Firm Description
The Fairman Group LLC, (“The Fairman Group” or “TFG”) was founded in 2002 by
professionals from the Private Client Services Group of Arthur Andersen’s
Philadelphia office. We are 100% owned by Fairman Group Family Office LLP
(“Fairman Group Family Office” or “FGFO”).
This brochure is provided to potential and existing clients (“Client” or “You”) to
provide an understanding of the services we provide, our potential conflicts of
interest and the qualifications of certain TFG personnel. Our clients include high
net worth individuals, families and their related trusts and business entities. For
certain accounts designated by clients as discretionary accounts in their
Investment Advisory Agreement, TFG will manage accounts on a discretionary
basis, while maintaining its customary quarterly and other communications with
clients and requests for client authorization prior to executing trades.
The Fairman Group is strictly a fee-only professional service firm. We do not sell
annuities, insurance, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, limited partnerships, or other
commissioned products. The firm is not affiliated with entities that sell financial
products or securities. We do not accept commissions or finder’s fees.
Through both TFG and FGFO, we provide a variety of services that we define
collectively as comprehensive wealth management and tax services. These
services include investment advisory services, financial planning, tax planning, tax
return preparation and other accounting services.
We provide investment advisory and personal financial planning services to you
through individuals registered as investment advisor representatives of TFG. You
can learn more about the background and qualifications of our investment advisor
representatives in the Part 2B Supplement of this brochure.
We offer a free initial consultation for prospective clients. This meeting is generally
considered an exploratory interview to determine the extent to which our services
may be beneficial to the client.
Principal Owners
Roy M. Fairman is a 70% partner.
Marianne Inforzato is a 10% partner.
Shawn P. Kindt is a 10% partner.
Douglas E. Morisoli is a 10% partner.
Types of Advisory Services
The Fairman Group provides ongoing investment supervisory services for our
clients based on their individual needs. Additionally, we furnish advice on personal
financial planning matters such as cash flow management, retirement planning, tax
planning, insurance analysis, education funding and estate planning.
Description of Investment Supervisory Services: We begin our process by
making sure we understand your investment goals, time horizon, liquidity needs,
asset class preferences and risk tolerance. We will examine how your current
investments fit in relation to your goals and discuss relevant investment concepts
such as historical performance of various asset classes and the fundamentals of
risk, return and diversification. We will typically model your future cash flow and
wealth accumulation to determine the sufficiency of assets to maintain your desired
standard of living. This model can also provide insights toward identifying a
required portfolio return and your financial ability to tolerate risk. A series of
meetings are often needed to thoroughly review and analyze your current and
projected financial situation. If you designated your account(s) as discretionary on
your Investment Advisory Agreement, we may exercise discretion over your
investment assets but will also communicate with you our recommendations and
seek authorization prior to executing any trades.
Asset Allocation Strategy: With an understanding of your financial situation, we
will help you identify an individualized, strategic asset allocation that is consistent
with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon, asset class
preferences and other criteria you may impose. At your direction, the allocation
strategy may encompass broad coordination of multiple accounts at multiple
custodians (i.e., developing a master asset allocation plan for multiple taxable
accounts and tax-advantaged retirement accounts such as your 401(k), 403(b) and
IRA plans) or a more narrow focus on asset allocation for specific accounts you
select to place under our supervision. Once the investment strategy is formulated,
we work with you to develop an investment policy statement, assist with
implementation with your selected custodian, make investment management
recommendations and provide ongoing review and reporting of the strategy. We do
not engage in market timing strategies.
Tax Specialization: Taxes play a significant role in your portfolio’s overall return
and are an important consideration in implementation and rebalancing decisions.
Unlike
many advisors who avoid responsibility for tax planning, we bring extensive
experience in assessing the tax implications of investment decisions and can help
you maximize the after-tax return on your portfolio.
Custodian: We will identify and coordinate custodial/brokerage services.
However, we will not take actual custody of your investment assets. We generally
recommend Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”) as a custodian for client
assets. We have no affiliation with Schwab, and you are under no obligation to
select them as your custodian.
Using a custodian such as Schwab provides third-party reporting and valuation of
your assets. It allows us to help you implement a centralized investment program
that incorporates multiple money managers, mutual fund families and investment
styles at a competitive cost. This arrangement may also allow you to gain access
to money managers and mutual funds at lower account minimums or reduced fees
than generally are available to individual investors. Because we do not participate
in any fee sharing agreements, any savings pass directly to you.
For clients that choose to custody assets outside of Schwab, we utilize a custodial
aggregation service for valuation and reporting. This third-party service is provided
by Morningstar ByAllAccounts (“MBAA”), Inc. (see Valuation section below). MBAA
allows performance reporting on held-away accounts using client account login
credentials (username and password) without us taking possession of the
credentials. Clients opting to use the MBAA aggregation service maintain their
login credentials directly with MBAA. Some financial institutions allow for an API
connection to MBAA that enables the connection to be maintained without storing
client login credentials in MBAA.
Investment Management: We will assist you in selecting and monitoring
appropriate investment vehicles that are consistent with your chosen asset
allocation and investment policy. The decision to utilize a specific vehicle (i.e.,
separate account manager, mutual fund or exchange traded fund) is based on the
total dollar amount of the deployment, available selections within the asset class,
the overall costs (custody fees, annual management fees and transaction costs)
and client preferences. The primary purpose is to identify professional asset
management that is reasonably suited to represent each particular asset class
within the target asset allocation. We generally suggest both active and passive
(i.e., index) management styles. Any manager or fund suggestions we make are
subject to your selection preferences and final approval. You are under no
obligation to implement any recommendations that we provide.
Ongoing Supervision and Reporting: We will provide ongoing review and
reporting of the accounts you place under our supervision. The scope of our
periodic review and reporting may include but is not limited to:
• Comparison of the portfolio allocation to stated target for rebalancing
• Monitoring the performance of selected money managers or mutual funds
• Providing advice regarding the retention or dismissal of money managers or
mutual funds
• Arranging or effecting any purchase, sale or transfer related to any of our
recommendations accepted and approved for implementation by clients
• Comparisons of the portfolio against selected benchmarks
• Analysis of the estimated portfolio annual income and current yield
• Analysis of realized and unrealized gains and losses
Tailored Relationships
As described above, our services are tailored to the unique needs and financial
situation of each client. We do not utilize standardized asset allocation models that
are generically mapped from responses to a risk questionnaire. We create
investment policy statements that reflect the mutually agreed upon goals,
objectives, and portfolio guidelines. Clients may impose restrictions on investing in
certain securities or types of securities.
Participation in Wrap Fee Programs
The Fairman Group does not sponsor or participate in any wrap fee programs.
Clients may choose to implement assets with wrap fee programs sponsored by
third parties such as Schwab, UBS, Merrill Lynch, etc. In a wrap fee program, it is
not uncommon for fees to be shared with advisors. As an independent advisor, we
do not receive any fees from wrap fee programs. If you choose to participate in a
wrap program, you should obtain and read the related disclosure information.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, The Fairman Group managed approximately
$778,582,168 total assets for approximately 139 clients. Approximately
$450,126,374 was managed on a discretionary basis and $328,455,794 was
managed on a non-discretionary basis.