Carbahal Olsen Financial Services Group LLC (“COFS”), a SEC registered investment adviser, in
Davis, California, offers advisory services in the form of financial planning and asset management.
The firm was founded in 1999 and became a registered investment adviser in January of 2010.
COFS’ principal owners are Kurt D. Schrader, Manuel A. Carbahal, and John M. Carbahal. Kurt
Schrader is our Chief Investment Officer and Chief Compliance Officer.
We currently provide investment advisory services to clients in twelve states, including California.
We are notice filed in California as we have a place of business in that state. We are not required to
notice file in most of the other states as we have fewer than five clients (de minimis exemption) in
those states. The exception is New Hampshire, which requires notice filing prior to accepting the
first client. Therefore, since we have clients in New Hampshire, we also notice file in New
Hampshire.
In this Brochure, we describe our advisory business as well as all material conflicts of interest
regarding the firm, its employees and representatives, which could reasonably be expected to
impair the rendering of unbiased and objective advice to you.
Types of Advisory Services Offered
Financial Planning and Consultations
We provide comprehensive financial planning services or limited consulting services to individuals
who hire us and sign our Financial Planning Agreement. The same services are offered at no cost to
any client who has retained COFS under an Asset Management Agreement.
Financial planning is a complex process which includes scheduled consultations to discuss your
financial and estate needs and objectives. We review and analyze the information you provide,
summarize your financial situation, and then make specific written recommendations that address
your particular concerns and objectives. Our advice is based on the personal financial information
we obtain from you, assumptions you select and other planning assumptions determined by us.
Primarily, we develop written, comprehensive and segmented financial plans regarding the
following topics:
• Personal: family records, budgeting, personal liability, estate information and
financial goals,
• Tax and cash flow: income tax and spending analysis and planning for past, current and
future years,
• Death and disability: cash needs at death, income needs of surviving dependents, estate
planning and disability income analysis,
• Retirement: analysis of current strategies and investment plans to help achieve retirement
goals, and
• Investments: analysis of investment alternatives and their effect on your portfolio.
You may contract with us for limited consulting services. Typically, our consulting services will not
result in a comprehensive financial plan such as with our financial planning services. Rather, we
may provide you with a verbal or written summary that addresses your topic of interest.
Because the financial plan or summary will be based on the information provided by you, the
completeness and accuracy of the information we obtain is essential. We will ask you to provide
copies of any financial documents that we may reasonably request as necessary to evaluate your
financial circumstances and provide a financial plan. Financial planning may involve consulting
with other professionals, including your attorney, accountant and other specialized investment
professionals. We will restrict the range of our services to our level of expertise or regulatory
limitations.
We request that you notify us if there are any changes in the information you provided to us or if
any of your circumstances have changed that may affect the financial plan we develop. It is your
sole responsibility for determining whether to implement our recommendations.
If you have provided us with the information and documentation necessary to formulate a plan, you
will receive a completed plan from us within 30 days of signing the financial planning agreement.
We will prepare recommendations reasonably expected to meet your specific goals, needs and
priorities. However, we give no assurance that the recommendations presented will fulfill your
goals.
If you are not satisfied with the written financial plan as presented, we will attempt to revise the
plan to your satisfaction. The number of times we revise a plan will be at our discretion. If you
remain unsatisfied with the written plan as presented, we will not refund the fee charged for the
plan, but you will be able to keep the final plan.
All of our financial planning services terminate upon presentation of the plan or completion of the
consultation unless you have contracted for retainer services. Retainer clients receive twelve
months of financial planning or consulting services. The retainer contract is renewed automatically
each year on the anniversary date of the signing of the original agreement, unless terminated
sooner by you or us. We require a new agreement if the services or the fees change.
Both parties can terminate the financial planning services agreement by providing written or oral
notice to the other and the termination will be effective immediately. If services are terminated
within five business days of signing the client agreement, the services will be terminated without
penalty. After the initial five business days you will be assessed a prorated charge based on the time
and effort expended by us prior to receipt of notice of termination. COFS will send a billing
statement summarizing the amount due.
A conflict exists between the interests of COFS and your interests. If you choose to implement our
recommendation for asset management services through a separate contract with us, we will
receive fees related to services as your investment manager. In addition, if an IAR of COFS is
separately
licensed as an insurance agent, the IAR can receive separate, yet customary, commission
compensation when implementing insurance product transactions on your behalf. You are not
under any obligation to engage COFS or our IARs when considering implementing our
recommendations. The implementation of any or all of our recommendations is solely at your
discretion.
Asset Management Services
The asset management services described below are provided pursuant to a written agreement that
details the terms of the service and is signed by you and COFS. We provide discretionary asset
management services utilizing securities such as mutual funds, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”),
primarily, and individual stocks and bonds, where appropriate, in our Standard Program. In our
Annuity Program, we use variable annuity sub-accounts.
Before recommending an investment strategy for you, we will gather information about your
current investments, financial situation, goals and risk tolerance. We may collect this information
through questionnaires, copies of tax returns, insurance policies, wills, trusts and other documents
you make available, and/or through one-on-one meetings. We review the provided information
and make investment and model allocation recommendations which are designed to meet your
specific needs and objectives.
You may impose reasonable restrictions on the management of your account, including the ability
to instruct us not to purchase certain securities.
We may, or you may direct us to, deviate from the originally suggested investments and allocation
model due to changes in your individual situation, personal investment guidelines, rebalancing
concerns, changes in the marketplace and other factors that may arise. You will be responsible for
notifying us of any updates regarding your financial situation, risk tolerance or investment
objectives and whether you wish to impose or modify existing investment restrictions.
Securities brokerage transactions are processed by Fidelity Investments through Fidelity
Institutional Wealth Services (“FIWS”). 403(b) and 401(a) account transactions are processed
through Fidelity Investments Tax-Exempt Services Company (“FITSCo”). Client funds and securities
are custodied and maintained through the same companies. Clearing, custody or other brokerage
services may also be provided by National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services
LLC, which are Fidelity affiliates.
Standard Programs
Exchange Traded Fund/Mutual Fund Model Portfolios
Client accounts in the ETF/Mutual Fund model portfolios will be invested primarily in a
combination of ETFs and actively managed mutual funds from a variety of fund families. ETFs are
utilized due to their liquid, low cost, tax-efficient exposure to a wide range of asset classes,
primarily based on stock or bond indexes. The mutual funds are chosen by our investment team
based on a variety of factors including internal expenses, transactions costs, performance and risk
measurements, and manager experience and tenure, among others.
Custom Accounts
It may be appropriate for certain COFS client accounts to be invested in asset allocations that depart
from our typical ETF/Mutual Fund model portfolios. Custom accounts will generally be invested in
a standard model, but investments may vary from the model for a variety of reasons including tax
considerations, short or intermediate-term cash flow needs, or others as may be agreed on between
COFS and the client.
Retirement Plan Accounts at FITSCo
Model portfolios for accounts at FITSCo are designed for clients employed at certain tax-exempt
organizations and in the public sector for which full-service retirement plans offered by Fidelity
Investments are available. Portfolios under this program consist entirely of actively managed
Fidelity mutual funds.
Annuity Program
Under our Annuity Program, COFS manages your variable annuity by selecting, monitoring and
exchanging, as necessary, between sub-accounts available in t
he Fidelity Personal Retirement
Annuity® (“FPRA”) product issued by Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company (“FILI”). Your
COFS Investment Adviser Representative (“IAR”) is not an appointed insurance agent of Fidelity or
the insurance companies that issue Fidelity annuities, nor is COFS affiliated with FILI; rather, the
product is sold through FILI and its insurance-licensed representatives. COFS and its IARs will not
receive commission income if you decide to purchase this annuity.
The amount of discretionary assets we had under management in our Asset Management Services
programs as of December 31, 2023 was $ 180,195,299 with $ 174,946,173 in discretionary
assets and $ 5,249,126 in non-discretionary assets.
Item 8 in this Brochure has additional information about our investment strategies and investment
risks.
Termination of Asset Management Agreement
The Asset Management Agreement between you and COFS will continue to be in effect until
terminated by either party by written notice to the other. Once the agreement is terminated, COFS
will have no obligation to recommend or take any action with regard to the securities, cash or other
investments in your account. You will be responsible to pay advisory fees that have accrued
through the date of termination. In certain circumstances, Fidelity may charge additional
termination fees if an account in their custody is closed or transferred to another custodian.
Newsletters
We may prepare newsletters that are general, educational, and informational in nature. These
newsletters are offered to current clients with managed accounts and to potential clients. There is
no fee for our newsletters.