Cornerstone Professional Advisor Services, LLC. (“CPAS”) is a limited liability company
formed on September 1, 2001 in the state of New York. CPAS became registered as an
investment adviser on September 1, 2001. CPAS is equally owned by Alfonse Figliolia and
Steven Madonna.
CPAS offers its clients (individuals, high net worth individuals, pension and profit sharing
plans, business entities, trusts, estates and charitable organizations.) investment advisory
services, and, to the extent specifically requested by a client, financial planning.
INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES
The client can engage CPAS to provide discretionary investment advisory services on a
fee-only basis. CPAS’ annual investment advisory fee is based upon a percentage (%) of
the market value of the assets placed under CPAS’ management (between 0.25% and
1.50%) as follows:
Market Value of Portfolio % of Assets
Up to $500k 1.50%
$500,000 - $1,000,000 1.25%
$1,000,001 - $2,000,000 1.00%
$2,000,001 - $3,000,000 0.75%
$3,000,001 - $5,000,000 0.50%
More than $5,000,001 0.35%
CPAS’ annual investment advisory fee shall include investment advisory services, and, to
the extent specifically requested by the client, financial planning. In the event that the
client requires extraordinary financial planning (to be determined in the sole discretion
of CPAS), CPAS may determine to charge for such additional services, the dollar amount
of which shall be set forth in a separate written agreement to the client.
FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES
To the extent specifically requested by a client, CPAS may provide financial planning
(including investment and non-investment related matters, including retirement
planning, tax planning, education funding, estate planning, insurance planning, death and
disability planning, etc.) on a stand-alone separate fee basis. CPAS’ financial planning fees
are negotiable, but generally range from $150 to $250 on an hourly rate basis, depending
upon the level and scope of the service(s) required and the professional(s) rendering the
service(s). Prior to engaging CPAS to provide financial planning, clients are generally
required to enter into a Financial Planning and Consulting Agreement with CPAS setting
forth the terms and conditions of the engagement (including termination), describing the
scope of the services to be provided, and the portion of the fee that is due from the client
prior to CPAS commencing services. If requested by the client, CPAS may recommend the
services of other professionals for implementation purposes, including its affiliated
certified public accounting firm, Madonna & Co., (“M+C”) and/or CPAS’ representatives,
Al Figliolia and Steven Madonna, in their individual capacities as licensed insurance
agents. (See additional information below in Item 10 - Other Financial Industry Activities
and Affiliations). The client is under no obligation to engage the services of any such
recommended professional(s). The client retains absolute discretion over all such
implementation decisions and is free to accept or reject any recommendation from CPAS.
Please Note: If the client engages any such recommended professional, and a dispute
arises thereafter relative to such engagement, the client agrees to seek recourse
exclusively from and against the engaged professional.
Please Also Note: It remains the client’s responsibility to promptly notify CPAS if there is
ever any change in his/her/its financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose
of reviewing/evaluating/revising CPAS’ previous recommendations and/or services.
THIRD-PARTY ADVISORY SERVICES
CPAS may engage third-party advisors for the purpose of assisting it with the
management of its client’s accounts. The third-party advisors shall have discretionary
authority for the day-to-day management of the assets that are allocated to it by CPAS.
In connection with these arrangements, we will provide assistance in the initial selection
and ongoing monitoring of a particular third-party advisor. Factors that we consider in
the selection of a particular third-party advisor include but are not limited to: i) our
assessment of a particular third-party advisor; ii) your risk tolerance, goals, objectives and
restrictions, as well as investment experience; and iii) the assets you have available for
investment.
You should know that the services provided by us through the use of a third-party advisor
are under certain conditions directly offered by them to you.
The fees charged by third-party advisors who offer their programs directly to you may be
more or less than the combined fees charged by the third-party advisors and CPAS for our
participation in the investment programs.
However, when using the services of third party-advisors directly, you do not receive our
expertise in developing an investment strategy, selecting a third-party advisor,
monitoring the performance of your account and recommending a change of a particular
third-party advisor when appropriate.
Currently, CPAS recommends the third-party advisory services of Manning & Napier
Advisory
Advantage Corporation, SEI Investments, City National Rochdale LLC, Ascensus,
Transamerica Retirement Solutions, Nationwide and Paychex.
CPAS’ Chief Compliance Officer, Steve Solano, remains available to address any questions
concerning CPAS’ sub-advisory arrangements.
CUSTODIANS
CPAS contracts with other firms for administrative services in carrying out its duties under
its Asset Management Agreement, including trade processing at the direction of CPAS ,
collection of management fees, books and records maintenance and report preparation.
Client agrees to execute a limited power of attorney in favor of such firms as required for
them to carry out those services.
CPAS intends to use SEI Corporation (“SEI”) for such custodial services that may include
certain research and marketing assistance. Client acknowledges that SEI is acting only as
a provider of Administrative services to CPAS and CPAS is responsible to Client for all
investment advice provided pursuant to the Asset Management Agreement. SEI pays a
fee for services based on the fees paid to CPAS on accounts that use SEI. There is no
additional charge to the client for these services.
For those accounts managed by Manning & Napier Advisory Advantage Corporation,
Exeter Trust Company provides fiduciary trust and custody services upon which clients
are expected to acknowledge and sign separate account documents describing all fees
derived from this relationship.
CLIENT OBLIGATIONS
In performing its services, CPAS shall not be required to verify any information received
from the client or from the client’s other professionals, and is expressly authorized to rely
thereon. Moreover, each client is advised that it remains his/her/its responsibility to
promptly notify CPAS if there is ever any change in his/her/its financial situation or
investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising CPAS’ previous
recommendations and/or services.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
A copy of CPAS’ written Brochure as set forth on Part 2A of Form ADV shall be provided
to each client prior to, or contemporaneously with, the execution of the Asset
Management Agreement or Financial Planning and Consulting Agreement.
Any client who has not received a copy of CPAS’ written Brochure at least 48 hours prior
to executing the Asset Management Agreement or Financial Planning and Consulting
Agreement shall have five business days subsequent to executing the agreement to
terminate CPAS’ services without penalty.
CPAS shall provide investment advisory services specific to the needs of each client. Prior
to providing investment advisory services, an investment adviser representative will
ascertain each client’s investment objective(s). Thereafter, CPAS shall allocate and/or
recommend that the client allocate investment assets consistent with the designated
investment objective(s). The client may, at any time, impose reasonable restrictions, in
writing, on CPAS’ services.
IRA ROLLOVER CONSIDERATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CPAS complies with the Department of Labor (“DOL”) Prohibited Transaction Exemption
2020-02 (“PTE 2020-02”) where applicable. Our firm is providing the following additional
acknowledgment:
When we provide investment advice to individuals regarding a retirement plan account
or individual retirement account, we are deemed a fiduciary within the meaning of Title I
of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as
applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. The way we make money
creates potential conflicts with your interest. Therefore, we operate under a special rule
which requires us to act in a client’s best interest and not put our interest ahead of the
client. Under this special rule’s provisions, we must:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations
(give prudent advice);
• Never put the Adviser’s financial interests ahead of a client when making
recommendations (give loyal advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees and investments;
• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure advice given is in the client’s
best interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for services; and
• Provide basic information about conflicts of interest.
We benefit financially from the rollover of a client’s assets from a retirement account to
an account managed by the Firm. This is a primary conflict of interest because when we
provide investment advice, the assets increase the Firm assets under management and,
in turn, advisory fees. To meet the fiduciary responsibility, we only recommend a rollover
when it is deemed in the client’s best interest.
As of December 31, 2023, CPAS managed assets of $75,670,483 on a discretionary basis
at SEI Investments, Inc. CPAS also acts as a retirement plan co-fiduciary on $6,689,480 of
ERISA assets held at Ascensus, Paychex, Transamerica Retirement Solutions and
Nationwide. CPAS also acts as a solicitor for $47,891,166 of individual assets held at
Manning & Napier, as well as $2,465,006 of individual assets held at City National
Rochdale, LLC and. In total, CPAS manages $132,716,132 in client assets.