Capstone Wealth Management Corp. (“CWM”, “us”, “we”, “our”) is a corporation
organized under the laws of the State of Florida on August 8, 2012 and owned by Allen
R. Montgomery. We have been registered as an investment adviser since 2012.
Currently, we are applying for registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”) and notice file with the appropriate state regulatory authorities. As
of March 4, 2024, the firm had $88,394,939 in assets under management which were
managed on a discretionary basis and $2,361,514 were managed on a non-
discretionary basis.
This Disclosure Brochure provides you with information regarding our qualifications,
business practices, and the nature of advisory services that should be considered
before becoming our advisory client. Please contact Allen R. Montgomery, CCO, if you
have any questions about this Brochure.
Individuals associated with us who are qualified will provide investment advisory
services on our behalf. Such individuals are known as Investment Advisor
Representatives (“IARs”). We require IARs engaged in determining or offering
investment advice to clients to have at a minimum three years investment securities
business experience, or a college degree related to investment management. These
IARs must also be properly licensed and registered in the states, unless exempted, in
which they provide investment advisory services.
We offer investment advisory services to individuals, including high net worth
individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, and corporations.
Below is a description of the investment advisory services we offer. For more detail on
any product or service please reference your advisory agreement or contact your CWM
Investment Advisory Representative (“IAR”).
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES PROVIDED
We provide continuous personal consultation and interaction when providing
discretionary or non-discretionary investment advisory services. We will work with you
to identify your investment goals, objectives, and risk tolerance in order to create a
portfolio allocation designed to reach those goals and objectives and to ensure that the
goals and objectives selected by the client are suitable, given the established client
guidelines and information. We typically create a portfolio consisting of individual stocks
or bonds, mutual funds, and variable annuity and life products including ETFs, municipal
and government securities, real estate, and oil and gas. It is our policy not to
recommend investments in limited partnerships, but we may recommend investments in
master limited partnerships.
Investment strategies vary based on your investment objectives and risk tolerance and
may include long-term buy and hold or short-term trading or margin transactions. Short-
term trading and margin transactions generally hold a greater risk and clients should be
aware that the risk of loss may be greater in using any of these strategies. The use of
margin transactions could create a conflict of interest where we may have an incentive
to use margin to create a higher market value and therefore receive a higher fee. The
use of margin will result in interest charges and heightened risk in addition to all other
fees and expenses associated with the security involved. Nevertheless, each portfolio
will be designed to meet your particular investment goals, objectives, circumstances,
and risk tolerance. You will have the opportunity to place reasonable restrictions on the
types of investments to be held in the portfolio.
Portfolio Management Services
Our IARs provide continuous and regular investment advisory services on a
discretionary or non-discretionary basis to you in connection with establishing and
monitoring your investment objectives, risk tolerance, asset allocation goals and time
horizon. In addition, our IARs may provide information and research about investment
products and strategies, and review portfolio performance reports. You can place
reasonable restrictions or constraints on the way your account is managed; however,
such restrictions may affect the composition and performance of your portfolio. For
these reasons, the performance of the portfolio may not be identical with our average
client or other client portfolios.
If we manage your account on a discretionary basis, such discretion must be granted in
writing. CWM manages your account and makes investment decisions without
consultation with you that would involve determinations regarding which securities are
bought and sold, the total amount of securities to be bought or sold, the price per share,
and the commission rates at which securities transactions are effected. Our
discretionary authority in making these determinations will be limited by the conditions
imposed by you in your investment guidelines, objective, or instructions otherwise
provided to us.
If we manage your account on a non-discretionary basis, we customarily make periodic
investment recommendations to you involving which securities are to be bought or sold
and the total amount of such purchases or sales. You have the option to accept or reject
our recommendations. If you accept the recommendation, you also have the option to
implement the transactions with a broker-dealer of your choosing or to have CWM effect
the transactions.
Unless otherwise determined by the client, all accounts will be held at TD Ameritrade
and Axos Clearing LLC (“Axos”).
Sub-Adviser Management Services
CWM also offers, on a discretionary basis, sub-adviser management services to clients
of other registered investment advisers. From time-to-time, CWM may enter into a sub-
advisory agreement with registered investment advisers to provide investment
management services to the clients it accepts from those firms. Through this
arrangement, CWM will assist and advise the client in establishing investment
objectives and develop an investment strategy to meet those objectives by appropriately
identifying investments and monitoring such investments.
In return for its sub-advisory services, CWM is paid an annual asset-based fee by the
registered investment advisers it has entered into an investment advisory agreement
with. Clients may obtain a copy of the agreement between CWM and their registered
investment advisers by contacting their IAR.
Clients receiving CWM's services have regular contact with their IAR who assist in
periodically reviewing and evaluating the progress being made by CWM.
Financial Planning Services
In addition, to the Portfolio Management Services, and for a separate fee, CWM makes
available a variety of financial planning services. The scope
of the services and the fees
for these services is pursuant to a written financial planning agreement that is distinct
from the Portfolio Management Agreement. Generally, such financial planning services
will involve preparing a written financial plan or rendering a financial consultation for
clients based on their current situation, financial goals, and objectives. This planning or
consulting may encompass one or more of the following areas:
1. Accumulation - an analysis based on the estimated rate of return on investments
and the estimated long-term inflation rate of the lump-sum and/or periodic dollar
commitment necessary to meet stated financial goals.
2. Financial Independence (Retirement) - an analysis of the lump-sum and/or
periodic dollar commitment necessary to meet stated financial goals during
retirement taking into consideration the client’s assets and liabilities, projected
social security, pension or other retirement benefits and desired level of income
at retirement.
3. Investments - an analysis of appropriate investments, and appropriate
adjustments to existing investments, based upon the client’s description of
his/her primary investment concerns, needs, goals and objectives. This analysis
does not include ongoing management or monitoring of investments or portfolios.
4. Risk Management - an analysis of the client’s insurance needs and coverages,
taking into account the client’s accumulation goals, assets and liabilities, sources
of income, and income needs for the client’s beneficiary upon death or disability.
5. Estate Planning - an analysis of estate settlement costs, which include taxation
and administrative costs and an evaluation of estate reduction and tax payment
techniques. It involves discussion of gifts, trusts, and estate planning documents.
Analyses are subject to verification by the client’s own estate planning expert.
6. Income Taxes - an analysis of the client’s tax situation that is based on a general
understanding of current tax laws. Analyses are subject to verification by the
client’s own tax expert.
7. Miscellaneous Advisory Services - hourly fees may be charged for an annual
review of a financial plan or for specific advice regarding implementation of the
planning topic(s) selected above, investment techniques and investments in
specific securities, insurance products, and other investment vehicles or specific
advice.
The plan or separate financial consultation will usually include general
recommendations for a course of activity or specific actions to be taken by the client.
Plans or consultations are typically completed within six (6) months of the contract date,
assuming all information and documents requested are provided promptly.
CWM’s financial planning services involve an assessment of the client’s financial
situation, including an analysis of financial planning needs and current investment
portfolio(s). The information provided by the client is examined in relation to long and
short-term investment objectives, specific client needs as perceived by CWM, market
conditions and general economic conditions. The advice includes specific
recommendations regarding long- and short-term financial planning and
recommendations regarding the retention or disposition of the client's securities and
other investments. This service also includes at least one written report and one or
more meetings to discuss the status of your financial situation and CWM’s specific
recommendations.
Prior to engaging CWM to provide financial planning or consulting services, clients will
be required to enter into a Financial Planning Agreement that sets forth the terms and
conditions of the engagement, describing the scope of the services to be provided and
the fees due to CWM upon completion of the services. If requested, CWM may
recommend the services of other professionals for implementation purposes. Clients will
provide these professionals with the necessary information to perform the required
services. We will not be compensated for referring clients to these professionals. Clients
are under no obligation to engage the services of any such recommended professional.
Clients retain absolute discretion over all such implementation decisions and are free to
accept or reject any recommendations.
Advisory recommendations are based on your financial situation at the time the services
are provided and are based on financial information disclosed by you. You are advised
that certain assumptions may be made with respect to interest and inflation rates and
the use of past trends and performance of the market and economy. Past performance
is in no way an indication of future performance. You are advised that you have the
responsibility to promptly notify CWM if there are ever any changes in your financial
situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our
previous recommendations and/or services.
IRA Rollover Recommendations
For the purpose of complying with the DOL's Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02
("PTE 2020-02"), when applicable, we are providing the following acknowledgment to
clients. When we provide investment advice to clients regarding their retirement plan
account or individual retirement account, we are a fiduciary 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 client interests. We operate under an exemption that
requires we act in the clients’ best interest and not put our or our employees’ interests
ahead of the clients. Under this exemption, we must:
• meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations
(give prudent advice),
• never put our or our employees’ financial interests ahead of the clients when
making recommendations (give loyal advice),
• avoid making misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and
investments,
• follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we and our employees
give advice that is in the clients’ best interest,
• charge no more than is reasonable for services, and
• give the clients basic information about conflicts of interest.
We benefit financially from the rollover of the clients’ 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 our and our employees believe it is in the clients’
best interest.
Wrap Fee Programs
CWM does not participate in wrap fee programs.