A. LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC was founded by Kenneth A. Sutherland and is co-owned
by Kenneth A. Sutherland and Alex P. Sutherland. Full details of the education and business
background of Kenneth A. Sutherland and Alex P. Sutherland are provided in the Brochure
Supplements at the end of this Disclosure Brochure. LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC filed
its initial application to become registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities
Exchange Commission in September 2021, which was accepted on November 16, 2021.
B. Advisory Services Offered: LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC provides retirement planning
for a fee as well as asset based advisory services. We provide financial planning and
investment advice to individuals, businesses, as well as qualified retirement plans through
employers. This planning includes discussions and recommendations related to the
coordination and placement of assets, insurance, tax, and estate issues including tax and
estate preparation. A particular focus is on retirement planning and related issues such as
investment allocation and diversification, income generation, taxation, risk management,
and estate planning. A written agreement establishes the scope and terms of our services.
This agreement must be signed by a client and an Investment Advisor Representative of
LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC before we provide such services.
Retirement Plan Rollover Recommendations: When LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC
provides investment advice about your retirement plan account or individual retirement
account (“IRA”) including whether to maintain investments and/or proceeds in the
retirement plan account, roll over such investment/proceeds from the retirement plan
account to a IRA or make a distribution from the retirement plan account, we acknowledge
that LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC 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. The way LifePlan
Investment Advisors, INC makes money creates conflicts with your interests, so we operate
under a special rule that requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest
ahead of you.
Under this special rule’s provisions, LifePlan Investment Advisor, INC must act as a fiduciary to
a retirement plan account or IRA under ERISA/IRC:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (e.g.,
give prudent advice);
• Never put the financial interests of LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC ahead of you
when making recommendations (e.g., give loyal advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your
best interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for the services we provide;
• Give Client basic information about conflicts of interest.
To the extent we recommend you roll over your account from a current retirement plan
account to an individual retirement account managed by LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC,
please know that our firm and our investment adviser representatives have a conflict of
interest.
We earn investment advisory fees by recommending that you roll over your account at the
retirement plan to an IRA managed by us, which we would not earn if you do not roll over the
funds.
Thus, our investment adviser representatives have an economic incentive to recommend a
rollover of funds from a retirement plan to an IRA which is
a conflict of interest because our
recommendation that you open an IRA account to be managed by our firm can be based on
our economic incentive and not based exclusively on whether or not moving the IRA to our
management program is in your overall best interest.
We have taken steps to manage this conflict of interest. We have adopted an impartial
conduct standard whereby our investment adviser representatives will (i) provide
investment advice to a retirement plan participant regarding a rollover of funds from the
retirement plan in accordance with the fiduciary status previously described, (ii) not
recommend investments which result in LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC receiving
unreasonable compensation related to the rollover of funds from the retirement plan to an
IRA, and (iii) fully disclose compensation received by LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC and
our supervised persons and any material conflicts of interest related to recommending the
rollover of funds from the retirement plan to an IRA and refrain from making any materially
misleading statements regarding such rollover.
C. Advice is tailored to the needs of each client. Asset allocation and portfolio design focus on
the achievement of client goals, income needs, and risk tolerances as determined by the
analysis of a client’s personal and financial information. LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC
advises clients in positioning assets based on the purpose those assets serve in their life.
More conservative strategies are utilized for generating income in the near term with
growth strategies focused on assets with longer time horizon goals. Our investment
philosophy leans towards highly diversified portfolio models associated with institutional
investment platforms and/or Exchange Traded Funds with strategic or passive
management. Tactical managers may also be utilized to assist in mitigating risk. Based on
the investment strategy selected, clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain
securities or types of securities. These restrictions, if any, would be established in the
investment policy statement.
D. When a client implements their financial plan through LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC, if
appropriate and desired, we may assist them in the selection of a Co-Advisor, Sub-Advisor,
or Third-Party Managers. A client is not required to utilize a Co-Advisor, Sub-Advisor, or
Third-Party Manager for investment services. We provide access to investment platforms
such as, but not limited, to AE Wealth Management, LLC for these services. They provide
access to institutional custodial and investor services, back office support, daily account
monitoring, portfolio rebalancing, and manager due diligence oversight. LifePlan
Investment Advisors, INC is compensated through fee sharing agreements based on assets
under management (not commissions). Total advisory fees, inclusive of LifePlan Investment
Advisors, INC and any Co-Advisor, Sub-Advisor, and Third-Party Manager fees, are
disclosed prior to implementation in a written agreement.
E. LifePlan Investment Advisors, INC advises clients on the establishment of a portfolio model
with appropriate allocations and diversification for client circumstances. If authorized by
our clients, through a written agreement we may obtain discretionary authority to place
trades on their behalf and/or authorization to disburse funds to client’s address or financial
account of record. As of 12/31/2023, we oversee $239,598,406 of client assets. Our
regulatory assets under management totaled $183,998,415 all on a discretionary basis. We
also have $55,599,991 in assets under advisement.