This Disclosure document is being offered to you by ALTIUS Financial LLC (“ALTIUS Financial” or “Firm”)
about the investment advisory services we provide. It discloses information about our services and the way
those services are made available to you, the client.
We are an investment management firm located in Denver, Colorado. We specialize in financial planning
and investment advisory services for investors. The firm was established in 1999 by Michael Williams, the
firm’s principal owner.
ALTIUS Financial manages portfolios for individuals, high net worth individuals, estates, trusts, charitable
organizations, foundations, and institutions. We are committed to helping clients build, manage, and
preserve their wealth. Our Firm provides services that help clients to achieve their stated financial goals.
Our firm primarily invests in cash, money market funds, CDs, stocks, bonds, ETFs, U.S. Government
treasuries and private funds.. Where deemed appropriate, our firm may invest in alternative investments.
We will offer an initial complimentary meeting at our discretion; however, investment advisory services are
initiated only after you and ALTIUS Financial execute an Investment Management Agreement.
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISION SERVICES
We offer discretionary investment management and investment supervisory services for a fee based on a
percentage of your assets under management. These services include investment analysis, allocation of
investments, quarterly portfolio statements, and ongoing monitoring services for the portfolio.
ALTIUS determines your portfolio composition based on your needs, portfolio restrictions if any, and
financial goals and risk tolerances. We will work with you to obtain necessary information regarding your
financial condition, investment objectives, liquidity requirements, risk tolerance, time horizons, and any
restrictions on investing. This enables us to determine the portfolio best suited for your investment
objective and needs.
In performing our services, we shall not be required to verify any information received from you or from
other professionals. If you request, we may recommend and/or engage the services of other professionals
for implementation purposes. You are under no obligation to engage the services of any such recommended
professional.
Once we have determined the types of investments to be included in your portfolio and allocated them, we
will provide ongoing portfolio reviews and management services. This approach requires us to review your
portfolio at least quarterly.
We will rebalance the portfolio, as we deem appropriate, to meet your financial objectives. We will trade
these portfolios and rebalance them on a discretionary basis.
Our advisory services are tailored to meet your individual needs. You will have the ability to leave standing
instructions with us to refrain from investing in particular industries or invest in limited amounts of
securities.
In all cases, you have a direct and beneficial interest in your securities, rather than an undivided interest in
a pool of securities. We do not and will not have custody of your funds or securities, except for the limited
access to deduct only investment advisory fees via the qualified custodian and only with the appropriate
authorization from you.
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You are advised and are expected to understand that our past performance is not a guarantee of future
results. Certain market and economic risks exist that adversely affect an account’s performance. This could
result in capital losses in your account.
Participant Account Management (Discretionary)
We use a third-party platform to facilitate management of held away assets such as defined contribution
plan participant accounts, with discretion. The platform allows us to avoid being considered to have custody
of Client funds since we do not have direct access to Client log-in credentials to affect trades. We are not
affiliated with the platform in any way and receive no compensation from them for using their platform. A
link will be provided to the Client allowing them to connect an account(s) to the platform. Once Client
account(s) is connected to the platform, Adviser will review the current account allocations. When deemed
necessary, Adviser will rebalance the account considering client investment goals and risk tolerance, and
any change in allocations will consider current economic and market trends. The goal is to improve account
performance over time, minimize loss during difficult markets, and manage internal fees that harm account
performance. Client account(s) will be reviewed at least quarterly and allocation changes will be made as
deemed necessary.
FINANCIAL PLANNING
Through the financial planning process, our team strives to engage our clients in conversations around the
family’s goals, objectives, priorities, vision, and legacy – both for the near term as well as for future
generations. With the unique goals and circumstances of each family in mind, our team will offer financial
planning ideas and strategies to address the client’s holistic financial picture, including estate, income tax,
charitable, cash flow, wealth transfer,
and family legacy objectives. Our team partners with our client’s
other advisors (CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Estate Attorneys, Insurance Brokers, etc.) to ensure a coordinated
effort of all parties toward the client’s stated goals. Such services include various reports on specific goals
and objectives or general investment and/or planning recommendations, guidance to outside assets, and
periodic updates.
Our specific services in preparing your plan may include:
§ Review and clarification of your financial goals
§ Assessment of your overall financial position including cash flow, balance sheet, investment
strategy, risk management, and estate planning
§ Creation of a unique plan for each goal you have, including personal and business real estate,
education, retirement or financial independence, charitable giving, estate planning, business
succession, and other personal goals
§ Development of a goal-oriented investment plan, with input from various advisors to our clients
around tax suggestions, asset allocation, expenses, risk, and liquidity factors for each goal. This
includes IRA and qualified plans, taxable, and trust accounts that require special attention
§ Design of a risk management plan including risk tolerance, risk avoidance, mitigation, and transfer,
including liquidity as well as various insurance and possible company benefits; and
§ Crafting and implementation of, in conjunction with your estate and/or corporate attorneys as tax
advisor, an estate plan to provide for you and/or your heirs in the event of an incapacity or death.
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DISCLOSURE REGARDING ROLLOVER RECOMMENDATIONS
A client or prospect 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) rollover 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). Our Firm may recommend an
investor roll over plan assets to an IRA for which our Firm provides investment advisory services. As a result,
our Firm and its representatives may earn an asset-based fee. In contrast, a recommendation that a client
or prospective client leave their plan assets with their previous employer or roll over the assets to a plan
sponsored by a new employer will generally result in no compensation to our Firm. Our Firm therefore has
an economic incentive to encourage a client to roll plan assets into an IRA that our Firm will manage, which
presents a conflict of interest. To mitigate the conflict of interest, there are various factors that our Firm
will consider before recommending a rollover, including but not limited to: (i) the investment options
available in the plan versus the investment options available in an IRA, (ii) fees and expenses in the plan
versus the fees and expenses in an IRA, (iii) the services and responsiveness of the plan’s investment
professionals versus those of our Firm, (iv) protection of assets from creditors and legal judgments, (v)
required minimum distributions and age considerations, and (vi) employer stock tax consequences, if any.
All rollover recommendations are reviewed by our Firm’s Chief Compliance Officer and remains available
to address any questions that a client or prospective client has regarding the oversight.
We are fiduciaries under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and when we provide investment advice to
you regarding your retirement plan account or individual retirement account, we are also 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. We have to act in your best interest and not
put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with
your interests.
INVESTMENT CONSULTING SERVICES
We may also provide non-discretionary portfolio review services to client assets that are not part of our
discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services. Our portfolio review service is limited to
a periodic review of information pertaining to the certain assets as provided to us by you as the client, to
other investment professionals, and/or account custodians and does not include our investment advisory
services.
We also provide clients investment advice on a more limited basis on one or more isolated areas of concern
such as estate planning, real estate, retirement planning, or any other specific topic. Additionally, the Firm
may provide advice on non-securities matters in connection with the rendering of estate planning,
insurance, real estate, and/or annuity advice.
WRAP FEE PROGRAMS
We do not place any client assets into a Wrap Fee Program.
ASSETS
As of December 31, 2023, we managed $130,168,490 in client assets on a discretionary basis. We have no
managed assets on a non-discretionary basis. The firm advises on another $48,806,472 in assets.
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