About the Company
Index Fund Advisors, Inc. (“IFA”) is an SEC-registered investment adviser based in Irvine,
California. IFA is organized as a corporation under the laws of the State of Delaware, and has
been providing fee-only investment advisory services since 1999. Prior to July 1, 2013, the firm
operated under the name of “Index Funds Advisors, Inc.”, and was incorporated in, and governed
by the laws of, the State of California. Mark T. Hebner, Founder and CEO, is IFA’s principal
owner.
Investment Advisory Services
At IFA, we offer discretionary investment advisory services that focus specifically on providing
our clients with portfolios of passively managed or index mutual and exchange-traded funds. IFA
offers customized investment management services to individuals, high net worth clients,
pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations and other
types of business entities.
Investing for Catholics (IFC), a division of IFA, provides Catholic Values Investing advice and
portfolio implementation to institutions and individuals, using the Socially Responsible
implementations of selected fund managers. IFC’s globally diversified portfolios are screened to
closely align with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops guidelines for investing,
among other factors.
Our investment advice is tailored to match each of our clients’ capacity for risk. If you retain our
firm for investment advisory services, we will help you determine your risk capacity in
consideration of five dimensions of risk: time horizon and liquidity needs; net income; net
savings; investment knowledge; and attitude toward risk. We will provide investment advisory
services with respect to each account designated by our clients for management, as follows:
• Independent Fiduciary-based Advice
• Selection & Monitoring of Investments
• Provide Recommendations Based on Client’s Risk Capacity
• Investment-Related Tax Management and Asset Location Strategies
• Behavioral Finance Advice
• Provide Portfolio Implementations Utilizing Primarily Passively Managed Mutual and/or
Exchange Traded Funds
• Place Trades on Behalf of Clients
• Accept Liability for Trading Errors (if such arise) that are caused by our actions or
inactions.
• Provide Monthly Performance Reports
• Provide Quarterly Performance Monitoring Report
• Rebalance Quarterly when Deemed Necessary
• Tax-Loss Harvest when Deemed Appropriate
• Glide Path Systematic Risk Reduction Program
• Provide Tax Advice through IFA Taxes Division
Clients are responsible for informing IFA of any changes to their capacity for risk.
Types of Investments
We primarily recommend passively managed open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds;
however, we also offer advice from time to time on equity securities, U.S. government securities,
corporate debt securities, municipal debt securities, and actively managed mutual funds. We will
also review, and when appropriate, make recommendations to the sub-accounts within fee-based
variable annuities, variable life insurance products, and 529 plans. Additionally, we provide
advice on other types of investments that we deem appropriate based on the client’s stated goals
and objectives. We may also provide advice on any type of investment held in your portfolio at
the inception of our advisory relationship and upon a client’s request.
Please refer to Item 8 below for further information on the types of investments IFA provides
advice on, along with the associated risks.
Wealth Services
In addition to customized investment advice and portfolio strategies, IFA offers financial
planning and referral services. Many areas of personal finance are interrelated, and IFA’s
investment advice can be refined by coordinating with estate attorneys, corporate trustees and
insurance advisors during the financial planning process to help clients accomplish their financial
objectives and produce a better overall client experience.
Wealth Planning
Financial Planning – IFA offers Financial Planning, utilizing eMoney and Right Capital
to provide a complimentary, wealth management system that will allow our clients to
track their assets, liabilities, income, and spending across all their accounts as well as
store all their important documents in electronic form. Wealth Advisors work with their
clients
to produce financial plans, using this analysis as the foundation for
recommendations to achieve each client’s financial objectives.
Retirement Planning – With the aid of the IFA Retirement Plan Analyzer, IFA Wealth
Advisors are able to help clients make more informed decisions in each stage of their
lives.
College Planning – IFA’s College Savings Analyzer helps IFA Wealth Advisors align a
client’s college funding objectives with an appropriate college savings and investment
plan.
Charitable Giving – IFA Wealth Advisors assist clients in setting up donor advised funds,
which are charitable giving accounts that provide an efficient way to make grants to
charities.
Referral Services
Estate Services – IFA Wealth Advisors can refer clients to estate attorneys to create estate
plans and aid in the implementation of the plans. Additionally, IFA will provide clients
access to Trust & Will, estate planning platforms.
Trust Services – For trust management and administrative needs, IFA Wealth Advisors
can refer clients to corporate or administrative trustees.
Insurance Services – IFA Wealth Advisors refer clients to insurance advisors and
collaborate with the advisors to integrate the insurance policies with the overall financial
needs of the client.
(See Item 14 – “Client Referrals and Other Compensation” for more information)
Tax Services
IFA, through its IFA Taxes division, offers Tax Advice & Planning, Tax Accounting &
Bookkeeping, and Tax Return Preparation (collectively, “Tax Services”). The IFA Taxes
division does not provide auditing or attestation services and therefore is not a licensed CPA
firm. Where appropriate, IFA will recommend tax saving strategies to maximize your after-tax
income. For special advice and planning projects (“Special Projects”), there will be an additional
charge, which will be quoted and agreed upon in a contract between the client and IFA prior to
commencement of the Special Project.
IFA’s tax services are provided by its professionals under a separate written engagement and in
their separate capacities as tax advisers. Fees for services provided by IFA’s Tax Services are
separate from our investment advisory fees. Clients do not have to be investment advisory
clients of IFA in order to receive Tax Services. IFA’s fees may be higher or lower than those
available from other professional providers for similar Tax Services. Clients are not required to
use IFA for Tax Services. For additional information, please see Item 5 and Item 10 below.
Retirement Plans Services
IFA offers advisory services to a variety of employer-sponsored retirement plans including
401(k), 403(b) and church plans. Services include plan-level services, such as fiduciary best
practices, investment services comprising investment advice and investment management, and
participant services including education, enrollment and advice. Leveraging IFA’s expertise
with index funds, model portfolios and risk capacity surveys, IFA is able to deliver services to
employer-sponsored retirement plans, integrating target date strategies where appropriate to
achieve the objectives of both plan sponsors and plan participants alike.
Advisory Agreements
Prior to engaging IFA to provide investment advisory and wealth services, the client will be
required to enter into one or more written agreements with IFA setting forth the terms and
conditions under which IFA shall render its services (collectively the “Agreement”).
In accordance with Rule 204-3 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended
(“Advisers Act”), IFA will provide a brochure and one or more brochure supplements to each
client or prospective client prior to or contemporaneously with the execution of an investment
advisory agreement.
The Agreement between IFA and the client will continue in effect until terminated by either
party pursuant to the terms of the Agreement. Neither IFA nor the client may assign the
Agreement without the consent of the other party. Transactions that do not result in a change of
actual control or management of IFA shall not be considered an assignment.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, the following represents the amount of client assets under
management by IFA on a discretionary basis:
Type of Account Assets Under Management
("AUM")
Discretionary $4,954,888,557.50
Non-Discretionary $ 0
Total: $4,954,888,557.50