Up Financial USA is an investment adviser registered with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”) and is a corporation formed under the laws of Alberta, Canada.
Elijah Kirchmaier is a Director, the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and an Investment Adviser
Representative of Up Financial USA.
Nathan Wood is also a Director and an Investment Adviser Representative of Up Financial USA.
Up Financial USA was formed in April 2023 and has been approved as an investment adviser in
the United States of America since June 2023.
Up Financial USA is 100% owned by 1972254 AB Ltd., a holding company. Elijah
Kirchmaier and Nathan Wood are the controlling shareholders and each own 50% of
1972254 AB Ltd.
Up Financial USA and its investment adviser representatives provide services to clients
who are residents of the United States of America. Elijah Kirchmaier and Nathan
Wood are also registered with the regulatory authorities of Canada and provide services to
residents of Canada through Up Investment Management of Aligned Capital Partners Inc.
and through Up Financial Inc. Refer to Item 10 - Other Financial Industry Activities and
Affiliations for more information about those companies.
Description of Advisory Services
The following are descriptions of the primary advisory services of Up Financial USA. Please understand
that a written agreement, which details the exact terms of the service, must be signed by you and Up
Financial USA before we can provide you the services described below.
Asset Management Services – Up Financial USA offers asset management services, which involves Up
Financial USA providing you with continuous and ongoing supervision over your specified accounts.
You must appoint our firm as your investment adviser of record on specified accounts (collectively, the
“Account”). The Account consists only of separate account(s) held by qualified custodian(s) under your
name. The qualified custodians maintain physical custody of all funds and securities of the Account, and
you retain all rights of ownership (e.g., right to withdraw securities or cash, exercise or delegate proxy
voting and receive transaction confirmations) of the Account. Refer to Item 12 – Brokerage Practices for
more information.
The Account is managed by us based on your financial situation, investment objectives and risk
tolerance. We actively monitor the Account and implement advice by buying, selling, reinvesting or
holding securities, cash or other investments of the Account. Refer to Item 16 – Investment Discretion for
more information.
We will need to obtain certain information from you to determine your financial situation and investment
objectives. In the process of obtaining the information from you, we provide ancillary financial planning
and consultative services including asset allocation, risk management and income planning. Such
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financial planning and consultative services are intended to better understand your financial situation and
design an investment portfolio consistent with your long-term needs and goals.
You will be responsible for notifying us of any updates regarding your financial situation, risk tolerance or
investment objective and whether you wish to impose or modify existing investment restrictions; however
we will contact you at least annually to discuss any changes or updates regarding your financial situation,
risk tolerance or investment objectives. We are always reasonably available to consult with you relative
to the status of your Account. You have the ability to impose reasonable restrictions on the management
of your accounts, including the ability to instruct us not to purchase certain securities.
It is important that you understand that we manage investments for other clients and may give them
advice or take actions for them or for our personal accounts that is different from the advice we provide to
you or actions taken for you. We are not obligated to buy, sell or recommend to you any security or other
investment that we may buy, sell or recommend for any other clients or for our own accounts.
Conflicts may arise in the allocation of investment opportunities among accounts that we manage. We
strive to allocate investment opportunities believed to be appropriate for your account(s) and other
accounts advised by our firm among such accounts equitably and consistent with the best interests of all
accounts involved. However, there can be no assurance that a particular investment opportunity that
comes to our attention will be allocated in any particular manner. If we obtain material, non-public
information about a security or its issuer that we may not lawfully use or disclose, we have absolutely no
obligation to disclose the information to any client or use it for any client’s benefit.
No Participation in Wrap Fee Programs. A wrap-fee program is defined as any advisory program under
which a specified fee or fees not based directly upon transactions in a client’s account is charged for
investment advisory services (which include portfolio management and/or advice concerning the selection
of other investment advisers) and the execution of client transactions. We do not offer or participate in
wrap-fee programs. All of our services are provided on a non-wrap fee basis which means fees and
expenses for execution of client transactions charged by your broker/dealer and/or custodian are billed
directly to your account separately from our advisory fees.
Retirement Plan Rollover Recommendations. When Up Financial USA 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 Up Financial USA 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 Up Financial USA makes money creates conflicts with
your interests so Up Financial USA operates under a special rule that requires Up Financial USA to act in
your best interest and not put our interest ahead of you.
Under this special rule’s provisions, Up Financial USA must as a fiduciary to a retirement plan account or
IRA under ERISA/IRC:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give
prudent advice);
• Never put the financial interests of Up Financial USA ahead of you when making
recommendations (give loyal advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
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• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that Up Financial USA gives advice
that is in your best interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for the services of Up Financial USA; and
• 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 Up Financial USA, please know that Up Financial USA and our
investment adviser representatives have a conflict of interest.
We can earn increased investment advisory fees by recommending that you roll over your account at the
retirement plan to an IRA managed by Up Financial USA. We will earn fewer investment advisory fees if
you do not roll over the funds in the retirement plan to an IRA managed by Up Financial USA.
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
described below, (ii) not recommend investments which result in Up Financial USA receiving
unreasonable compensation related to the rollover of funds from the retirement plan to an IRA, and (iii)
fully disclose compensation received by Up Financial USA 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.
When providing advice to a retirement plan account or IRA, our investment advisor representatives will
act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent
person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of
a like character and with like aims, based on the investment objectives, risk, tolerance, financial
circumstances, and a client’s needs, without regard to the financial or other interests of Up Financial USA
or our affiliated personnel.
Limits Advice to Certain Types of investments
Up Financial USA provides investment advice on the following types of investments:
Mutual Funds
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
Exchange-listed Securities (i.e., individual stock positions)
Securities Traded Over-the-Counter
Foreign Issues
Certificates of Deposit
US Government Securities
Although we generally provide advice only on the products previously listed, we reserve the right to offer
advice on any investment product that may be suitable for each client’s specific circumstances, needs,
goals and objectives.
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It is not our typical investment strategy to attempt to time the market, but we may increase cash holdings
modestly as deemed appropriate based on your risk tolerance and our expectations of market
behavior. We may modify our investment strategy to accommodate special situations such as low basis
stock, stock options, legacy holdings, inheritances, closely held businesses, collectibles, or special tax
situations.
(Please refer to Item 8 – Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss for more
information.)
Tailor Advisory Services to Individual Needs of Clients
Up Financial USA’s advisory services are always provided based on your individual needs. This means,
for example, that when we provide asset management services, you are given the ability to impose
restrictions on the accounts we manage for you, including specific investment selections and sectors. We
work with you on a one-on-one basis through interviews and questionnaires to determine your investment
objectives and suitability information.
We will not enter into an investment adviser relationship with a prospective client whose investment
objectives may be considered incompatible with our investment philosophy or strategies or where the
prospective client seeks to impose unduly restrictive investment guidelines.
Client Assets Managed by Up Financial USA
As a newly registered investment adviser, Up Financial USA has no assets under management to report
as of December 31, 2023.