This section describes our firm, the advisory services we offer, how we tailor your portfolio to your individual needs, which of our advisory services allows you to impose investment restrictions and the total amount of assets we manage. Our Firm Who we are… Based in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Lincoln Investment Planning, LLC (“Lincoln” or “Lincoln Investment”) was established in 1968 with a focus on the retirement planning needs of educators and employees of non-profit organizations utilizing 403(b) and 457 retirement plans. Lincoln Investment was registered with the SEC as an investment adviser in 1978. Over the years, we have expanded our range of investment advisory services to include individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), ERISA plans and the non-retirement investment and insurance needs of our clients and their businesses. Lincoln Investment is both a broker-dealer and a SEC registered investment adviser with a network of registered representatives and investment adviser representatives (“Advisors”) located throughout the United States. Most Advisors are not employees of Lincoln Investment; but independent contractors, contracted to offer and perform the services of Lincoln Investment. Lincoln Investment is wholly-owned by Lincoln Investment Capital Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. Lincoln Investment is under common ownership and control with Capital Analysts, LLC, a SEC registered investment adviser. Advisors may be dually registered with one or both of these investment advisers and can offer their services. Advisory offerings and pricing vary among the registered investment advisers. We refer to these companies jointly as The Lincoln Investment Companies. Our Advisory Services What we offer… Lincoln Investment offers the following investment advisory services. A more detailed description of each service is provided under the corresponding headings below, as well as in Item 5: Fees and Compensation. I. Your Financial Advisor’s Services: Advisor Consulting, Client Custom Portfolios and Advisor Managed Model Portfolios II. Lincoln Investment Asset Management Programs: Model Portfolios Managed by Lincoln Investment III. Third-Party Managed Model and Third-Party Custom Portfolios IV. Periodic Investment Consulting V. Financial Planning Services VI. ERISA Retirement Plan Advice In choosing one or more of the services above, your Advisor will work with you to assess your needs and investment objectives. You will be asked to complete a confidential investor profile, or a similar questionnaire or application, providing personal and financial information to assist in this assessment. Your Advisor will collect information including, but not limited to, your investment goals, income requirements, time horizon and tolerance for risk in order to tailor his or her recommendations to your needs and objectives. Our goal is to provide you with the most appropriate investment advisory service or services to help you meet your financial goals. Our Fiduciary Role… Lincoln Investment and your Advisor assume a fiduciary duty to provide you with investment recommendations that are in your best interest. This fiduciary duty extends to all advisory accounts that you maintain with us, but such fiduciary duty does not extend to brokerage or other non-advisory accounts or investments. The level of monitoring in your advisory account will depend on the advisory program you select, your advisory agreement with us and your Advisor. If Lincoln Investment or your Advisor have been granted full discretionary trading authority over your advisory account assets, Lincoln Investment or your Advisor will provide ongoing monitoring and will make changes in your account as deemed necessary. For all other non-discretionary advisory accounts, you and your Advisor will review your advisory account’s objectives, investments and performance relative to your objectives and financial situation at least annually to allow your Advisor the opportunity to recommend changing or maintaining the objectives or investments in your account. See your investment advisory agreement for the level of discretion granted to Lincoln Investment or your Advisor. Investment Advice Provided to Certain Retirement and Tax-Advantaged Accounts When we and/or your Advisor provide investment advice to you regarding your Covered Retirement Plans, Lincoln Investment and your Advisor are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and/or the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. The way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a special rule that requires us and your Advisor to act in your best interest and not put our interests ahead of yours. Under this special rule’s provisions, we and your Advisor must: meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give prudent advice); not place our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations (give loyal advice); avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments; follow policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your best interest; charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and give you basic information about conflicts of interest. Covered Retirement Plans include the following account types: Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”); Individual Retirement Annuity; Roth IRA, Beneficiary IRA, Beneficiary Roth IRA; SEP-IRA, SARSEP, SIMPLE IRA; One-Participant 401(k); Health Savings Account; Archer Medical Savings Account; Coverdell Education Savings Account; and Accounts held by ERISA Title I Plan participants/beneficiaries with authority to direct the distribution of assets from their account. When we provide investment advice to your Covered Retirement Plan as described in this paragraph, we will disclose to you the types of services to be provided and material facts relating to conflicts of interest that are associated with the recommendations made to you. These disclosures are provided to you in various documents, including The Lincoln Investment Companies Investor Agreement and Disclosure Handbook, Lincoln Investment’s Form CRS and its affiliated investment adviser, Capital Analysts’ Form CRS, your Advisor’s BIO Brochure (Form ADV Part 2B), account applications, prospectuses and specific platform disclosure documents and the Investment Advisory Disclosure Brochure of Lincoln Investment (Form ADV Part 2A and Wrap Fee Program Brochure). Lincoln Investment and your Advisor offer advisory services on a number of different platforms and custodians. Available platforms or custodians can differ depending upon the tax type of your account(s), your employer if you are a participant in an employer plan, the investment types you choose, the account custodian you wish to work with, the advisory programs you prefer and the pricing you wish to pay. Lincoln Investment offers both non-Wrap Fee Programs and Wrap Fee Programs. A Wrap Fee Program is an investment advisory program in which you pay one bundled fee to compensate Lincoln Investment and your Advisor for their services and to pay the transaction and clearing costs associated with transactions in your advisory account. The Lincoln Investment Wrap Fee Programs are detailed in the Lincoln Investment Wrap Fee Program Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A Appendix I) attached. You should only choose a Wrap Fee Program if you or your Advisor expect to trade regularly in the account. A non-Wrap Fee Program is an investment advisory program in which you pay an unbundled fee to compensate Lincoln Investment and your Advisor for their services as well as transaction and clearing costs associated with your advisory account as described in this brochure. I. Your Financial Advisor’s Services: Advisor Consulting, Client Custom Portfolios and Advisor Managed Model Portfolios Your Advisor’s role is to earn and maintain a relationship with you to provide you financial and life planning consultation, as needed by you, as well as investment advice services which include assisting you in the determination of the appropriate advisory investments and programs for you and conversing with you on an as- needed or as requested basis to ensure that the investments and programs continue to meet your stated objectives and needs. Some advisors may also provide supplemental reports on a periodic basis to assist you in evaluating the effectiveness of the investments and advisory program(s). Advisors may provide periodic non- discretionary investment advice to their clients, and certain approved Advisors may provide ongoing discretionary management to their clients. Either way, your Advisor has the responsibility to make recommendations or select securities based on your needs and objectives. All advice is geared to meet your risk tolerance, income, any investment restrictions and tax management objectives, if applicable. Advisors provide periodic non-discretionary advice to their clients in fee-based Advisor Managed Model Portfolios and Client Custom Portfolios, unless an Advisor has been granted the authority to manage the account on a discretionary basis. For those Advisors who have been granted the authority to manage accounts on a discretionary basis, discretionary authority may be exercised within Advisor Managed Model Portfolios, where your account is managed to the stated objectives of the model portfolio, or Client Custom Portfolios, a custom advisor managed portfolio constructed and managed to meet your specific objectives. Discretionary authority means your Advisor has the authority to decide on the securities to purchase, sell or trade in your account without prior consultation with you. Your investment advisory agreement will identify whether you have granted your Advisor discretionary authority on your account. Each Advisor follows his or her own investment discipline, and may or may not establish a minimum investment amount. The fees charged by Advisors for Advisor Managed Model or Client Custom Portfolios will vary depending on the consultation services, platform utilized and the individual Advisor’s fees and services. Most Advisors manage or advise mutual fund-only portfolios, while some may manage or advise portfolios containing stocks, ETFs, ETNs, bonds, or options. Consult with your Advisor to learn more about the advisory services and fees he or she offers. Your Advisor’s education, licenses and professional designations are described in Form ADV Part 2B Brochure Supplement (“Form ADV Part 2B Brochure Supplement” or “Financial Professional BIO Brochure”), a copy of which your Advisor will provide to you. Advisor Managed Model Portfolio and Client Custom Portfolio Offerings Advisory Offering Discretionary Program Minimum Investment Investment Types Custodian of Assets Advisor Managed Program (Model Portfolios and/or Client Custom Portfolios) No Depends on platform and individual Advisor Mutual funds Lincoln Investment; Matrix Trust Company; Pentegra Trust Company; Security Benefit Advisor Managed Program (Model Portfolios and/or Client Custom Portfolios) Varies - Your Advisor can act with discretionary authority, but only if he or she has been (1) approved by Lincoln Investment for discretion; and (2) authorized in writing by you. Depends on platform and individual Advisor General Securities such as, but not limited to, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETFs, ETNs, and options Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC¹; Fidelity Investments Institutional Operations Company; Nationwide; Pershing LLC; Prudential; SEI Private Trust Company; T. Rowe Price ¹Certain Advisors have been pre-approved to use 55I, LLC (“55ip”) for trading and tax management overlay services. II. Lincoln Investment Asset Management Programs: Model Portfolios Managed by Lincoln Investment Lincoln Investment offers a number of in-house managed Asset Management Programs comprised primarily of mutual funds on Lincoln Investment’s Solutions Premier platform and other custodial platforms as shown in the table below. Lincoln Investment also offers an in-house managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) Asset Management Program on Pershing LLC’s custodial platform. See Lincoln Investment’s Wrap Fee Brochure for information about the Adaptive Intelligence Models (“AIM”) ETF Asset Management Program. Lincoln Investment manages variable annuity sub-accounts; however, the variable annuity programs are closed to new investors and contributions. These programs are managed to meet the stated objective of the portfolio, thus the term “Model Portfolio.” When you choose a Lincoln Investment Asset Management Program Model Portfolio, you will authorize Lincoln Investment to make discretionary asset allocation decisions in your account based on the discipline and risk level of the Model Portfolio chosen. Lincoln Investment has engaged third-party asset managers to provide Lincoln Investment with Model Portfolios in alignment with each model’s stated discipline and risk level (“Sub-Advisers”). Each Sub-Adviser appointed by Lincoln Investment offers various disciplines of investing. Based on information provided by you, your Advisor will make a recommendation to you as to the appropriate Asset Management Program and risk level for you. Although the management authorization of your account remains with Lincoln Investment, Lincoln Investment relies on the expertise and management disciplines of its Sub-Advisers, when they are engaged, to provide Model Portfolios that align to each model’s stated discipline and risk level. Lincoln Investment, however, retains the authority to change Sub-Advisers at any time. If a Sub-Adviser or Model Portfolio ceases to be available or is removed from Lincoln Investment's offerings, Lincoln Investment will notify you in writing and indicate, if appropriate, an alternative Asset Management Program. Lincoln Investment Managed Model Portfolio Offerings Discipline Advisory Offering Minimum Investment Investment Types2 Custodian of Assets Strategic Dividend Income $25,000 Mutual funds Lincoln Investment Strategic Lincoln Strategic $10,000 Mutual funds Lincoln Investment; Fidelity Investments Institutional Operations Company1 Strategic Lincoln Strategic Vanguard $150/ $10,0005 Mutual funds Lincoln Investment Strategic Progressive Asset Management³ $150/ $10,0005 Mutual funds Lincoln Investment; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; TIAA1 Strategic Progressive Asset Management ESG4 $25,000 Mutual funds, (primarily ESG funds, but non-ESG funds can also be utilized) 6 Lincoln Investment Tactical Adaptive Intelligence Models (AIM) Active $150/ $10,0005 Mutual funds (primarily actively managed funds, but passive managed funds can also be utilized) Lincoln Investment; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Tactical Adaptive Intelligence Models (AIM) Index $150/ $10,0005 Index funds, (primarily passive managed funds, but active managed funds can also be utilized) Lincoln Investment; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Tactical Adaptive Intelligence Models (AIM) ESG $150/ $10,0005 Mutual funds, (primarily ESG funds, but non-ESG funds can also be utilized) 6 Lincoln Investment Tactical Adaptive Intelligence Models (AIM) Hybrid $25,000 Mutual funds or index mutual funds may be used, passive and active Lincoln Investment Tactical Adaptive Intelligence Models (AIM) N/A7 Varies based on Plan Sponsor; Mutual funds or index mutual funds may be used, passive and active Fidelity Investments Institutional Operations Company1; TIAA1 1 Mutual funds utilized will vary based on the restrictions imposed by the employer retirement plan sponsor, where applicable. 2 Group fixed annuity contracts are available within certain employer retirement plan accounts. 3 The Progressive Asset Management Program adds additional diversification to your portfolio as your account value meets higher thresholds. For portfolios up to $25,000, your portfolio is managed using five asset class allocations; For portfolios between $25,000 and $50,000, your portfolio is managed using eight asset class allocations; For portfolios between $50,000 and $100,000, your portfolio is managed using twelve asset class allocations; For portfolios over $100,000, your portfolio is managed using fourteen or more asset class allocations. 4 Progressive Asset Management ESG utilizes a uniform number of asset classes in portfolios for all account values over the investment minimum. 5 Periodic Investment Plan minimum of $150 or $10,000 lump sum investment minimum. 6 See Item 8: Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss for more information on Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) investing and our ESG model portfolios. 7 Minimum investment for AIM Asset Management Program accounts custodied at TIAA is $10,000 lump sum with no Periodic Investment Plan minimum. Sub-Advisers to Lincoln Investment Managed Model Portfolio Offerings (Each Sub-Adviser offers multiple risk level Model Portfolios)¹ Discipline Sub-Adviser Minimum Investment Investment Types Custodian of Assets Strategic Capital Research and Management Company (American Funds) $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Strategic Russell Investments $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Tactical Advanced Asset Management Advisors, Inc. $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Tactical Calvert Research and Management4 $25,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Tactical Clark Capital Management Group (CCMG) $150/ $10,0002 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment;³ Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; TIAA Tactical DoubleLine Capital LP $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; TIAA Tactical Franklin Templeton Investments $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Tactical ICON Advisers, Inc. $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Tactical J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. $25,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; TIAA Tactical Meeder Advisory Services, Inc. $10,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment Tactical Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) $25,000 Mutual Funds Lincoln Investment 1 Model portfolios are available only to residents of the United States. 2 Periodic Investment Plan minimum of $150 for CCMG Multi-Strategy 50/50 model or $10,000 lump sum investment minimum, all other CCMG models are $10,000 lump sum investment minimum only. ³CCMG’s Tactical Investment Grade Model is only available with Lincoln Investment as custodian. 4 See Item 8: Methods

of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss for more information on Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) investing. You are responsible to notify your Advisor of any changes in your financial situation, risk tolerance or investment objectives, and to let us know of any investment restrictions that you wish to impose so that your Advisor can suggest the appropriate advisory service for you. If you wish to impose investment restrictions, Lincoln Investment Managed Model Portfolios may not be the appropriate advisory service for you, as they generally cannot be customized to certain investment restrictions. Please refer to Item 8: Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss for a description of the primary investment strategies utilized in Lincoln Investment Managed Model Portfolios. III. Third-Party Managed Model and Third-Party Custom Portfolios Co-Adviser Lincoln Investment, as Co-Adviser, works with third-party money managers and platform providers to provide you with access to their professional investment management services. Neither Lincoln Investment nor your Advisor performs the ongoing discretionary asset management in your portfolio; this is done by the third-party money manager. As Co-Adviser, Lincoln Investment, through your Advisor, is responsible to work with you to collect all necessary information and documentation, to assist you in selecting the appropriate investment strategy offered by the money manager and to answer any questions you may have about the money manager or the managed portfolio. Lincoln Investment and your Advisor assess a separate fee for its services in addition to the third-party money manager or third-party platform provider’s fee. Please review your investment advisory agreement and the Form ADV 2A of the third-party money manager for further information regarding the advisory fee for your selected manager(s) and the portion of the fee that is paid to Lincoln Investment and your Advisor. Lincoln Investment as Co-Adviser Platform Provider Third-party money managers Offered Lincoln’s Role Custodian of Assets Aspire Financial Services & Pentegra Retirement Services Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management; Verity Asset Management Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Third-Party Money Managers/Models Pentegra Trust Company; Matrix Trust Company AssetMark AssetMark, Aris and Savos and Various Independent Money Managers– Ask for current approved list of money managers Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Third-Party Money Managers/Models AssetMark Trust Company; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Pershing LLC Brinker Capital Investments, LLC Brinker and Various Independent Money Managers– Ask for current approved list of money managers Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Third-Party Money Managers/Models Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC; National Financial Services Goelzer Investment Management, Inc. Goelzer Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Models Fidelity Lockwood Advisors, Inc. Managed Account Link and Separately Managed Account Program - Ask for current approved list of money managers Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Third-Party Money Managers Pershing LLC Morningstar Morningstar Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Models Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Pershing LLC Orion Portfolio Solutions (formerly FTJ FundChoice) Orion Portfolio Solutions and Various Independent Money Managers– Ask for current approved list of money managers Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Third-Party Money Managers/Models Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; Matrix Trust Company SEI Investment Management Co. SEI and Various Money Managers offered through SEI’s Managed Account Solutions program– ask for current approved list of money managers Assist Client in the Selection and Review of Third-Party Money Managers/Models SEI Private Trust Company Not all third-party money managers or platform providers are available to all Advisors or all clients, and are subject to change. Promoter Advisors and Lincoln Investment may also act as a Promoter and introduce you to a third-party money manager. In Promoter relationships, we are not acting as a Co-Adviser. For this introduction, the third-party money manager will pay Lincoln Investment a Promoter/Referral Fee, which we will share with your Advisor. This fee, which is typically an ongoing portion of the fee collected from you by the manager, must be disclosed to you at the time of the introduction in a Disclosure Statement. In some instances, Lincoln Investment and your Advisor share in the money manager’s advisory fee; in other instances, Lincoln Investment may assess a separate fee for our referral in addition to the money manager’s fee. Please refer to the Disclosure Statement provided to you at the time of the referral to determine the fee paid to Lincoln Investment and your Advisor. Please review the money manager’s ADV Part 2A for more information about their advisory fees. The following table is a list of third-party money managers for which Lincoln Investment and your Advisor can act as Promoter for all non-ERISA clients: IV. Periodic Investment Consulting Advisors may, for a fee, provide periodic investment analysis or advice on assets held at a custodian other than a custodian with which Lincoln Investment has an advisory relationship; for example, your 401(k) assets held within your employer's plan. Advisors may assist you in diversifying and risk-adjusting your entire household of investments. You will enter into a separate written Planning Services Agreement before any services are performed. Once the investment analysis or advice is delivered, the Planning Services Agreement ends and your Advisor will be unable to provide to you monitoring of assets that are not held at a custodian with which Lincoln Investment has an advisory relationship. You will need to re-engage with your Advisor for future analysis or advice. Advisors may charge you for these services through a flat or hourly fee. V. Financial Planning Services Advisors may offer comprehensive or limited financial planning services for a fee. Financial planning services may include, but are not limited to, retirement, college, tax, business succession planning or insurance needs analysis and assistance with estate distribution matters. Financial planning services are generally provided to you by your Advisor on a flat fee or hourly fee basis. You will enter into a separate written Lincoln Investment Planning Services Agreement before any financial services begin. This agreement will describe the services and fees you and your Advisor have agreed upon. Many Advisors have earned professional designations that enhance their qualifications to offer these planning services, but Lincoln Investment does not require the Advisor to maintain a professional designation in order to offer financial planning services. Ask your Advisor about his or her professional designations or see their Form ADV 2B Brochure Supplement, which provides their career biographical information and the professional designations earned. Information Regarding CFP® Certificants If your Advisor is a CFP® certificant, he or she acknowledges his or her responsibility to adhere to the standards established in CFP Board's Standards of Professional Conduct, including the duty of care of a fiduciary, as defined by CFP Board. If you become aware that his or her conduct may violate the Standards, you may contact the CFP Board at www.CFP.net/complaint. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements. While providing financial planning services, Lincoln Investment and Advisor shall act in the capacity of a fiduciary to you. This means that Lincoln Investment and the Advisor will, while engaged in providing financial planning services to you, make recommendations in your best interest and not subordinate your Third-Party Managers for Whom Lincoln Investment Acts as a Promoter AssetMark Haven Private Bernstein Private Wealth Management Meeder Advisory Service Brinker Capital Resources Investment Advisors CLS Investment Not all third-party money managers or platform providers are available to all Advisors or all clients, and are subject to change. interests to our own. During the course of providing these services, Advisor will make reasonable inquiry into your objectives, and have a reasonable belief that the advice given will be in your best interest. Lincoln Investment and Advisor shall also make full and fair disclosure to you of all material facts relating to any inherent conflicts in the advice that will be given. Our fiduciary duty ends with the delivery of the planning services engaged under your Planning Services Agreement or the expiration of the term of your Planning Services Agreement, whichever occurs first, at which point your Advisor will be unable to provide ongoing monitoring of the plan implementation to you unless you enter into a separate advisory agreement with us. Clients are in no way obligated to implement their planning services. In addition, clients who wish to implement their planning services are not obligated to do so through Lincoln Investment. Should the client choose to implement the recommendations contained in the client’s plan, the implementation of those recommended strategies is entirely at the client’s discretion. All other fee-based services, such as asset-based investment advice or asset management services through Lincoln Investment would require that you enter into a separate written investment advisory agreement. The following financial planning services may be performed for a fee by your Advisor. Financial Planning Services for Individuals:
• Cash Flow and Balance Sheet Planning. During this process the Advisor will gather information from the client to aid in preparing and analyzing the client’s current financial state. This process will include the preparation and analysis of the client’s personal balance sheet and cash flow statement. The client’s personal balance sheet is a statement of financial position which shows the client’s assets, liabilities and net worth as of a given date. The client’s statement of cash flow shows the client’s income and expenses for a given time period. Both personal financial statements are essential to the planning process as it would be difficult to help an individual achieve their financial goals and objectives without them.
• Estate Planning. During the estate planning process, the Advisor provides advice to enable the client to make informed decisions with respect to property ownership and distribution of assets, in light of current federal and state estate tax rules. Based upon the client’s current situation and their future goals, the Advisor will review the client’s current estate plan, work with the client’s estate planning attorney and suggest alternative strategies when appropriate. The estate planning process involves a discussion of gifting, trusts, wills and the disposition of business interests. Tax consequences and their implications are identified and evaluated.
• Retirement Planning. The retirement planning process includes an analysis of the client’s current financial situation, expected retirement date and income needed at retirement. The Advisor will present planning strategies and techniques that can be used to assist the client in accumulating wealth for retirement income, or in the appropriate distribution of assets following retirement. Tax consequences and tax implications are identified and evaluated.
• Investment Planning. During the planning process, the Advisor will evaluate the client’s existing investments to provide an overview analysis of current holdings. This process includes an analysis of the client’s current asset allocation, investment income and/or growth, tax consequences and tax implications, when applicable. Once the client’s current holdings have been reviewed, the Advisor may recommend strategies and investment accumulation/distribution techniques. The strategies and techniques recommended are designed to assist the client with the selection of the appropriate asset allocation strategy necessary to meet their investment objectives and may provide the client with investment categories considered by the Advisor to be in the best interest of the client. The strategies and techniques outlined in the investment plan are designed to assist the client with the achievement of stated investment goals at the most appropriate risk level for the client. In certain situations, the Advisor will include a written Investment Policy Statement as part of the Investment Plan, which states the client’s needs and goals and encompasses a policy under which these goals are to be achieved. Implementation of the recommendations is at the discretion of the client.
• Insurance Planning and Risk Management. During the insurance planning and risk management process, the Advisor will help analyze and assess the client’s exposure to major risks that could have a significant adverse impact on the client’s financial picture, such as premature death, disability or the need for long-term care. Advice is provided on the costs and benefits of available financial products that exist to reduce such risks. Current insurance coverage will be reviewed and analyzed.
• Tax Planning. During the tax planning process, the Advisor will work with the client and their tax and/or legal professionals, as Lincoln Investment does not offer tax or legal advice on such topics as timing of gifts, property transfers, receipt of social security income and minimum distribution requirements from retirement accounts to minimize tax obligations.
• Employee Benefit Plan Review. During the employee benefit plan review process, the Advisor will review and analyze the benefits provided to the client from their employer. Employee benefits such as retirement plans and insurance will be reviewed to see how they fit into the client’s overall financial situation. Financial Planning Services for Business Owners:
• Business Succession Planning. The business succession planning process includes an analysis of the current state of the business and the client’s goals, as a business owner, for the future of the client’s business. Once the current state of the client’s business and their goals for the future of the business have been determined, alternatives and strategies addressing the continuity or disposition of the client’s business upon their retirement, death, disability or decision to sell are provided. Tax consequences and their implications are also identified and evaluated.
• Executive Compensation Planning. The focus of executive compensation planning is the analysis and recommendation of various compensation strategies to attract, retain and reward key employees in the business. This planning may also include the business owner. Objectives of the business owner and the financial and legal structure of the business will be reviewed and taken into consideration in the analysis and recommendations. Tax consequences and tax implications are identified and evaluated. In all matters, planning services are analytical and advisory only, and do not include any legal, accounting or other professional services.
• Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Planning. Services are offered to clients with regard to nonqualified benefits planning for employees. Such plans will reflect their current situation and an analysis of alternative ways to accomplish their compensation objectives. With respect to a nonqualified deferred compensation program, the analysis contains alternative methods to informally "fund" the program, including an overview of the accounting treatment of such alternative methods within the program and a recommendation as to the appropriate method of "funding" for that employee. In addition, an Advisor may perform certain administrative services on behalf of clients for a nominal fee. Monitoring or updating of a plan will only occur if client implements plan recommendations through Advisor under a separate advisory agreement. Lincoln Investment does not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult with your personal attorney and tax accountant. VI. ERISA Retirement Plan Advice Lincoln Investment and its Advisors provide investment advice to sponsors of ERISA retirement plans, as well as education and enrollment services to eligible participants of the plans. At the plan level, Lincoln Investment assists the responsible plan fiduciary in analysis, selection, and monitoring of investment options made available to plan participants. Lincoln Investment may recommend its Lincoln Investment Managed Model Portfolios, which are managed on a discretionary basis by Lincoln Investment, Advisor Managed Model Portfolios or Custom Portfolios, which are managed on a non-discretionary basis by the plan’s Advisor, a Sub- Adviser or a third-party money manager. Advisors of Lincoln Investment may also assist eligible participants of these plans in education and enrollment. Lincoln Investment may also assist the responsible plan fiduciary in the selection of a product sponsor’s program or third-party platform. Below is a list of approved platforms. ERISA Approved Third-Party Advisers and Platforms ADP Alerus Alliance Bernstein American Funds – Recordkeeper Direct Ameritas Advantage Elite - Annuity Ascensus Aspire Financial Services AssetMark Retirement Services CUNA (formerly CPI) Employee Fiduciary Empower Retirement (Great West) Fidelity Advisors Human Interest IFP/Montgomery Retirement Advisors Invesco J. P. Morgan Retirement Link John Hancock K Trade Lincoln Financial – Director Manchester Advisors Mass Mutual Nationwide Newport Group OneAmerica PAi – RIA PayChex PenServ Pershing Pinnacle Financial Group PNC Retirement Solutions Principal Financial ProTPA – RIA SBL – Variflex Securian SEI Private Trust Spectrum Employee Benefits – RIA Summit Benefit Solutions/July Business Services – RIA Sunwest Pensions – RIA The Pacific Financial Group T. Rowe Price The Standard Transamerica Ubiquity Voya (ING) Assets Under Management As of December 31, 2023, Lincoln Investment and its Advisors managed or advised over $17.9 billion in advisory assets:
• $8.25 billion in advisory assets on a discretionary basis, and
• $9.66 billion in advisory assets on a non-discretionary basis.