GKFO has been in business as an SEC registered investment adviser since August 2009. The firm’s
current principal owners, Dr. Christopher C. Geczy, Ph.D., and Stephen R. Kitching, formed GKFO to
provide high net worth families and others with highly customized, client-centric wealth management
solutions. The firm offers a variety of family office and investment management services. As of December
31, 2023, GKFO had $$29,124,138 in assets under management, of which $12,751,480 was managed on
a discretionary basis and $16,372,658 was managed on a non-discretionary basis.
Because GKFO did not have the Regulatory Assets Under Management to be eligible for SEC registration
at the end of the Firm’s fiscal year, December 31st 2023. GKFO has registered as a relying adviser to
Forefront Analytics, LLC.
Prior to engaging GKFO to provide any of the foregoing investment advisory services, clients generally
enter into one or more written agreements with GKFO setting forth the terms and conditions under which
GKFO renders its services (collectively the “Agreement”).
This Disclosure Brochure describes the business of GKFO. Certain sections will also describe the
activities of Supervised Persons. Supervised Persons are any of GKFO’s officers, partners, directors
(or other persons occupying a similar status or performing similar functions), or employees, or any other
person who provides investment advice on GKFO’s behalf and is subject to GKFO’s supervision or control.
Financial Planning and Consulting Services
GKFO offers clients a broad range of financial planning and consulting services, addressing a multitude of
matters, which include the following, without limitation:
•Retirement planning
•Estate planning
•Financial modeling
•Consolidated reporting
•Cash management
•Balance sheet analysis
•Tax strategy
•Trust administration
•Succession planning
In performing its services, GKFO is not required to verify any information received from the client or from
the client’s other professionals (e.g., attorney, accountant, etc.) and is expressly authorized to rely on such
information. GKFO will recommend the services of itself, its affiliates, and/or other professionals to
implement its recommendations. Clients are advised that a conflict of interest exists if GKFO recommends
its own services or the services of its affiliates, as discussed in Item 10 (below). The client is under no
obligation to act upon any of the recommendations made by GKFO under a financial planning or consulting
engagement or to engage the services of any such recommended professional, including GKFO itself. The
client retains absolute discretion over all such implementation decisions and is free to accept or reject any
of GKFO’s recommendations. Clients are advised that it remains their responsibility to promptly notify
GKFO if there is ever any change in their financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of
reviewing, evaluating, or revising GKFO’s previous recommendations and/or services.
Disclosure Brochur
Family Office Services
GKFO also provides family office services, comprised of both portfolio management and ongoing financial
planning and consulting services. The terms and conditions of each family office arrangement are
individually negotiated by GKFO and the client and typically memorialized in writing prior to commencement
of the agreed upon services.
As part of this service offering, GKFO will perform a range of additional family related functions, which may
address the following, without limitation:
•Wealth transfer
•Philanthropic concerns
•Family governance
•Insurance design
•Investment policies
•Mission statements
•Real estate and private
business transactions
•Debt optimization
•Trust administration
•Concierge services
•Legacy planning
•Expense management
•Mortgage financing
•Foundations
Investment Management
GKFO offers investment management services to its clients. In doing so, GKFO manages all or a portion
of its clients’ assets on a discretionary, non-discretionary or advisory basis.
GKFO primarily recommends or allocates clients’ investment management assets among exchange-traded
funds (“ETFs”), mutual funds, individual debt and equity securities, independent investment managers
(“Independent Managers”), alternative investment vehicles and/or derivatives and other securities or
investments in accordance with the clients’ individual investment objectives. GKFO will recommend that
certain clients invest in private placement investments, which may include, without limitation, debt, equity,
and/or pooled investment vehicles when consistent with the clients’ investment objectives. GKFO also
provides advice about legacy positions or investments otherwise held in clients' portfolios, but clients should
not assume that these assets are being continuously monitored or otherwise advised on by the Firm unless
specifically agreed upon.
GKFO also offers investment management services to clients relative to other products that are not held by
the client’s primary custodian. In so doing, GKFO either directs or recommends the allocation of client
assets among the various investment options that are available with the product or provides an opinion
thereon. Client assets are maintained at the specific custodian.
GKFO generally tailors its advisory services to the individual needs of clients. GKFO consults with clients
initially and on an ongoing basis to determine risk tolerance, time horizon and other factors that may impact
the clients’ investment needs. GKFO seeks to ensure that clients’ investments are suitable for their
investment needs, goals, objectives and attitude toward risk.
Clients are advised to promptly notify GKFO if there are changes in their financial situation or investment
objectives or if they wish to impose any reasonable restrictions upon GKFO’s management services. A
client may impose reasonable restrictions or mandates on the management of their account (e.g., require
that a portion of their assets be invested in socially responsible funds) if, in GKFO’s sole discretion, the
conditions will not materially impact the performance of a portfolio strategy or prove overly burdensome to
its management efforts.
Use of Unified Managed Account Platforms
In certain circumstances, GKFO recommends the use of unrelated third party non-wrap unified managed
account platforms (“UMA Platform”) in which GKFO can make available for clients’ accounts the investment
strategies of investment managers or model portfolios provided by model providers participating in the UMA
Platform. GKFO will utilize the model portfolio provided by UMA Platform affiliated providers including its
affiliate Forefront Analytics, LLC for certain clients. Implementation of account allocations to all mutual
funds, ETFs, and other investments available through the selected custodian(s), and account features and
overlay management services are provided on the platform and not by GKFO. However, because GKFO
does not control UMA Platform Provider’s execution of transactions for its client accounts, GKFO cannot
control the market impact of such transactions to the same extent that it would for its own discretionary
client accounts or the precise timing of such trades. Non-wrap fee accounts will not pay an all-inclusive
wrap fee. These clients generally pay for execution and custody services.
For all UMA Platform accounts,
the UMA Provider is granted trading authority through the platform investment advisory agreement. All
responsibility for execution of trades is taken by the UMA Platform provider, who aggregates trades to its
policies and procedures. Those aggregation policies and procedures are available in the UMA Platform
Provider’s Form ADV Part 2A disclosure brochure.
Where GKFO’s affiliate’s model portfolios or portfolios that are similar are selected on the UMA Platform
for clients, the recommendations of the model portfolios may reflect recommendations being made by
GKFO or its affiliates contemporaneously to, or investment advisory decisions made contemporaneously
for, similarly situated discretionary clients of GKFO or affiliated entities. As a result, GKFO or its affiliates
may have already commenced trading before GKFO client accounts engaging the UMA Platform have
received or had the opportunity to evaluate or act on the model portfolio information. In this circumstance,
trades ultimately placed for client accounts engaging the UMA Platform may be subject to price movements,
particularly with large orders or where securities are thinly traded, that may result in client accounts
engaging the UMA Platform receiving prices that are less favorable than prices obtained by GKFO or its
affiliates for its client accounts.
Conversely, a UMA Platform Provider may initiate trading based on GKFO’s affiliate’s model portfolio
information before or at the same time GKFO or its affiliates are also trading for its client accounts not
engaging the UMA Platform. Particularly with large orders or where securities are thinly traded, this could
result in GKFO’s non-UMA Platform clients receiving prices that are less favorable than prices that might
otherwise have been obtained absent the UMA Platform Provider’s trading activity.
Use of Independent Managers
As mentioned above, GKFO selects certain Independent Managers to actively manage a portion of its
clients’ assets. The specific terms and conditions under which a client engages an Independent Manager
may be set forth in a separate written agreement with the designated Independent Manager. In addition to
this brochure, clients may also receive the written disclosure documents of the respective Independent
Managers engaged to manage their assets.
GKFO evaluates a variety of information about Independent Managers, which includes the Independent
Managers’ public disclosure documents, materials supplied by the Independent Managers themselves and
other third-party analyses it believes are reputable. To the extent possible, the Firm seeks to assess the
Independent Managers’ investment strategies, past performance and risk results in relation to its clients’
individual portfolio allocations and risk exposure. GKFO also takes into consideration each Independent
Manager’s management style, returns, reputation, financial strength, reporting, pricing and research
capabilities, among other factors.
GKFO continues to provide services relative to the discretionary or non-discretionary selection of the
Independent Managers. On an ongoing basis, the Firm monitors the performance of those accounts being
managed by Independent Managers. GKFO seeks to ensure the Independent Managers’ strategies and
target allocations remain aligned with its clients’ investment objectives and overall best interests.
Affiliated Collective Investment Vehicle
GKFO’s affiliate, Forefront Analytics, LLC (“Forefront”), is the investment adviser to the Forefront Select
Master Fund, L.P. (the “FFSF Fund” or the “Private Funds”), as well as other private funds in the future,
which are Delaware limited partnerships formed to engage primarily in the business of investing and trading
in securities and other instruments. GKFO recommends that certain of its clients invest in the Private
Funds. Interests in the Private Funds are privately offered pursuant to Regulation D under the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended. The Private Funds currently rely on an exemption from registration under the
Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. GKFO’s affiliate has discretionary authority to determine
a broker or dealer to be used by the Private Funds.
The FFSF Fund seeks to grow capital by allocating its assets among hedge fund and other private fund
shares potentially (including shares of affiliated funds) that represent a spectrum of risk exposures in an
attempt to produce positive and less than perfect correlation to equity markets. The FFSF fund may also
allocate assets among ETFs, mutual funds, debt and equity securities, and other such instruments.
In managing the FFSF’s assets, the Manager seeks to measure risk and then balance identified risks
through diversifying the Fund’s investments in shares of privately offered funds (possibly including shares
of affiliated funds). The Manager uses both a top-down and bottom-up approach that combines qualitative
and quantitative analysis to determine strategy and inputs. Examples of qualitative inputs could include
position, trade, strategy, risk outlook comments from underlying managers, market observations and views
of the Manager’s investment team. Examples of quantitative inputs could include the statistical analysis of
historical returns, measured sensitivity to various factors or market or economic shocks, scenario analysis,
risk factor trend analysis, or the monitoring of strategy variances through time. These strategies and inputs
are necessarily imperfect and past returns are not necessarily indicative of future outcomes.
Through these investment strategies, the Manager seeks to take additional risks (potentially avoiding
redundant exposures) through different market environments. The Fund’s final investment portfolio will be
a combination of all of the Manager’s various investment strategies.
Participation as an investor in the Private Funds is restricted to qualifying investors pursuant to the
requirements set forth under the federal securities laws.
To the extent certain of GKFO’s individual advisory clients qualify, they will be eligible to participate as
limited partners of the Private Funds. Investment in the Private Funds involves a significant degree of risk.
Relevant information, terms and conditions relative to the Private Funds, including the compensation
received by GKFO or any affiliate as the general partner and/or investment manager, suitability, risk factors,
and potential conflicts of interest, are set forth in the Confidential Private Offering Memorandum (the
“Memorandum”), Limited Partnership Agreement (the “Agreement”), and Subscription Agreement (together,
the “Offering Documents”), which each investor is required to receive and/or execute prior to being accepted
as an investor in the Private Funds. There is a conflict of interest for the Firm to recommend an investment
in the Private Funds. The Firm will only do so if it is in the best interest of the client.
GKFO and Forefront devote their best efforts with respect to the management of both individual client
accounts and the Private Funds. Given the above discussion relative to the objectives, suitability, risk
factors, and qualifications for participation in the Private Funds, Forefront may manage the investments of
the Private Funds differently from GKFO’s management of individual client accounts.