A. Description of the Advisory Firm
Ackerman Asset Management, LLC (hereinafter “AAM” or the “Firm”) was founded in 2005. AAM provides
investment management to individuals, high-net-worth individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts,
estates, charitable organizations, foundations, family offices, endowments, or other business entities. Advice is
provided through consultation with the client and may include: determination of financial objectives and
investment management.
Periodic reviews are also communicated to provide reminders of the specific courses of action that need to be
taken. More frequent reviews occur but are not necessarily communicated to the client unless immediate
changes are recommended. The initial meeting, which may be by telephone, is free of charge and is considered
an exploratory interview to determine the extent to which investment management may be beneficial to the
client.
Fiduciary Duty
James Ackerman serves as a fiduciary to his clients. As established by the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, we
adhere to a fiduciary standard which requires investment advisers to provide advice based on a client’s unique
situation and objectives. It also requires investment advisers to act in the best interest of the client, placing the
client’s interests ahead of our own. Our fiduciary duty is to our clients alone. Ackerman Asset Management is
not affiliated with any broker-dealer, custodian, bank, insurance company, or mutual fund company.
B. Principal Owners
James D. Ackerman is the principal of AAM and owns 100% of the Firm.
C. Types of Advisory Services
Portfolio Management Services
AAM provides continuous advice to a client regarding investment of client funds based on the individual needs
of the client, as determined through personal discussions with the client and the completion of a client profile
and risk questionnaire. AAM creates, manages, and supervises a client's account in accordance with the
investment objectives and risk tolerance as specified by the client. AAM manages advisory accounts on a
discretionary basis in order to select securities and execute transactions without consent from the client prior to
each transaction. AAM does not offer dedicated financial planning services, although may perform necessary
analyses to support the investment strategy.
Investment advice may be offered on any investments held by a client at the start of the advisory relationship.
AAM will create a portfolio consisting of one or all of the following: individual equities, bonds, corporate debt
securities, municipal securities, commercial paper, warrants, certificates of deposit, no-load, load-waived and
front-load mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and other alternative investment products. AAM does not offer
and/or sell interests in private placement offerings and/or limited investment partnerships, such as, hedge
funds and other pooled investment partnerships.
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IRA Rollover Considerations
As part of our consulting and advisory services, we provide you with recommendations and advice concerning
your employer retirement plan or other qualified retirement account. When appropriate, we recommend that
you withdraw the assets from your employer's retirement plan or other qualified retirement account and roll
the assets over to an individual retirement account ("IRA") that we will manage. If you elect to roll the assets to
an IRA under our management, we will charge you an asset-based fee as described in Item 5.
This practice presents a conflict of interest because our
investment advisory representative has an incentive to
recommend a rollover to you for the purpose of generating fee-based compensation rather than solely based on
your needs. You are under no obligation, contractually or otherwise, to complete the rollover. Furthermore, if
you do complete the rollover, you are under no obligation to have your IRA assets managed by us. You have
the right to decide whether or not to complete the rollover and the right to consult with other financial
professionals.
Consulting Services
Clients can also receive investment advice on a more limited basis. AAM provides specific consultation and
administrative services regarding investment and financial concerns of the client. This may include, but is not
limited to, advice or analysis on current or prospective outside, non-AAM assets, such as investments in a client's
company 401(k) plan or other investment vehicles.
Retirement Plan Services
AAM provides fiduciary advisory services to benefit plan sponsors and to the individuals who participate in
those plans on a non-discretionary basis. All benefit plans that contract with AAM for ERISA advisory services
must be administered by an independent third-party plan administrator and/or an independent third-party
custodian. Participants in such plans may have the option to utilize model portfolios comprised of multiple
mutual funds that cover a variety of markets and asset allocations in addition to a selection of target date funds.
The Plan Sponsor determines whether advisory services fees for the Plan are to be paid by the Sponsor or to be
passed on to the Plan Participant. If a Plan Participant chooses to invest in a self-directed brokerage account, in
benefit plans where that feature is available, AAM disclaims any fiduciary obligation for those assets and does
not charge an advisory fee on those assets to the Plan Sponsor or a Plan Participant.
Services offered to Plan Sponsors and through those Plans, to the Plan Participants may include:
the non-discretionary selection of plan participant investment options (mutual funds from unaffiliated
providers) and design of efficient portfolios across the risk/return spectrum comprised of some of the
mutual fund options recommended;
the provision of in-person plan participant retirement investment planning educational meetings upon
request from the Plan Sponsor; and
ongoing monitoring of the plan’s investment selections.
D. Client Tailored Services and Client Imposed Restrictions
AAM offers the same suite of services to all of its clients. Clients have the opportunity to place reasonable
restrictions on the types of investments which will be made on the client's behalf. However, if the restrictions
prevent AAM from properly servicing the client account, or if the restrictions would require AAM to deviate
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from its standard suite of services, AAM reserves the right to end the relationship. Clients will always retain
individual ownership of all securities.
When appropriate to the needs of the client, AAM may perform short term purchases, trading, short sales, or
margin transactions. Because these investment strategies involve certain additional degrees of risk, they will
only be utilized when consistent with the client's stated tolerance for risk.
E. Wrap Fee Programs
AAM does not participate in any wrap fee programs.
F. Assets Under Management
AAM has the following assets under management:
Discretionary Amounts: Non-Discretionary Amounts: Date Calculated:
$127,856,796 $431,408,818 02/08/2024