. We tailor our
advisory services to meet the needs of our clients and seek to ensure that your portfolio
is managed in a manner consistent with those needs and objectives. You will have the
ability to leave standing instructions with us to refrain from investing in particular
industries or invest in limited amounts of securities.
In all cases, you have a direct and beneficial interest in your securities, rather than an
undivided interest in a pool of securities. We do not and will not have custody of your
funds or securities. We do have limited authority to direct the Custodian to deduct
investment advisory fees, but only with the appropriate authorization from you.
You are advised and are expected to understand that our past performance is not a
guarantee of future results. Certain market and economic risks exist that may adversely
affect an account’s performance. This could result in capital losses in your account.
Where appropriate, we provide advice about any type of legacy position held in client
portfolios. Typically, these are assets that are ineligible to be custodied at our primary
custodian. Clients will engage us to advise on certain investment products that are not
maintained at their primary custodian, such as variable life insurance, annuity contracts
and assets held in employer sponsored retirement plans and qualified tuition plans (i.e.,
529 plans). If these accounts can be held at a custodian and no advisory fee is charged to
the account, the account will pay custodial charges.
Financial Planning
Through the Financial Planning process, the Clarus Wealth Advisors team strives to engage
our clients in conversations around the family’s goals, objectives, priorities, vision, and
legacy – both for the near term as well as for future generations. With the unique goals
and circumstances of each family in mind, the Clarus Wealth Advisors team will offer
wealth planning ideas and strategies to address the client’s holistic financial picture,
including estate, income tax, charitable, cash flow, wealth transfer and family legacy
objectives. Clarus Wealth Advisors does not provide tax or legal advice. We will work with
your independent tax/legal advisor (CPA, Estate Attorney, Insurance broker, etc.) to help
create a plan tailored to your specific needs. Such services include various reports on
specific goals and objectives or general investment and/or planning recommendations,
guidance to outside assets and periodic updates.
Our specific services in preparing your plan include:
• Review and clarification of your financial goals.
• Assessment of your overall financial position including cash flow, balance
sheet, investment strategy, risk management and estate planning.
• Creation of a unique plan for each goal you have, including personal
and
business real estate, education, retirement or financial independence,
charitable giving, estate planning, business succession and other personal
goals.
• Development of a goal-oriented investment plan, with input from various
advisors to or clients around tax suggestions, asset allocation, expenses, risk
and liquidity
factors for each goal. This includes IRA and qualified plans, taxable and trust
accounts that require special attention.
• Design of a risk management plan including risk tolerance, risk avoidance,
mitigation and transfer, including liquidity as well as various insurance and
possible company benefits.
• Crafting and implementation of, in conjunction with your estate and/or
corporate attorneys as tax advisor, an estate plan to provide for you and/or
your heirs in the event of an incapacity or death.
A written evaluation of each client's initial situation or Financial Plan is provided to the
client. An annual review will be provided by the Adviser, if indicated by the Client and
Advisor per the Financial Planning Agreement. More frequent reviews occur but are not
necessarily communicated to the client unless immediate changes are recommended.
Consulting Services
We also provide clients investment advice on a more limited basis on one or more isolated
areas of concern such as estate planning, real estate, retirement planning, or any other
specific topic. Additionally, we may provide advice on non-securities matters in
connection with the rendering of estate planning, insurance, real estate, and/or annuity
advice. Client will also be required to select their own investment managers, broker-dealer
and/or insurance companies for the implementation of consulting recommendations. If
Client needs brokerage and/or other financial services, Consultant may recommend the
use of one of several investment managers, brokers, banks, custodians, insurance
companies or other financial professionals ("Firms"). Then Client must independently
evaluate these Firms before opening an account or transacting business and has the right
to effect business through any firm they choose.
Co-Branded Investment Advisor Representatives
Our firm offers services through our network of investment advisor representatives
(“Advisor Representatives” or “IARs”). IARs may have their own legal business entities
whose trade names and logos are used for marketing purposes and may appear on
marketing materials or client statements. The Client should understand that the
businesses are legal entities of the IAR and not of our firm Clarus Wealth Advisors. The
IARs are under the supervision of our firm Clarus Wealth Advisors, and the advisory
services of the IAR are provided through our firm Clarus Wealth Advisors.
Wrap Fee Programs
We do not place client assets into a wrap fee program.
Disclosure Regarding Rollover Recommendations
A client or prospect leaving an employer typically has four options regarding an existing
retirement plan (and may engage in a combination of these options): (i) leave the money
in the former employer’s plan, if permitted, (ii) roll over the assets to the new employer’s
plan, if one is available and rollovers are permitted, (iii) rollover to an Individual
Retirement Account (“IRA”), or (iv) cash out the account value (which could, depending
upon the client’s age, result in adverse tax consequences). Our Firm may recommend an
investor roll over plan assets to an IRA for which our Firm provides investment advisory
services. As a result, our Firm and its representatives may earn an asset-based fee. In
contrast, a recommendation that a client or prospective client leave their plan assets with
their previous employer or roll over the assets to a plan sponsored by a new employer will
generally result in no compensation to our Firm. Our Firm therefore has an economic
incentive to encourage a client to roll plan assets into an IRA that our Firm will manage,
which presents a conflict of interest. To mitigate the conflict of interest, there are various
factors that our Firm will consider before recommending a rollover, including but not
limited to: (i) the investment options available in the plan versus the investment options
available in an IRA, (ii) fees and expenses in the plan versus the fees and expenses in an
IRA, (iii) the services and responsiveness of the plan’s investment professionals versus
those of our Firm, (iv) protection of assets from creditors and legal judgments, (v) required
minimum distributions and age considerations, and (vi) employer stock tax consequences,
if any. All rollover recommendations are also reviewed by our Firm’s Chief Compliance
Officer in a best effort to determine that the recommendation to a client was reasonable
or that the client has determined to make the rollover after being provided ample
information about their options. No client is under any obligation to roll over plan assets
to an IRA advised by our Firm or to engage our Firm to monitor and/or advise on the
account while maintained with the client's employer. Our Firm’s Chief Compliance Officer
remains available to address any questions that a client or prospective client has regarding
this disclosure.
We are fiduciaries under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and when we provide
investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual retirement
account, we are also fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws
governing retirement accounts. We have to act in your best interest and not put our
interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts
with your interests.
Assets
As of December 31, 2022, we have $200,340,863 in total regulatory assets under
management. There is a total of $122,476,021 in assets under discretionary management
and $77,864,842 in assets under non-discretionary management.