Waterfront Wealth, Inc. (“Waterfront,” “We,” or “the Firm”) is a corporation organized and based in
the state of Kansas. Waterfront was founded in 2012 by Roger C. Ratzlaff Jr., the firm’s principal
owner, managing director, and Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. Ratzlaff began his career in investment
planning in 1988 with A.G. Edwards, a predecessor firm of Wells Fargo Advisors. In May of 2012, Roger
and a small group of financial advisors set out to start Waterfront Wealth. Mr. Ratzlaff remained
registered with Wells Fargo Financial Advisers Network, LLC (a FINRA registered broker dealer) and
representatives of Waterfront Wealth operated a registered branch office of that broker-dealer
through late 2020. He and his team at Waterfront work together to provide customized strategies for
a wide range of clients.
Mr. Ratzlaff no longer provides brokerage services through Wells Fargo Financial Advisers Network,
LLC. Advisory services are provided through Waterfront Wealth, Inc. under the business name
“Waterfront Wealth Management” (in the process of being transitioned to “Waterfront Advisors”).
Waterfront Wealth, Inc. also represents it division responsible for management strategies as
“Waterfront Asset Management”.
As of 12/31/2022, Waterfront managed approximately $645,000,000 in assets on a discretionary
basis.
Services Offered
Portfolio Management Services
Waterfront provides ongoing discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management services to
businesses, charitable organizations, endowments, estates, families, foundations, individuals, trusts,
and other investment advisers. When providing portfolio management services, Waterfront not only
makes recommendations related to investments, but also implements these recommendations and
provides ongoing monitoring and reporting. Clients may elect to give Waterfront discretion to make
all decisions (discretionary management) or may prefer to approve all decisions before
implementation (non-discretionary management).
Institutional Sub-Advisory Services
Waterfront also provides ongoing sub-advisory services to other investment advisers who wish to
delegate some of their investment management responsibilities to Waterfront. When providing sub-
advisory services, Waterfront is generally responsible for making asset allocation and investment
decisions for designated accounts, and for executing and monitoring settlements of trades related to
these decisions. The applicable primary investment adviser may limit or instructor Waterfront related
to delegated accounts though written objectives, guidelines or restrictions furnished to Waterfront.
Financial Planning Services
Waterfront also provides project oriented and ongoing financial planning services to individuals and
families where the firm offers advice or other strategic assistance in areas such as education
funding,
retirement planning, estate planning, risk management, employee benefits planning, tax planning,
etc. When engaged to provide financial planning assistance, clients are responsible for determining
whether or not to implement a recommendation, and if they decide to do so, are responsible for
actual implementation. The actual details of an engagement vary on a case by case basis depending
on the complexity of the client’s financial situation. Generally however, an engagement will include
identification of goals and objectives, collection and analysis of data, and formulation of a strategy,
and may also include preparation of a written plan.
Retirement Plan Services
Waterfront also provides retirement plan services to businesses. Plan level services offered include
discretionary management services and non-discretionary advisory/consulting services. Services are
made available for different types of retirement plans, including 401K and 403B among others. When
providing management services, the firm is responsible for implementing recommendations. When
the firm is providing advisory/consulting services, the client is responsible for implementation of
recommendations. Although the firm does not provide participant level services as part of a
retirement plan engagement, participants may engage Waterfront separately for participant level
services.
Investment Philosophy
Regardless of the type of services provided, each service is tailored to the individual needs of a
particular client (whether an individual, a family, or a business) through an assessment conducted
prior to an engagement. Clients may impose restrictions related to the level of discretion granted, the
types of investments used, etc. Terms of an actual engagement, including description of service,
limitations and restrictions, fees, etc., are all detailed before any engagement begins in a written
client agreement.
Fiduciary Standards
Because Waterfront is a registered investment adviser, we are required to meet certain fiduciary
standards when providing investment advice to clients. Additionally, when we provide investment
advice related to a retirement plan account or an individual retirement account, we are considered
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. As such, we are
required to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours, even though our
compensation creates some conflicts with your interests in that the more you have us manage, the
more we can earn. Our clients however are under no obligation to use services recommended by our
associated persons. Furthermore, we believe that our recommendations are in the best interests of
our clients and are consistent with our clients’ needs.