A. Firm Information
Gerber, LLC (“Gerber” or the “Advisor”) is a registered investment advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. The Advisor is organized as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) under the laws of the State of Ohio.
Gerber was founded in 1999 and is owned and operated by Randall T. Gerber. This Disclosure Brochure provides
information regarding the qualifications, business practices, and the advisory services provided by Gerber.
Gerber is an advisory practice partnering exclusively with growth-oriented first generation entrepreneurs to define
and achieve their professional and personal goals. Gerber’s mission is to be the premier professional services
practice in the United States for growth-oriented first generation entrepreneurs.
Gerber lives and breathes by our company values.
• BE PRESENT + BE POSITIVE
Gerber is comprised of active listeners, fully engaged in the here and now. The Advisor faces challenges
with optimism and remains hopeful, cheerful and enthusiastic even in the face of adversity, challenge or
disagreement.
• BOLD PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
Gerber embraces and drives change – both internally as a team and externally with Clients. The Advisor is
constantly seeking knowledge to deliver a seamless client experience through both curiosity and
resourcefulness. Gerber aims to provide teammates and clients clarity through clear articulation and
simple, thorough communications.
• LIVE + BREATHE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Gerber exists to inspire, encourage, and foster entrepreneurial growth. The Advisor is driven by the
innovation manifested through entrepreneurship. Gerber embraces and caters to the entrepreneurial
mindset and personality type. Gerber believes in process, and the Entrepreneurs serviced.
• HEALTHY SENSE OF URGENCY
Every action is important. For the team and clients alike, Gerber acts with a sense of drive and importance.
Gerber is eager and excited to tackle each task with an earnest and persistent quality. The Advisor does
not tackle a day’s work with stress and apprehension. Instead, Gerber respects deadlines and
communicates timeframes and expectations clearly, understanding and prioritizing the workflow and tasks
on a daily basis.
Gerber has a dedicated process to help improve each entrepreneur’s business, cash flow, and happiness factor.
The Gerber team knows the journey (sequencing) of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and provides an entrepreneurial
ecosystem to business owners. Gerber assists in solving the issues entrepreneurs do and do not see.
B. Advisory Services Offered
Gerber offers investment advisory services to individuals, high net worth individuals, trusts, estates, and businesses
(each referred to as a “Client”).
The Advisor serves as a fiduciary to Clients, as defined under the applicable laws and regulations. As a fiduciary,
the Advisor upholds a duty of loyalty, fairness and good faith towards each Client and seeks to mitigate potential
conflicts of interest. Gerber's fiduciary commitment is further described in the Advisor’s Code of Ethics. For more
information regarding the Code of Ethics, please see Item 11 – Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client
Transactions and Personal Trading.
Page 5
Wealth Management Services
Gerber provides wealth management services for its Clients. These services generally include a broad range of
comprehensive financial planning in connection with discretionary investment management of Client portfolios.
These services are described below.
Investment Management Services- Gerber provides customized investment advisory solutions for its Clients. This is
achieved through continuous personal Client contact and interaction while providing discretionary and non-
discretionary investment management and related advisory services. Gerber works closely with each Client to
identify their investment goals and objectives as well as risk tolerance and financial situation in order to create a
portfolio strategy. Gerber will then construct an investment portfolio consisting of diversified mutual funds and/or
exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) to achieve the Client’s investment goals. The Advisor may also utilize individual
stocks, bonds, alternative investments, structured notes, or options contracts to meet the needs of its Clients. The
Advisor may retain certain types of investments based on a Client’s legacy investments based on portfolio fit and/or
tax considerations.
Gerber’s investment strategies are primarily long-term focused, but the Advisor may buy, sell or re-allocate
positions that have been held for less than one year to meet the objectives of the Client or due to market
conditions. Gerber will construct, implement and monitor the portfolio to ensure it meets the goals, objectives,
circumstances, and risk tolerance agreed to by the Client. Each Client will have the opportunity to place reasonable
restrictions on the types of investments to be held in their respective portfolio, subject to acceptance by the Advisor.
Gerber evaluates and selects investments for inclusion in Client portfolios only after applying its internal due
diligence process. Gerber may recommend, on occasion, redistributing investment allocations to diversify the
portfolio. Gerber may recommend specific positions to increase sector or asset class weightings. The Advisor may
recommend employing cash positions as a possible hedge against market movement.
Gerber may recommend selling positions for reasons that include, but are not limited to, harvesting capital gains or
losses, business or sector risk exposure to a specific security or class of securities, overvaluation or overweighting
of the position[s] in the portfolio, change in risk tolerance of the Client, generating cash to meet Client needs, or any
risk deemed unacceptable for the Client’s risk tolerance. Please note that the fees for investment management will
be contingent upon whether or not the Client also engages Gerber for Entrepreneurial Planning.
Under certain circumstances, Gerber may accept or maintain custody of Client’s funds or securities. Please see
Item 15 – Custody for more information.
Retirement Accounts – When the Advisor provides investment advice to Clients regarding ERISA retirement
accounts or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), the Advisor is a fiduciary within the meaning of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and/or the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), as applicable,
which are laws governing retirement accounts.
When deemed to be in the Client’s best interest, the Advisor will
provide investment advice to a Client regarding a distribution from an ERISA retirement account or to roll over the
assets to an IRA, or recommend a similar transaction including rollovers from one ERISA sponsored Plan to
another, one IRA to another IRA, or from one type of account to another account (e.g. commission-based account
to fee-based account). Such a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if the Advisor will earn a new (or
increase its current) advisory fee as a result of the transaction. No client is under any obligation to roll over a
retirement account to an account managed by the Advisor.
Entrepreneurial Planning Services- Gerber will typically provide a variety of entrepreneurial/ financial planning and
consulting services to Clients (herein “Planning”), pursuant to a written Planning agreement. Services are offered in
several areas of a Client’s financial situation, depending on their goals and objectives. Generally, such Planning
services involve preparing a formal plan or rendering a specific consultation based on the Client’s goals and
objectives. This planning or consulting may encompass one or more areas of need, including but not limited to:
Page 6
Constructing Initial Assessment Estate Planning
Consulting to Business Owners Tax Planning
Goals Planning Risk Management Planning
Post-Retirement Planning Investment Planning
Education Planning Cash Flow Planning
Real Estate Planning Stock Rights Analysis
A plan developed for, or consultation rendered to the Client will usually include general recommendations for a
course of activity or specific actions to be taken by the Client. For example, recommendations may be made that
the Client start or revise their investment programs, commence or alter retirement savings, establish education
savings and/or charitable giving programs.
Gerber may also refer Clients to an accountant, attorney or other specialists, as appropriate for their unique
situation. For certain Planning engagements, the Advisor will provide a written summary of the Client’s financial
situation, observations, and recommendations. For consulting or ad-hoc engagements, the Advisor may not provide
a written summary. Plans or consultations are typically completed within six (6) months of contract date, assuming
all information and documents requested are provided promptly.
Planning recommendations pose a conflict between the interests of the Advisor and the interests of the Client. For
example, the Advisor has an incentive to recommend that Clients engage the Advisor for investment management
services or to increase the level of investment assets with the Advisor, as it would increase the amount of advisory
fees paid to the Advisor. Clients are not obligated to implement any recommendations made by the Advisor or
maintain an ongoing relationship with the Advisor. If the Client elects to act on any of the recommendations made
by the Advisor, the Client is under no obligation to implement the transaction through the Advisor.
Securities-Backed Loans
Gerber may introduce certain Clients to various commercial banks for securities-backed loans that are sourced and
collateralized through custodians that offer such services. In such instances, the Client’s assets in their account[s]
at the Custodian will be utilized as collateral for a securities-backed loan. The recommendation of a Lending
Program presents a conflict of interest as the Advisor will continue to receive investment advisory fees for
managing the collateralized assets in the Client’s account[s], however, the Advisor will not charge an advisory fee
on any loaned assets outside of the account. Clients are not obligated to engage the Advisor for the Lending
Program. For additional information related to the risks involved non-purpose loans and lines of credit, please see
Item 8 - Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss.
Retirement Plan Advisory Services
Gerber provides 3(21) retirement plan advisory services on behalf of the retirement plans (each a “Plan”) and the
company (the “Plan Sponsor”). The Advisor’s retirement plan advisory services are designed to assist the Plan
Sponsor in meeting its fiduciary obligations to the Plan and its Plan Participants. Each engagement is customized
to the needs of the Plan and Plan Sponsor.
Services generally include:
• Vendor Analysis
• Plan Participant Enrollment and Education Tracking
• Investment Policy Statement (“IPS”) Design and Monitoring
• Ongoing Investment Recommendation and Assistance
• ERISA 404(c) Assistance
• Benchmarking Services
These services are provided by Gerber serving in the capacity as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). In accordance with ERISA Section 408(b)(2), the Plan
Page 7
Sponsor is provided with a written description of Gerber’s fiduciary status, the specific services to be rendered and
all direct and indirect compensation the Advisor reasonably expects under the engagement.
C. Client Account Management
Prior to engaging Gerber to provide investment advisory services, each Client is required to enter into one or more
agreements with the Advisor that define the terms, conditions, authority and responsibilities of the Advisor and the
Client. These services may include:
• Establishing an Investment Strategy – Gerber, in connection with the Client, will develop a strategy that
seeks to achieve the Client’s goals and objectives.
• Asset Allocation – Gerber will develop a strategic asset allocation that is targeted to meet the investment
objectives, time horizon, financial situation and tolerance for risk for each Client.
• Portfolio Construction – Gerber will develop a portfolio for the Client that is intended to meet the stated
goals and objectives of the Client.
• Investment Management and Supervision – Gerber will provide investment management and ongoing
oversight of the Client’s investment portfolio.
D. Wrap Fee Programs
Gerber does not manage or place Client assets into a wrap fee program. Investment management services are
provided directly by Gerber.
E. Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, Gerber manages $502,825,887 in Client assets of which $492,986,251 are managed on
a discretionary basis and $9,839,636 on a non-discretionary basis. Clients may request more current information at
any time by contacting the Advisor.