A Fortitude Financial, LLC, is a Washington limited liability company founded in 2021. Jeremy F. Lewis
and Benjamin K. Chase are the owners of the firm. We became an independent
registered investment advisor with the SEC in April 2021. Our principal offices are located in
Spokane, Washington.
The information contained in this brochure describes our investment advisory services, practices,
and fees. Please refer to the description of each investment advisory service listed below for
information on how we tailor our services to the needs of our clients. As used throughout this firm
brochure, the words “Fortitude,” “we,” “our,” “firm,” and “us” refer to Fortitude Financial, LLC,
and the words “you,” “your,” and “client” refer to you as either a client or prospective client of our
firm.
Prior to forming an investment advisor-client relationship, we may offer you a complimentary
general consultation to discuss the nature of our services and to determine the possibility of an
advisory relationship. Investment advisory services begin only after the prospective client and
Fortitude formalize their relationship by the execution of a written advisory agreement.
B C We offer several investment advisory services to our clients. Our investment advice is always custom
tailored according to each client’s unique investment profile and needs.
When we provide portfolio management services, you will deposit your assets at an independent
qualified custodian (the “Custodian”), typically a licensed broker-dealer, banking or savings
institution, and grant us limited authority to buy and sell securities within your account on a
discretionary basis. This means that our firm and our investment advisor representatives will be
authorized to implement trades directly within your account without obtaining your consent prior
to each transaction. Our discretionary management of your account will always be conducted in
strict accordance with your investment objectives, restrictions, and suitability and our ongoing
fiduciary duty to you. You may impose reasonable restrictions on our management of your account,
including the ability to instruct us not to purchase certain specific securities, industry sectors, and/or
asset classes. We will notify you if we are ever unable to honor any of your investment restrictions
for any reason.
A description of our service offerings is set forth below.
Portfolio Management. Our firm offers ongoing and continuous discretionary portfolio
management services that are tailored to your investment objectives and needs. We will consult
with you at the inception of our relationship and periodically thereafter, as necessary and
appropriate, to develop a full understanding of your financial circumstances. During this process,
we will gather information with respect to your long- and short-term financial goals; investment
objectives and tolerance for risk; time horizon for investments; income and expense expectations;
cash flow needs; and tax circumstances, among other factors we deem relevant in providing
investment advice to you. We will periodically update and document your investment objectives,
restrictions, and suitability information in our records and use these parameters to guide our
ongoing management and supervision of your investment account(s).
Client portfolios are typically designed utilizing a diversified combination of some or all of the
following instruments: mutual funds, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), real estate investment trusts
(“REITs”), individual stocks and bonds, U.S. government and municipal securities, variable
products (life insurance and annuities), cash and cash equivalents. We typically implement the
investment strategy recommended for your account through the use of certain proprietary model
investment portfolios designed and monitored by our firm (“Model Portfolios”).
The Model Portfolios and investment strategies we utilize have generally been designed to meet a
particular investment objective for investors with varying degrees of risk tolerance, ranging from a
more aggressively allocated portfolio to a more conservative approach. As part of our lineup of
Model Portfolios, we also offer a series of proprietary investment models which have been designed
in consideration of various environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) characteristics of their
constituent portfolio securities. Factors that we take into consideration when determining whether
any particular Model Portfolio or investment strategy is appropriate for your account include,
without limitation, the Model Portfolio or investment strategy’s investment goal and underlying
holdings, your financial needs, investment goals, risk tolerance, and objectives.
Following implementation of your initial investment portfolio, we will monitor the performance of
your account on an ongoing basis and implement changes utilizing our discretionary investment
authority as needed or appropriate, in consideration of current economic conditions, our market
opinions and assumptions, and your individual financial circumstances and goals. It is your ongoing
responsibility to advise us in writing of any material changes to your financial circumstances
through our engagement.
In addition to our ongoing management and supervision of their investment accounts, portfolio
management clients who place at least $200,000 of assets under our management will also receive
a time-limited block of financial planning and consulting services. The specific allotment of
additional service hours we will allocate to your financial planning and consulting needs is
determined relative to the total amount of assets you have placed under our management. Please
see the fee schedule reflected in Item 5 of this brochure for further details. Should you wish to
purchase additional hours of financial planning and consulting services, you may do so at any time
at our then effective hourly rates, subject to the execution of a separate written agreement for such
services.
Where any of our investment advice or recommendations concern assets “held away” from the
investment accounts we directly manage on your behalf (e.g., variable life insurance products,
annuity contracts, assets held in employer/government sponsored retirement plans, or qualified
tuition plans, etc.) you will make the ultimate investment decision, be responsible for
implementation of such decisions, and for the monitoring of all such investments. Except where
you elect to separately engage us for Tax Preparation and Consulting Services (see a description of
these services below in this Item 4), we will not provide you with tax advice. Likewise, we will not
provide you with legal advice, however, at your request we will attempt to coordinate our services
(including our financial planning and consulting advice) with the services of your existing third-
party tax, legal, accounting, and/or insurance advisors. A complete description of our financial
planning and consulting services is provided below.
Financial Planning and Consulting Services. For clients who need financial planning and consulting
advice, but for whom ongoing portfolio management is not a good fit, our firm also offers financial
planning and consulting as a stand-alone service. These services may address, without limitation,
some or all of the following topics:
• financial, budgeting, and cash management;
• risk management, insurance planning, and
analysis;
• financial planning relating to divorce and
marriage;
• estate planning;
• taxation issues and tax planning;
• retirement planning;
• investment planning/asset
allocation/portfolio design;
• educational funding; and
• investment goal setting.
You may engage us for these services either on a comprehensive or a limited scope basis. We will
consult with you and review your pertinent financial documents and information (e.g., bank and
brokerage statements, insurance documents, estate and trust documents, tax documents, deal
documents, etc.) with the goal of identifying areas of financial concern and determining an
appropriate set of goals and objectives relative to the scope of the project and the selected financial
topic(s) or transaction(s). We will analyze the data and information you share with us and present
you with a comprehensive written financial plan or a shorter checklist or report containing a
summary of your financial situation, our general observations regarding the same, and a set of
specific actions and/or investment recommendations designed and intended to assist you in
achieving your goals.
Financial planning and consulting services are non-discretionary in nature – you retain the sole
discretion to accept or reject any of our investment recommendations, in whole or in part. You will
also be responsible for the implementation (including the selection of service providers related
thereto) and ongoing monitoring of all of your investments under this service. Following delivery
of our written plan, report, or checklist to you, a follow up consultation (typically provided by
phone or e-mail) is provided within thirty (30) days to address any questions you may have and
then the engagement is deemed complete. No further update or review of the written plan, report
or checklist is provided unless we are separately engaged for such additional services.
Upon request, we may assist you with implementation of our financial recommendations -
additional fees may apply. You are never obligated to use our firm to implement any
recommendations. Clients are never charged more than $1,200 six (6) or more months in advance
for these services.
As part of this service, we may recommend the use of certain third-party professionals (e.g.,
attorneys, tax advisors, accountants) to assist you in implementing the advice and recommendations
we provide. We do not receive compensation or referral fees of any kind in connection with these
recommendations. You are never obligated to engage any recommended third-party professional(s)
and elect to do so at your sole discretion and risk. You will independently contract with such service
providers and their fees are not included within the advisory fees paid to our firm.
Tax Preparation and Consulting Services. Tax preparation and consulting services (collectively,
“Tax Services”) include the preparation of client tax returns and/or consulting regarding the client’s
specific tax circumstances and needs and are provided through our affiliate, FF-CS Tax, LLC (“FF-
CS Tax”). Tax Services are typically offered solely as an add-on service to clients that have engaged
Fortitude for portfolio management services and/or financial planning and consulting services.
However, we may on occasion offer these services on a stand-alone basis. You will be required to
enter into a separate written Tax Services Agreement with FF-CS Tax when you wish to receive these
services. Clients are advised that Fortitude, its affiliates (including FF-CS Tax),and our respective
associated persons are not certified public accountants and that clients should seek any formal tax
opinions from an independent certified public accountant. You are never required to engage
Fortitude, FF-CS Tax, or any of our respective associated persons for Tax Services and may seek
tax preparation and consulting advice from any other provider of your choice.
D Wrap Fee Program. Fortitude offers its portfolio management services primarily, if not exclusively,
through the Fortitude Wrap Fee Program (“Fortitude Wrap Program”). The Fortitude Wrap Program
is an open architecture, fee-based investment platform sponsored by Fortitude and managed
exclusively by our in-house portfolio managers. Under the Fortitude Wrap Program, we will
provide you with comprehensive portfolio management services, including strategy/model
portfolio selection, custom portfolio design, initial and ongoing investment implementation, and
account supervision and monitoring services. We design portfolios based on the client’s unique
financial circumstances and investment objectives. In most instances, depending on the level of
assets you place under our management, we will also provide you with financial planning and
consulting services under this program that are intended to assist you in the overall management
and coordination of your financial affairs and investments with your short and long-term financial
goals. You will also have the option of adding tax preparation and consulting services for additional
fees.
Under the Fortitude Wrap Program you will pay our firm a single asset-based advisory fee (i.e., a
fee based on a percentage of the value of your assets) which covers the combined costs of our
investment advice and the costs of substantially all administrative, custodial, and execution fees
(e.g., brokerage commissions) incurred within your account held at the Custodian (a “Wrap Fee”).
Please see our separate wrap fee brochure (“Wrap Brochure”) for further details regarding the
Fortitude Wrap Program. A copy of our Wrap Brochure will be provided to you at the inception of
our relationship.
When you participate in the Fortitude Wrap Program, we will absorb the execution fees generated
in your account within the Wrap Fee you pay to us, with Fortitude retaining the remainder of the
fees paid by the client. This creates an incentive for us to trade your account less frequently and/or
to invest your account in assets that may be subject to waived or reduced brokerage commissions
(if available). To address the foregoing conflicts, we will always manage your account as your
fiduciary in strict accordance with your investment objectives, needs, and suitability.
Depending on the volume of transactions in your account, its holdings, and other factors, the Wrap
Fee applicable to your account may represent a premium relative to what we might otherwise charge
you under an unbundled fee arrangement (i.e., where our advisory fees and execution costs would
be charged separately to you). As a general matter, Wrap Fee arrangements are relatively less
expensive for more actively traded accounts. However, they may result in higher overall costs to
the client in accounts that experience relatively little trading activity. You should consider whether
participation in a wrap fee-based investment program is appropriate based on your investment
objectives and needs. Non wrap fee-based investment programs may be available through our firm
or other providers.
E As of December 31, 2023, we managed $200,242,218 of client assets on a discretionary basis, and
$32,515,710 on a non-discretionary basis.