Heritage Financial, LLC (“HF”) has been in business since September, 2016. David K. Morton III and Elizabeth L. Clark are the firm’s principal owners.
HF provides investment management and financial planning services to individuals, families, trusts, charitable organizations and foundations, small businesses, and corporations. Our goal is to help each client, through collaboration, guidance, and education, obtain a better understanding of how they relate to money, what it means to them, and how these values drive their decisions. HF feels that this results in a better decision-making process, as both the client and HF have a better understanding of the client’s vision for the future.
HF’s engagement process begins with an introductory conversation, designed to determine whether our philosophies and personalities are a good match for what each particular client needs from an advisor. After a good fit is determined, HF will begin the LifeMap Discovery process, the most important part of the relationship. LifeMap Discovery involves the gathering information from the client and is not limited to just a client’s financial circumstances. HF wants to gather as much information as possible to find out what drives each client. These underlying motivational factors may not always be quantitative, but are as important as a number such as age or years to retirement, as they help HF find the client’s true goals. HF then reviews this information, and provides to the client a preliminary proposal of recommendations and action items. Depending on each client’s needs, this may result in the delivery of a written plan, but may also be a brief summary presented to the client. HF may provide detailed investment advice and specific recommendations as part of the preliminary plan.
Once clients have their plan, the decision is theirs how to implement it. If the client decides to implement the preliminary plan through HF, the client will become an asset management client, at which point all clients will be required to sign an agreement between the client and HF, which outlines the firm’s and the client’s responsibilities during the engagement.
Asset Management For the majority of client accounts, HF retains an independent third-party account administrator and asset manager (Buckingham Strategic Partners, LLC (“Buckingham”)) that performs certain services such as account administration, portfolio allocation analysis, back-office fulfillment, report and statement production, and billing services. Buckingham also provides a diverse range of model portfolios that are available to HF clients. The model portfolios chosen by HF are based on the client’s financial profile, goals, time horizon and risk tolerance. Such services are paid for directly through advisory fees billed to the client or are indirectly paid by HF. Buckingham is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Buckingham and HF are not affiliated.
HF works closely with Buckingham to implement and monitor the individual portfolios that the firm has recommended for each of its clients.
When HF performs asset management services, HF will generally do so on a discretionary basis.
This includes the discretionary authority to buy, sell, and otherwise transact securities and investment products in clients’ accounts without consulting clients in advance, and to take the actions necessary or incidental to execute trading instructions in clients’ accounts. Services may include incidental financial planning and advice from time to time regarding the allocation of clients’ assets among various securities and investments. HF’s discretionary authority explicitly includes the authority to retain Buckingham or another independent and unaffiliated third-party investment adviser (a “Third-Party Advisor”) to manage and execute the day-to-day implementation of HF’s investment management decisions if HF deems appropriate. A Third-Party Advisor may be retained on clients’ behalf or on HF’s behalf for so long as HF

deems fit, but in either case the Third-Party Advisor will be disclosed to each applicable client in writing in advance of such retention. Depending on the Third-Party Advisor’s requirements and the negotiated agreement between the Third-Party Advisor and HF, clients may be asked to sign a separate agreement with such Third-Party Advisor. Clients can always make deposits or withdrawals, or place restrictions on the types of investments in an account or portfolio.
For client accounts that are more suitably managed without the assistance of Buckingham or another Third-Party Advisor (typically employer-participant accounts or smaller accounts), HF will generally recommend that such clients invest directly into shares of the American Funds, a mutual fund company advised by the Capital Research and Management Company. Client accounts opened at and held by the American Funds will receive statements and reports directly from American Funds, and will incur fees charged by American Funds and not HF. As described more fully in Item 14, HF will receive compensation from American Funds for HF client assets invested into American Funds.
Financial Planning Financial planning is generally included as part of the overall relationship. Prior to any asset management services, most HF clients are provided with a summary of the LifeMap Discovery meeting or other personalized reports, so that the investment decisions made in the asset management process can closely track the goals of the client's financial plan. In some circumstances, financial planning is done on a stand-alone basis for a separate and additional fee. This option is available to clients who wish to have financial planning services performed, but may have limited or no assets for ongoing asset management services, or who require their financial plan to be updated on an ongoing basis.
If you request, HF may recommend the services of other professionals for implementation purposes.
You are under no obligation to engage the services of any such recommended professional. You retain absolute discretion over all such implementation decisions and are free to accept or reject any recommendation from HF. If you engage any professional recommended by HF, and a dispute arises thereafter relative to such engagement, you agree to seek recourse exclusively from and against the engaged professional. Federal and state securities laws impose liabilities under certain circumstances on persons who act in good faith and, therefore, nothing in an advisory agreement shall in any way constitute a waiver or limitation of any rights that the client may have under federal and state securities laws.
Wrap Program HF 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, HF manages $256,810,415 regulatory assets under management on a discretionary basis and $23,800,882 regulatory assets under management on a non-discretionary basis.