A. Firm Information
Fortress Financial Group, LLC (“Fortress Financial” or the “Advisor”) is a registered investment advisor with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Advisor is organized as a Limited Liability Company
(“LLC”) under the laws of the State of Minnesota. Fortress Financial was founded in April 2007 and became a
registered investment advisor in August 2021. Fortress Financial is owned and operated by Daniel E. Langworthy,
CIMA®, CPWA® (Founder, Financial Advisor).
This Disclosure Brochure provides information regarding the qualifications, business practices, and the advisory
services provided by Fortress Financial. For information about this Disclosure Brochure, please contact Debra
Pladsen at (507)529-1400.
B. Advisory Services Offered
Fortress Financial offers wealth management services to individuals, high net worth individuals, trusts, estates, and
small businesses (each referred to as a “Client”).
The Advisor serves as a fiduciary to Clients, as defined under the applicable laws and regulations. As a fiduciary,
the Advisor upholds a duty of loyalty, fairness and good faith towards each Client and seeks to mitigate potential
conflicts of interest. Fortress Financial's fiduciary commitment is further described in the Advisor’s Code of Ethics.
For more information regarding the Code of Ethics, please see Item 11 – Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in
Client Transactions and Personal Trading.
Wealth Management Services
The Advisor’s wealth management services typically include both investment management and financial planning
services. Fortress Financial may also provide the services separately for certain Clients.
Fortress Financial provides customized wealth management solutions for its Clients. This is achieved through
continuous personal Client contact and interaction while providing discretionary investment management and
related planning/advisory services. Fortress Financial works closely with each Client to identify their investment
goals and objectives as well as risk tolerance and financial situation in order to create a portfolio strategy. Fortress
Financial will then construct an investment portfolio, consisting of diversified mutual funds and/or exchange-traded
funds (“ETFs”) to achieve the Client’s investment goals. The Advisor may also utilize individual stocks, bonds,
and/or other types of investments, as appropriate, to meet the needs of the Client. The Advisor may retain certain
types of investments based on a Client’s legacy investments based on portfolio fit and/or tax considerations.
Fortress Financial’s investment strategies are primarily long-term focused, but the Advisor may buy, sell or re-
allocate positions that have been held for less than one year to meet the objectives of the Client or due to market
conditions. Fortress Financial will construct, implement and monitor the portfolio to ensure it meets the goals,
objectives, circumstances, and risk tolerance agreed to by the Client. Each Client will have the opportunity to place
reasonable restrictions on the types of investments to be held in their respective portfolio, subject to acceptance by
the Advisor.
Fortress Financial evaluates and selects investments for inclusion in Client portfolios only after applying its internal
due diligence process. Fortress Financial may recommend, on occasion, redistributing investment allocations to
diversify the portfolio. Fortress Financial may recommend specific positions to increase sector or asset class
weightings. The Advisor may recommend employing cash positions as a possible hedge against market movement.
Fortress Financial may recommend selling positions for reasons that include, but are not limited to, harvesting
capital gains or losses, business or sector risk exposure to a specific security or class of securities, overvaluation or
overweighting of the position[s] in the portfolio, change in risk tolerance of the Client, generating cash to meet
Client needs, or any risk deemed unacceptable for the Client’s risk tolerance.
At no time will Fortress Financial accept or maintain custody of a Client’s funds or securities, except for the limited
authority as outlined in Item 15 – Custody. All Client assets will be managed within the designated account[s] at the
Custodian, pursuant to the terms of the advisory agreement. Please see Item 12 – Brokerage Practices.
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Use of Independent Managers - Fortress Financial may recommend to Clients that all or a portion of their
investment portfolio be implemented by utilizing one or more unaffiliated money managers (“Independent
Managers”). Independent Managers may be sourced directly or accessed through an investment management
platform. The Client may be required to enter into a separate agreement with the Independent Manager[s].
Retirement Plan Accounts – When the Advisor provides investment advice to Clients regarding ERISA retirement
accounts or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), the Advisor is a fiduciary within the meaning of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(“ERISA”) and/or the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), as applicable,
which are laws governing retirement accounts. When deemed to be in the Client’s best interest, the Advisor will
provide investment advice to a Client regarding a distribution from an ERISA retirement account or to roll over the
assets to an IRA, or recommend a similar transaction including rollovers from one ERISA sponsored Plan to
another, one IRA to another IRA, or from one type of account to another account (e.g. commission-based account
to fee-based account). Such a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if the Advisor will earn a new (or
increase its current) advisory fee as a result of the transaction. No client is under any obligation to roll over a
retirement account to an account managed by the Advisor.
Financial Planning Services
Fortress Financial will typically provide a variety of financial planning and consulting services. Services are offered
in several areas of a Client’s financial situation, depending on their goals and objectives. Generally, such financial
planning services involve preparing a formal financial plan or rendering a specific financial consultation based on
the Client’s financial goals and objectives. This planning or consulting may encompass one or more areas of need,
including but not limited to, investment planning, retirement planning, personal savings, education savings, and
other areas of a Client’s financial situation.
A financial plan developed for, or financial consultation rendered to the Client will usually include general
recommendations for a course of activity or specific actions to be taken by the Client. For example,
recommendations may be made that the Client start or revise their investment programs, commence or alter
retirement savings, establish education savings and/or charitable giving programs.
Fortress Financial may also refer Clients to an accountant, attorney or other specialists, as appropriate for their
unique situation. For certain financial planning engagements, the Advisor will provide a written summary of the
Client’s financial situation, observations, and recommendations. For consulting or ad-hoc engagements, the
Advisor may not provide a written summary. Plans or consultations are typically completed within six (6) months of
contract date, assuming all information and documents requested are provided promptly.
Financial planning and consulting recommendations pose a conflict between the interests of the Advisor and the
interests of the Client. For example, the Advisor has an incentive to recommend that Clients engage the Advisor for
wealth management services or to increase the level of investment assets with the Advisor, as it would increase the
amount of advisory fees paid to the Advisor. Clients are not obligated to implement any recommendations made by
the Advisor or maintain an ongoing relationship with the Advisor. If the Client elects to act on any of the
recommendations made by the Advisor, the Client is under no obligation to implement the transaction through the
Advisor.
C. Client Account Management
Prior to engaging Fortress Financial to provide investment advisory services, each Client is required to enter into
one or more advisory agreements with the Advisor that define the terms, conditions, authority and responsibilities of
the Advisor and the Client. These services may include:
• Establishing an Investment Strategy – Fortress Financial, in connection with the Client, will develop a
strategy that seeks to achieve the Client’s goals and objectives.
• Asset Allocation – Fortress Financial will develop a strategic asset allocation that is targeted to meet the
investment objectives, time horizon, financial situation and tolerance for risk for each Client.
• Portfolio Construction – Fortress Financial will develop a portfolio for the Client that is intended to meet the
stated goals and objectives of the Client.
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• Wealth Management and Supervision – Fortress Financial will provide investment management and
ongoing oversight of the Client’s investment portfolio.
D. Wrap Fee Programs
Fortress Financial includes securities transaction fees together with its investment advisory fees. Including these
fees into a single asset-based fee is considered a “Wrap Fee Program”. The Advisor customizes its wealth
management services for its Clients. The Advisor sponsors the Fortress Financial Wrap Fee Program solely as a
supplemental disclosure regarding the combination of fees. Depending on the level of trading required for the
Client’s account[s] in a particular year, the Client may pay more or less in total fees than if the Client paid its own
transaction fees. Please see Appendix 1 – Wrap Fee Program Brochure, which is included as a supplement to this
Disclosure Brochure.
E. Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, Fortress Financial manages approximately $250,759,876 in Client assets, all of which is
managed on a discretionary basis. Clients may request more current information at any time by contacting the
Advisor.