Description of Firm
Great Diamond Partners, LLC is a registered investment adviser primarily based in Portland, Maine.
We are organized as a limited liability company under the laws of the State of Delaware. We began
providing investment advisory services in 2019. The firm is owned by Steven Tenney, Joseph
Powers, Helen Andreoli and John Piper.
The following paragraphs describe our services and fees. Refer to the description of each investment
advisory service listed below for information on how we tailor our advisory services to your individual
needs. As used in this brochure, the words "we," "our," and "us" refer to Great Diamond Partners,
LLC and the words "you," "your," and "client" refer to you as either a client or prospective client of our
firm.
In providing account management services, we do not accept client restrictions on the specific
securities or the types of securities that may be held in your account.
Portfolio Management Services
We offer discretionary portfolio management services. Our investment advice is tailored to meet our
clients' needs and investment objectives.
If you participate in our discretionary portfolio management services, we require you to grant us
discretionary authority to manage your account. Subject to a grant of discretionary authorization, we
have the authority and responsibility to formulate investment strategies on your behalf. Discretionary
authorization will allow us to determine the specific securities, and the amount of securities, to be
purchased or sold for your account without obtaining your approval prior to each transaction. We will
also have discretion over the broker or dealer to be used for securities transactions, and over the
commission rates to be paid. Discretionary authority is typically granted by the investment advisory
agreement you sign with our firm, a power of attorney, or trading authorization forms.
We may also offer non-discretionary portfolio management services. If you enter into non-discretionary
arrangements with our firm, we must obtain your approval prior to executing any transactions on behalf
of your account. You have an unrestricted right to decline to implement any advice provided by our firm
on a non-discretionary basis.
As part of our portfolio management services, in addition to other types of investments (see
disclosures below in this section), we may invest your assets according to one or more
model portfolios developed by our firm. These models are designed for investors with varying degrees
of risk tolerance ranging from a more aggressive investment strategy to a more conservative
investment approach.
We have entered into a contractual relationship with Dynasty Financial Partners, LLC ("Dynasty"),
which provides us with operational and back office support including access to a network of service
providers. Through the Dynasty network of service providers, we may receive preferred pricing on
trading technology, reporting, custody, brokerage, compliance and other related services. Dynasty
charges a "Platform Fee," for which, unless otherwise disclosed, you will be charged, separate from
and in addition to such your annual investment management fee, as described in Item 5 below. In
addition, Dynasty's subsidiary, Dynasty Wealth Management, LLC ("DWM") is an SEC registered
investment adviser, that provides access to a range of investment services including: separately
managed accounts ("SMA"), mutual fund and ETF asset allocation strategies, and unified managed
accounts ("UMA") managed by external third party managers (collectively, the "Investment Programs").
We may separately engage the services of Dynasty and/or its subsidiaries to access the Investment
4
Programs. Under the SMA and UMA programs, we will maintain the ability to select the specific,
underlying third party managers that will, in turn, have day-to-day discretionary trading authority over
the requisite client assets.
DWM sponsors an investment management platform (the "Platform" or the "TAMP") that is available to
the advisers in the Dynasty Network, such as us. Through the Platform, DWM and Dynasty collectively
provides certain technology, administrative, operations and advisory support services that allow us to
manage our own client portfolios and access independent third-party managers that provide
discretionary services in the form of traditional managed accounts and investment models. We can
allocate all or a portion of your assets among the different independent third-party managers via the
Platform. We may also use the model management feature of the TAMP by creating our own asset
allocation model and underlying investments that comprise the model. Through the model
management feature, we may be able to outsource the implementation of trade orders and periodic
rebalancing of the model when needed.
We will maintain the direct contractual relationship with you and obtain, through such agreements, the
authority to engage independent third-party managers, DWM and/or Dynasty, as applicable, for
services rendered through the Platform in service to you. We may delegate discretionary trading
authority to DWM and/or independent third-party managers to effect investment and reinvestment of
client assets with the ability to buy, sell or otherwise effect investment transactions and allocate client
assets. If you are participating in certain Investment Programs, DWM or the designated manager, as
applicable, is also authorized without prior consultation with either us or you to buy, sell, trade or
allocate your assets in accordance with
your designated portfolio and to deliver instructions to the
designated broker-dealer and/or custodian of your assets.
Financial Planning Services
We offer financial planning services which typically involve providing a variety of advisory services to
clients regarding the management of their financial resources based upon an analysis of their
individual needs. These services can range from broad-based financial planning to consultative or
single subject planning. If you retain our firm for financial planning services, we will meet with you to
gather information about your financial circumstances and objectives. We may also use financial
planning software to determine your current financial position and to define and quantify your long-term
goals and objectives. Once we specify those long-term objectives (both financial and non-financial), we
will develop shorter-term, targeted objectives. Once we review and analyze the information you provide
to our firm and the data derived from our financial planning software, we will deliver a written plan to
you, designed to help you achieve your stated financial goals and objectives.
Financial plans are based on your financial situation at the time we present the plan to you, and on the
financial information you provide to us. You must promptly notify our firm if your financial situation,
goals, objectives, or needs change.
You are under no obligation to act on our financial planning recommendations. Should you choose to
act on any of our recommendations, you are not obligated to implement the financial plan through any
of our other investment advisory services. Moreover, you may act on our recommendations by placing
securities transactions with any brokerage firm.
Business Transition Planning Services
We offer transition planning services to business owners who need to prepare for an effective change in
ownership. Planning may include, but is not limited to, advanced planning topics such as future cash flow,
risk mitigation, estate planning, investment banking, advisory team coordination and post-transition
investment planning.
5
Fee-based insurance
We use a third-party company to handle insurance needs of clients. This third-party will offer fee-based
insurance products for clients and Great Diamond Partners will charge an annual advisory fee on the value
of the insurance product. Generally, this third party will be the insurance agent of record on the insurance
product and Great Diamond Partners will manage the insurance product as part of our wealth management
process.
In most cases these insurance products are annuites which have limitations. An annuity is a contract
between you and an insurance company, and it's sold by prospectus. You should read these documents.
They describe risk factors, fees and charges that may apply to you. Variable annuities have fees and
charges that include mortality and expense, administrative fees, contract fees and the expense of the
underlying investment options. Annuities are long-term vehicles designed for retirement purposes and are
not intended to replace emergency funds, to be used as income for day-to-day expenses, or to fund short-
term savings goals. Investing involves risk.
Types of Investments
We offer advice on equity securities, mutual fund shares and ETFs, fixed income, alternatives and
structured products.
Additionally, we may advise you on various types of investments based on your stated goals and
objectives. We may also provide advice on any type of investment held in your portfolio at the inception
of our advisory relationship.
IRA Rollover Recommendations
Effective December 20, 2021 (or such later date as the US Department of Labor ("DOL") Field
Assistance Bulletin 2018-02 ceases to be in effect), for purposes of complying with the DOL's
Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 ("PTE 2020-02") where applicable, we are providing the
following acknowledgment to you. 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 and/or the Internal Revenue 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.
We benefit financially from the rollover of your assets from a retirement account to an account that we
manage or provide investment advice, because the assets increase our assets under management
and, in turn, our advisory fees. As a fiduciary, we only recommend a rollover when we believe it is in
your best interest.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, we provide continuous management services for $649,123,040 in client
assets on a discretionary basis, and $0 in client assets on a non-discretionary basis.
6