INTRODUCTION
Oak Associates, ltd., an Ohio limited liability company, is a SEC-registered investment
management firm formed in 1985 with its principal place of business located in Akron, Ohio. The
principal owners of Oak Associates are Margaret Ballinger and Robert Stimpson.
INVESTMENT SUPERVISORY SERVICES
Oak Associates provides investment supervisory services, which include giving continuous advice
as to the investment of funds based on Oak Associates' discretionary authority over and ongoing
supervisory or management services with respect to clients' accounts, performed in accordance
with the growth equity strategy employed by Oak Associates with respect to all funds invested on
behalf of its clients.
INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ADVISORY SERVICES
Oak Associates encourages communications with clients involving reviews of portfolio
investments and objectives for each managed account. In conjunction with personal consultations
to informally review and confirm Oak Associates' investment strategy for each account, Oak
Associates encourages telephone consultations in order to discuss portfolio investments resulting
from the investment strategy. Oak Associates implements the investment strategy through
execution of orders in the client's account and provides on-going monitoring and management
services. The firm provides these services to individuals, corporations, pension and profit-sharing
plans, investment companies, trusts, estates, foundations, endowments and charitable
organizations, among other institutions.
INVESTMENT COMPANY ADVISORY SERVICES
Oak Associates also provides investment advisory services to the Oak Associates Funds, a
registered, open-end investment company which includes the following funds (“Oak Funds”):
White Oak Select Growth Fund,
Pin Oak Equity Fund,
Rock Oak Core Growth,
River Oak Discovery Fund,
Red Oak Technology Select Fund,
Black Oak Emerging Technology Fund, and
Live Oak Health Sciences Fund.
Oak Associates also provides advisory services and acts as sub-adviser to other investment
managers. Oak may offer customized investment strategies at the client’s request.
WRAP FEE PROGRAMS
Under wrap fee programs, Oak Associates acts as a sub-adviser for the program sponsor. There is
an agreement for services between Oak Associates and the wrap fee sponsor to provide portfolio
management services to those program clients who select Oak Associates based upon their needs
and circumstances. The client pays a single fee to the sponsor for all services under the program
including:
- the sponsor’s custodial services,
- execution services,
- advisory services, including Oak Associates' advisory fee,
- monitoring of sub-advisers, including Oak Associates,
- reconciliation, and
- reviews and reports.
There is no direct contract between the “client” and Oak Associates. Oak Associates' authority to
provide services is contained in the agreement with the sponsor. For each client sent to Oak
Associates under the program, we will review the client profile that the client provides the sponsor
for suitability determination prior to providing services to the client. Oak Associates may reject
accounts if there are unreasonable restrictions placed upon the firm or if it appears the client’s
financial profile is inconsistent with the services available under the program. As clients pre-pay
for services in the form of a wrap fee, our Firm generally has brokerage
discretion; however,
because additional commissions are incurred only when trading away from the sponsor, wrap fee
client trades will almost always be executed through the sponsor.
Oak Associates has created four strategies which are designed to meet a particular investment goal
which Oak Associates has determined is appropriate for the wrap fee programs. The four strategies
are:
- Large Cap Growth
- All Technology
- Small Cap Growth
- Technology Select
Once the appropriate strategy has been determined, the portfolio will be continuously managed
based on the investment strategy selected, rather than on each client’s individual needs. However,
each client will have the opportunity to place reasonable restrictions on the types of investments
to be held in the portfolio. Oak Associates reserves the right to reject client accounts with
unreasonable investment restrictions. All accounts within the wrap fee programs are managed by
Oak Associates for the program sponsors on a discretionary basis.
Although clients are treated individually and clients may impose reasonable investment restrictions
upon Oak Associates in the selection of securities, all wrap client accounts must be suitable for
one or more of these strategies available under the program. Oak Associates will liquidate all
securities in the account without consideration of taxes and will purchase with available cash the
securities selected within the strategy for any client.
One of the primary benefits of participating in wrap fee programs is the availability of Oak
Associates’ professional portfolio management services at lower minimum account sizes when
compared to institutional or other accounts which Oak Associates manages. The difference
between the management of a wrap fee program account and an individually managed portfolio
with a higher minimum is that an individually managed portfolio can be managed according to the
client’s specific situations such as taking the tax effect of trading into account, whereas the
portfolios in the wrap fee programs are managed to a specific model and the tax effect of trading
is not considered.
MODEL DELIVERY PROGRAMS
Under a model delivery program, Oak Associates’ role is limited to providing another investment
advisory firm (the “Advisor”) with non-discretionary investment advice in the form of model
portfolios in connection with its management of its clients’ accounts. The implementation of, or
reliance on, a strategy is left to the discretion of the Advisor. Oak Associates is not responsible for
determining the securities to be purchased, held, and sold for another investment advisor’s clients’
account(s), nor is Oak Associates responsible for determining the suitability or appropriateness of
a particular strategy or any securities included therein for any of the Advisor’s clients. Oak
Associates does not place trade orders for any of the Advisor’s clients’ account(s). Information
and other marketing materials provided to another investment advisory firm by Oak Associates
including holdings, performance and other characteristics may not be indicative of a client’s actual
experience from an account managed under a model delivery approach. The four strategies
described above under wrap fee programs are also available for model delivery programs.
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT
As of December 31, 2023, Oak managed approximately $1,500,600,000 in client assets on a
discretionary basis and $65,103 on a non-discretionary basis.