A. Altruist is a Limited Liability Company organized in the state of Michigan and has
been operating since 2001. It is owned by Eric E. Haas.
B. You can buy three different fee-only services from Altruist: Comprehensive
Financial Plan Service, Investing Plan Service, and a Portfolio Management Service.
I. ALTRUIST®ComprehensiveFinancialPlanService
Altruist’s principle financial planning service is the ALTRUIST®
Comprehensive Financial Plan. The ALTRUIST® Comprehensive Financial
Plan is based upon a client’s answers to a questionnaire. Altruist analyzes
their current situation and assesses how well they are positioned to achieve
their stated goals. Next Altruist makes recommendations for changes to their
financial situation (esp. their investments) which we believe will allow them
a better chance at meeting their goals, considering their current situation,
their stated goals, their investment time horizon, and their individual level of
risk tolerance. The plan’s investment recommendations assume that the
client intends to transition to the ALTRUIST® Portfolio Management Service.
ProspectiveclientswhodonotintendtotransitiontotheALTRUIST®
PortfolioManagementServiceshouldnotbuythisservice.
Altruist then submits the plan to the individual and educates them on
relevant issues associated with the plan and answers any questions they
might have.
Altruist intends to provide the following investment advisory services to
ALTRUIST® Comprehensive Financial Plan Service clients: (i) educating
clients about the principles of sound investing; (ii) assisting clients in
choosing target strategic asset allocation guidelines; and (iii) providing
advice regarding mutual fund investing and the types of mutual funds clients
may wish to consider, including recommendations on specific funds (this
may include both open-end mutual funds and Exchange-Traded Funds
(ETFs)).
While investment advice described above will be a component of Altruist
services, Altruist will provide a broad range of financial planning advice,
including, among other things, estate planning, insurance, taxes, and
retirement matters.
II. ALTRUIST®InvestingPlanService
The ALTRUIST® Investing Plan service is intended for investors who have no
need for comprehensive financial planning services, but instead desire to
solely concentrate on planning their investing strategy and its
implementation. Unlike the Comprehensive Financial Plan Service, the
Investing Plan Service is focused, rather than holistic. It concentrates on
developing a custom asset allocation, including tax-sensitive asset location
and specific investment recommendations. Unlike the Comprehensive
Financial Planning Service, the Investing Plan Service does NOT include a 12-
month consultation enrollment. The plan’s investment recommendations
assume that the client intends to transition to the ALTRUIST® Portfolio
Management Service. Prospectiveclientswhodonotintendtotransition
totheALTRUIST®PortfolioManagementServiceshouldnotbuythis
service.
Altruist intends to provide the following investment advisory services to
ALTRUIST® Investing Plan clients: (i) educating clients about the principles
of sound investing; (ii) assisting clients in choosing target strategic asset
allocation guidelines; and (iii) providing advice regarding mutual fund
investing and the types of mutual funds clients may wish to consider,
including recommendations on specific funds (this may include both open-
end mutual funds and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)).
III. ALTRUIST®PortfolioManagementService
The ALTRUIST® Portfolio Management Service provides ongoing
management of a client’s portfolio. This management is based on the
methods and principles described broadly in section 8(A).
In general, all ALTRUIST® Portfolio
Management Service clients must first
have been enrolled in one of Altruist’s Financial Planning Services. Upon
transitioning from the ALTRUIST® Comprehensive Financial Planning
service to the ALTRUIST® Portfolio Management Service, Altruist will
typically credit client accounts for $1,000 in order to avoid double billing for
similar services. This $1,000 credit does not apply to (and is unavailable to)
purchasers of the ALTRUIST® Investing Plan service, because there is no
such overlap to justify it.
After delivery and acceptance of the initial financial plan, Altruist drafts a
written Investment Policy Statement that the client approves and signs. Each
Investment Policy Statement describes a target portfolio asset allocation in
which assets are allocated between equity and fixed income investments and
among several asset classes. The document also describes the principles and
restrictions which will govern our ongoing management.
Once a client has agreed to an Investment Policy Statement, Altruist prepares
specific recommendations regarding how to implement the policy. The
recommendations will include specific mutual funds and amounts of each
recommended transaction. All recommendations will be accompanied by
rationale supporting them.
Upon receiving recommendations, a client can either accept, reject, or modify
them. Unless discretionary authority is explicitly authorized in writing,
Altruist will never exercise discretionary authority to trade a client’s account.
For each asset class, recommended investments will generally be in one or a
few no-load mutual funds that Altruist considers representative, in terms of
risk/return characteristics and diversification, of the entire asset class. To
accomplish this, Altruist will generally utilize passively managed (e.g.,
“index”) mutual funds.
Altruist will review each account at least quarterly and, if appropriate, will
recommend rebalancing each account periodically to maintain the client’s
selected strategic asset allocation exposure. Decisions whether to
recommend rebalancing a portfolio account may be affected by the
transaction costs that may be involved (including taxes). If a client’s risk
tolerance, return objectives, or other factors affecting the management of his
or her account change, Altruist prepares a revised Investment Policy
Statement, which the client generally must approve before changes in the
client’s target asset allocation are implemented. It is the client’s
responsibility to communicate to Altruist such changes in their situation.
Generally, Altruist will not accept accounts of less than $3,000,000, but
exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.
Altruist provides ongoing Investment Management services to its clients
primarily, but not exclusively, on a non-discretionary basis.
C. Altruist tailors its advisory services to the individual needs of clients. This is done
during the planning stage, when we analyze a client’s unique preferences and needs
to synthesize an approach that best meets those needs while conforming with the
principles of prudent investing.
Clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain securities or types of
securities.
D. Altruist does NOT participate in wrap fee programs. A “wrap fee program” is an
arrangement under which all advice and transactions would be provided for a single
fee that is not based on the transactions in a client’s account. If we offered it, we
believe that this sort of arrangement would amount to a conflict of interest that
would not serve our clients well.
E. Client assets under Management. As of 12/31/2023, Altruist had the following
assets under management:
Discretionary: $ 73,236,288
Non‐Discretionary: $ 238,859,440
Total: $ 312,095,728