Fonville Wealth Management LLC, doing business as Covenant Wealth Advisors (“CWA”), has
been in business since October 25, 2010, and the principal owners are Katherine Fonville and
Mark Fonville.
CWA is a registered investment adviser with a principal office based in Williamsburg, VA and a
satellite office based in Glen Allen, VA and is organized as a limited liability company under the
laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
CWA provides personal financial planning and investment management services to individuals,
families and their related entities including trusts and estates, endowments and family
businesses.
CWA works with clients to define financial objectives and to develop strategies for reaching those
objectives, some of which may include cash flow management, tax planning, risk exposure
review, investment management, education funding, retirement planning, estate planning,
charitable giving, special needs planning, family business succession issues, employer benefits,
and/or other issues specific to the client.
CWA derives its revenues from financial planning and investment advisory fees only. CWA’s
compensation is based solely from fees paid directly by clients. The firm does not receive any
commission based on a client’s purchase of any particular financial product(s). No commissions
in any form are accepted. No referral fees are paid or accepted. No benefits are received from
custodians or broker-dealers based on client securities transactions (“soft dollar benefits”).
CWA does not act as a custodian of client assets, but it is deemed to have custody over certain
client accounts as further described in Item 15, below. At times we may recommend other
professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, real estate agents) at the request of
the client. Such other professionals are engaged directly by the client on an as-needed basis at
the client’s discretion.
Professionals recommended by CWA may also in their discretion recommend our services to their
clients. However, we have no official referral agreements with any of the professionals we
recommend. We actively seek to avoid, or at least minimize, conflicts of interest which may
exist between our firm and you. Conflicts of interest will be disclosed and managed in the best
interest of the client. However, all investment advisory firms will likely possess some unavoidable
conflicts of interest. In those instances when conflicts of interest arise, we have adopted policies
which seek to keep the client’s best interests paramount at all times. Please see other sections
of this Brochure which explore in further detail how we act to keep the client’s best interests first
at all times during the course of our client relationship. Refer to the details of each service listed
for information on how we customize our wealth management and advisory services to each
client’s individual needs.
ADVISORY SERVICES
CWA offers ongoing advisory services based on the individual goals, objectives, time horizon, tax
status, and risk tolerance of each client. In most situations, CWA offers comprehensive wealth
management which includes financial planning services, investment management, and the
coordination of subject matter experts as outlined below. However, clients may choose to hire
CWA for financial planning services only.
In performing its services, CWA relies on the information received from the client or from the
client's other professionals. Each client is advised that it remains his/her responsibility to
promptly notify CWA when there are any changes to his or her financial situation and/or financial
objectives for the purpose of reviewing, evaluating, or revising previous recommendations
and/or services.
CWA may present the tax aspects of certain investments or strategies in general terms. Within
this context, CWA does not provide specific tax advice and recommends that all tax questions or
strategies should be discussed with the client’s tax professional.
Financial planning services include a comprehensive analysis (or modular analysis) of a client’s
financial situation. Services can include, but are not limited to:
• Goal discovery
• Investment planning
• Cash-flow analysis
• Retirement planning
• College planning
• Monte-Carlo analysis
• Estate planning
• Charitable giving
• Debt analysis
• Insurance needs analysis
• Net-worth analysis
• Tax planning
A conflict exists between the interests of CWA and the interests of its clients in conjunction
with financial planning services, and clients should be advised that they are under no obligation
to act upon CWA’s financial planning recommendations. If clients do elect to act on any of
CWA’s financial planning recommendations, they are under no obligation to effect any
recommended transactions through CWA.
Investment management services include the prudent oversight and management of a client’s
investable assets. Services can include, but are not limited to:
• Asset allocation
• Portfolio rebalancing
• Investment analysis
• Tax loss harvesting
• Investment policy statement
• Risk tolerance
CWA evaluates the current investments of each client with respect to their life goals, their risk
tolerance levels, time horizon, and tax status. Risk tolerance levels are documented in the
Investment Policy Statement or risk assessment questionnaire, which is given to each client. In
situations where an IPS or risk assessment is not used, CWA will assess the client’s risk tolerance
via conversation or documented planning proposals.
Covenant Wealth Advisors may use third-party service
providers for portfolio monitoring,
trading, and rebalancing. These service providers operate within parameters set by Covenant
Wealth Advisors, and they are instructed to consult Covenant Wealth Advisors regarding any
circumstances that the set parameters have not foreseen.
Retirement Rollovers‐Potential for Conflict of Interest: A client or prospective client 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) roll over 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). If Registrant
recommends that a client roll over their retirement plan assets into an account to be managed
by Registrant, such a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if Registrant will earn new (or
increase its current) compensation because of the rollover. When acting in such capacity,
Registrant serves as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), or
the Internal Revenue Code, or both. No client is under any obligation to roll over retirement plan
assets to an account managed by Registrant.
Subject matter expert services include the coordination of outside, independent experts to help
accomplish the short, intermediate, and long-term goals of the client. In certain circumstances,
independent experts are compensated by CWA for the services they provide. Subject matter
experts can include, but are not limited, to the following:
• Certified Public Accountant
• Insurance Agent
• Estate planning attorney
• Mortgage broker
Client Tailored Services and Client Imposed Restrictions.
Specific client financial plans and their implementation are dependent upon the client’s
individual goals and circumstances. For example, portfolios might be structured differently for
clients who are in high tax brackets, require income, or who want to avoid certain types of
positions or areas of the market.
Clients may impose restrictions in investing in certain securities or types of securities in
accordance with their values or beliefs. However, if the restrictions prevent CWA from properly
servicing the client account, or if the restrictions would require CWA to deviate from its standard
suite of services, CWA reserves the right to end the relationship.
Wrap Fee Programs
CWA does not participate in any wrap fee programs.
Regulatory Assets Under Management
Discretionary
Amounts:
Non‐discretionary Amounts:
Date Calculated:
$486,780,571 $9,533,808 12/31/2023
Third‐Party Money Management
For certain clients, CWA utilizes the services of third-party money managers to provide portfolio
performance and analysis technology, financial planning tools, portfolio theory, and to assist with
the management and administration of client accounts. Before engaging other advisors for
clients, CWA will always ensure those other advisors are properly licensed or registered as an
investment adviser. Currently, CWA utilizes the services of Buckingham Strategic Partners, LLC
(“Buckingham”), for third party money management.
For CWA clients whose accounts are managed and administered in conjunction with Buckingham,
such accounts will generally be allocated to a diversified portfolio of mutual funds managed
either by Buckingham (the SA Funds – Investment Trust or “SA Funds”) or Dimensional Fund
Advisors LP (“DFA Funds”), or of mutual funds or exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) managed by
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard Funds”) or other mutual fund or ETF companies. The
portfolio of mutual funds and/or ETFs are rebalanced when appropriate. Other securities may be
held, acquired or sold as appropriate, and all portfolios will generally contain an allocation to cash
or cash-like instruments.
Buckingham provides quarterly performance reports, quarterly fee billings, and quarterly
portfolio re-optimization analysis. Buckingham also performs daily downloads from custodians,
account reconciliations with custodial account records and initiates trades in client accounts in
its advisory capacity with the help of the account custodian.
The recommended custodians for CWA clients include Charles Schwab Institutional (“Schwab”)
(a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.) and Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC (“Fidelity”).
Buckingham does not charge a separate administration fee to CWA’s clients for assets invested into
shares of the SA Funds, as Buckingham earns advisory, administrative, and shareholder servicing
fees directly from the SA Funds as part of their respective internal expense ratios. Buckingham does
not charge a separate administration fee to CWA’s clients for their services; CWA pays such
Buckingham fees directly, and such fees vary among discretionary and non-discretionary clients.
Closing an Account
Clients may discontinue advisory services simply by requesting in writing to do so. In the event a
client closes an account, any unearned portion of the fees for the quarter will be returned to the
departing client from the date of account closure until the end of the calendar quarter.
If, for any reason, the client is unhappy with the services of CWA, he/she may request a full refund
of investment advisor fees or financial planning fees paid directly to CWA within 180 days of
becoming a client.