The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. is a private, independent, financial planning and wealth management business, the prodigy of a firm established in 1971 and incorporated in 1979. We offer conservative financial advice, counseling, and investment management to a select group of individuals, multi-generational families, and businesses; trusts, estates, and a few charitable entities; along with the pension plans, profit sharing plans and 401(k) plans of our business owner clients. Clients of our office want a high degree of financial expertise, a higher level of service than they are accustomed to, and who feel comfortable delegating the solving of their financial problems to an organization of credentialed, professional financial advisors. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. is headed by two principals – Robert E. Hogan, CFP® and Timothy A. Knotts, CFP® – with over 78 combined years of financial planning experience. Mr. Hogan has been a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner since 1987, and Mr. Knotts has been a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner since 1989 (see section 10 for further explanation of the minimum qualifications required for this designation). We have seen many competitors come and go while remaining independent from any brokerage house or Wall Street firm. We are not tied to any financial institution and do not “carry the torch” for any of them. This allows us to put our client’s interests first and act as true fiduciaries. Clients will not have to worry about any of our recommendations. Our advice and counseling are never backed by any “hidden agenda” for any financial service or product. We believe the financial planning process is an end in and of itself, not a means to an end as practiced by others. Our one and only office has been in Red Bank, New Jersey for over 40 years in the same 100+ year old Victorian home, converted into comfortable, professional office space. Our staff of Financial Paraplanner Qualified Professionals™ or FPQP™ (see section 10 for further explanation of the minimum qualifications required for this designation) and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioners are prepared to offer our clients a “high touch” level of service while assisting them in meeting their financial goals. They specialize in acting and making sure things happen. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. is focused on building long-term relationships. We are professionals, with professional designations, affiliations, and attitudes; enabling us to easily work with our client’s other professionals. We do not compete with our client’s attorneys, accountants, and retirement plan administrators, but work with them as part of a total team effort for our clients. It is our desire to make our clients proud to be associated with us. Our goal is to understand the things that mean the most to our clients and help them to successfully position themselves to reach their goals. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. engages in financial planning as a process for our clients in the manner delineated by the Certified Financial Planning Board of Standards, Inc. We begin by establishing and defining the client-planner relationship. We clearly explain and then document in a written agreement the services to be provided to our clients and define both their and our responsibilities. The agreement explains fully how and when we will be paid. The next steps in the process are gathering client data, determining specific financial goals and objectives, and trying to understand a client’s tolerance for fluctuations in the value of a portfolio of investments (their tolerance for risk). We will ask clients to both verbalize and document information about their financial situation. They may be asked to complete a detailed “data gathering package”. The client and a lead planner from our office will mutually define the client’s personal and financial goals, understand their time frame for results and discuss how they feel about “risk”. Our office will gather many necessary documents before giving out any advice or direction. This step of the process may take weeks or months to complete. We will then analyze and evaluate a client’s current financial status. We will look at all the information gathered to assess a client’s current situation and determine what they must do to meet their goals. Depending on what specific goals and objectives they are trying to achieve this could include analyzing their assets, liabilities and cash flow; current allocation of investments and their coordination with their goals, objectives and their perceived tolerance for risk; plans for retirement and the methodology for getting there; capital needs coverage in the case of disability, death or long-term care; college funding for children or grandchildren; estate distribution plans; income and estate tax strategies. Because of our lack of expertise, although important to the plan, we WILL NOT examine or make specific recommendations on client’s property & casualty insurance, or their health insurance. We recommend that clients consult with their agents in examining this part of their plan, keeping us “in the loop” on recommendations and documentation. The next part of the process is developing and presenting financial planning recommendations and/or alternatives to the client. The lead planner will offer financial planning recommendations that address the client’s goals, based on the information the client has provided. We go over those recommendations with each client in a formal presentation at our office to help them understand and so that they can make informed decisions. At this point we pause to listen to our client’s concerns, collect more data and information, update our assumptions, and revise the recommendations as appropriate. The client and the lead planner come to an agreement on how the recommendations

will be carried out. The planner may carry out the recommendations or serve as the client’s "coach," coordinating the whole process with the client and other professionals such as attorneys, CPAs, or insurance agents (life, health, P & C). However, whether implementing the financial planning ourselves, or acting as a “coach”, we want to maintain a high level of contact and “touch” with our clients, including being involved in meetings with other professionals and reviewing documents and/or recommendations that occur outside of our office. Financial planning is a dynamic process, one that requires monitoring, updating, and revising on a regular basis. Recommendations need to be adjusted based on changes in goals & objectives, family situations, changes in risk tolerance, job situations, inheritances, etc… It is our desire that we meet with our clients on a regular basis, but not less than annually, to monitor the financial planning recommendations and implementation. Some clients will need to be met with quarterly, others no more than semi-annually, and some on an annual basis. It is up to the client to make sure that they are meeting with us on a regular basis to update their plans. In addition to the overall financial plan, we will also be providing oversight and stewardship to every client’s investment portfolio – the engine that drives the financial plan. In most cases a written review of the client’s portfolio is provided quarterly. In some cases, the portfolio receives a written review annually at calendar year-end. In almost all cases, the investment portfolio is reviewed in-house on every three-month basis. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. calls this part of the financial planning process “Portfolio Management Services”. This is defined as giving continuous advice to a client or making investments for a client based on the disclosed financial goals and objectives of the client. The applicant offers this service to individuals, qualified plans, trusts, estates, and corporations. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group manages advisory accounts on a discretionary basis, but only after creating an individualized written statement of investment policy (SIP) for each portfolio (a portfolio being several related investment accounts for one client that are guided by related financial goals). The client will be asked to participate in the creation of the SIP, and then to sign this investment policy (usually after the lead planner has verbally presented the policy and asset allocation recommendations to the client in our office). This statement of investment policy (SIP) is created after discussing with each individual client their financial goals and objectives, their time-frame till capital may be required to be distributed, their tolerance for fluctuations of principal value in the portfolio, and having an interactive session in our office looking at individual asset groups, their long-term average annual rates of return, and their “risk” – defined as the propensity for the average annual return of an investment asset class to fluctuate around a mean, and usually quantified as one standard deviation. Portfolio supervision is guided by the principal of asset allocation and quarterly rebalancing, with an investment "mix" determined and guided by the stated objectives of the client (i.e., maximum capital appreciation, growth, income, or growth and income). That individual objective, and the strategy for achieving that objective, is documented, and presented in every Portfolio Management Services report that is created and delivered to the client (either quarterly or annually). It is the job of the lead planner for each client, mostly on a quarterly basis, to rebalance each client’s portfolio so that it is better aligned with each portfolio’s SIP. This is done in the context of the taxability status of each portfolio, balancing taxable gains and losses in a taxable portfolio, and keeping in mind tax-loss-carry forwards that the client may have from previous tax years. However, since every portfolio is managed on a discretionary basis, we will execute rebalancing transactions on a regular basis without further client input, following the agreed to and documented strategy, to meet the portfolio’s stated objective. The Principals of the Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. establish general policy as to financial planning and investment advice rendered to each client. All Principals, Junior Advisors, Service Team Advisors and Team Leaders in the office must be involved in some form of related continuing education in financial planning and investment advising and be a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner. Minimal continuing education requirements of 15 hours per year are generally expected to be exceeded. All Team Members, the entry level position in our office, must also be involved in some form of related continuing education in financial planning and investment advising, and be a Financial Paraplanner Qualified Professional™ or FPQP™. Minimal continuing education requirements of 8 hours per year are generally expected to be exceeded. While generally discouraged, clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain securities or types of securities. It is up to the client to relay this information to the lead planner at the beginning of the relationship. This usually relates to the maintenance of “legacy securities”, or those investments that have been transferred over to under our management from a previous investment relationship. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. does not participate in wrap fee programs. The Hogan-Knotts Financial Group, Inc. manages all client assets on a discretionary basis. As of December 31, 2023, total assets under supervision and management, spread over 283 separately managed and reported on client portfolios, were $276,702,365.