Coastal Bridge Advisors provides financial planning, consulting, and wealth management
services to its clients. Coastal Bridge Advisors provides close consultation and consideration
of its clients’ goals and risk tolerance before reaching a mutual decision with the client on how
best to seek to build and preserve their wealth. Coastal Bridge Advisors follows a rigorous and
disciplined process and seeks to leverage high-quality investment products and providers to
create a diversified portfolio aimed at meeting its clients’ objectives.
Coastal Bridge Advisors is results focused. The Firm’s goal-based investment planning process is
designed to deal with significant events in its clients’ lives and in the external environment. As
conditions change, Coastal Bridge Advisors will implement mid-course corrections with the
goal of keeping its clients on-track.
Coastal Bridge Advisors has been in business since December 2009. As of December 31, 2023,
Coastal Bridge Advisors had $2,814,677,305 in assets under management, of which
$2,783,196,006 was managed on a discretionary basis and $31,481,299 was managed on a
non-discretionary basis.
Prior to engaging Coastal Bridge Advisors to provide any of the foregoing investment advisory
services, the client is required to enter into one or more written agreements with Coastal
Bridge Advisors setting forth the terms and conditions under which Coastal Bridge Advisors
renders its services (collectively the “Agreement”).
This disclosure brochure describes the business of Coastal Bridge Advisors. Certain sections
will also describe the activities of Supervised Persons. Supervised Persons are any of Coastal
Bridge Advisors’ 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 Coastal Bridge Advisors’ behalf and is subject to Coastal Bridge Advisors’ supervision
or control.
Principal Ownership
Coastal Bridge Advisors is part of the Focus Financial Partners, LLC (“Focus LLC”) partnership.
Specifically, Coastal Bridge Advisors is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Focus LLC.
Ferdinand FFP Acquisition, LLC is the sole managing member of Focus LLC. Ultimate governance
of Focus LLC is conducted through the board of directors at Ferdinand FFP Ultimate Holdings,
LP. Focus LLC is majority-owned, indirectly and collectively, by investment vehicles affiliated
with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (“CD&R”). Investment vehicles affiliated with Stone Point
Capital LLC (“Stone Point”) are indirect owners of Focus LLC. Because Coastal Bridge Advisors is
an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Focus LLC, CD&R and Stone Point investment vehicles
are indirect owners of Coastal Bridge Advisors.
Focus LLC also owns other registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, pension consultants,
insurance firms, business managers and other firms (the “Focus Partners”), most of which
provide wealth management, benefit consulting and investment consulting services to
individuals, families, employers, and institutions. Some Focus Partners also manage or advise
limited partnerships, private funds, or investment companies as disclosed on their respective
Form ADVs.
Coastal Bridge Advisors is managed by Kevin Burns, William Loftus, James Pratt-Heaney and
Jeffrey Fuhrman ("Coastal Bridge Advisors Principals"), pursuant to a management agreement
between Partner Wealth Management, LLC and Coastal Bridge Advisors, LLC. The Coastal
Bridge Advisors Principals serve as officers of Coastal Bridge Advisors and are responsible for
the management, supervision and oversight of the Firm.
Financial Planning and Consulting Services
Coastal Bridge Advisors can provide its clients with a broad range of comprehensive financial
planning and consulting services. These services can include, but are not limited to, cash flow
analysis, retirement, education, business planning, investments, insurance, and tax needs of
the client. Additionally, through Financial Institutions (as defined below), Coastal Bridge
Advisors provides margin loans, collateralized loans against a client’s holdings and access to
residential mortgages. The Firm’s financial planning and consulting services can be included
as part of Coastal Bridge Advisors’ overall investment management services (described below).
Coastal Bridge Advisors may recommend the services of itself, and/or other professionals to
implement its recommendations. Clients are advised that a conflict of interest exists if Coastal
Bridge Advisors recommends its own services. The client is under no obligation to act upon
any of the recommendations made by Coastal Bridge Advisors under a financial planning or
consulting engagement or to engage the services of any such recommended professional,
including Coastal Bridge Advisors itself. The client retains absolute discretion over all such
implementation decisions and is free to accept or reject any of Coastal Bridge Advisors’
recommendations. Clients are advised that it remains their responsibility to promptly notify
Coastal Bridge Advisors if there is ever any change in their financial situation or investment
objectives for the purpose of reviewing, evaluating, or revising Coastal Bridge Advisors’
previous recommendations and/or services.
Investment Management Services
As detailed in Item 8, Coastal Bridge Advisors provides investment management services to its
clients. Coastal Bridge Advisors allocates a majority of client investment management assets
among Independent Managers (as defined below) in accordance with their stated investment
objectives. In addition, Coastal Bridge Advisors also recommends that certain eligible clients
invest in privately placed securities, which can include debt, equity and/or interests in pooled
investment vehicles (e.g., hedge funds). Coastal Bridge Advisors also allocates a portion of
client assets to the Coastal Bridge Advisors Wrap Fee Program (the “Wrap Program”), a wrap
fee program. A complete description of the Wrap Program’s terms and conditions (including
fees) are contained in the Wrap Program’s wrap fee brochure.
We implement investment advice on behalf of certain clients in held-away accounts that are
maintained at independent third-party custodians. These held-away accounts are often 401(k)
accounts, 529 plans and other assets that are not held at our primary custodian(s).
The order management system that we use for some held-away accounts is provided by
Pontera Solutions, Inc. We review, monitor, and manage those held-away accounts in an
integrated way with client accounts held at our primary custodian(s). Further information
about this service is available in Item 5.
Where appropriate, the Firm also provides advice about
any type of legacy position or other
investment held in client portfolios, however, clients should not assume that these assets are
being continuously monitored or otherwise advised on by the Firm unless specifically agreed
upon. Clients can engage Coastal Bridge Advisors to manage and/or advise on certain
investment products that are not maintained at their primary custodian, such as variable life
insurance and annuity contracts and assets held in employer sponsored retirement plans and
qualified tuition plans (i.e., 529 plans). In these situations, Coastal Bridge Advisors directs or
recommends the allocation of client assets among the various investment options available
with the product. These assets are generally maintained at the underwriting insurance
company or the custodian designated by the product’s provider.
Coastal Bridge Advisors tailors its advisory services to meet the needs of its individual clients
and seeks to ensure, on a continuous basis, that client portfolios are managed in a manner
consistent with those needs and objectives. Coastal Bridge Advisors consults with clients on an
initial and ongoing basis to assess their specific risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity
constraints and other related factors relevant to the management of their portfolios. Clients
are advised to promptly notify Coastal Bridge Advisors if there are changes in their financial
situation or if they wish to place any limitations on the management of their portfolios. Clients
can impose reasonable restrictions or mandates on the management of their accounts if
Coastal Bridge Advisors determines, in its sole discretion, the conditions would not materially
impact the performance of a management strategy or prove overly burdensome to the Firm’s
management efforts.
As a fiduciary, we have duties of care and of loyalty to you and are subject to obligations
imposed on us by the federal and state securities laws. As a result, you have certain rights that
you cannot waive or limit by contract. Nothing in our agreement with you should be
interpreted as a limitation of our obligations under the federal and state securities laws or as
a waiver of any unwaivable rights you possess.
Use of Independent Managers
As mentioned above, Coastal Bridge Advisors recommends that most clients authorize the
active discretionary management of a portion of their assets by and/or among certain
independent investment managers (“Independent Managers”), based upon the stated
investment objectives of the client. The terms and conditions under which the client engages
the Independent Managers are set forth in a written agreement between Coastal Bridge
Advisors and the designated Independent Managers or wrap sponsor (such as Envestnet Inc.).
For certain Independent Managers, the specific terms and conditions may be set forth in a
separate written agreement between the client and the Independent Manager. Coastal Bridge
Advisors generally renders services to the client relative to the discretionary selection of
Independent Managers. Coastal Bridge Advisors also monitors and reviews the account
performance and the client’s investment objectives. Coastal Bridge Advisors receives an
annual advisory fee which is based upon a percentage of the market value of the assets being
managed by the designated Independent Managers.
When selecting an Independent Manager for a client, Coastal Bridge Advisors reviews
information about the Independent Manager such as its disclosure statement and/or material
supplied by the Independent Manager or independent third parties for a description of the
Independent Manager’s investment strategies past performance and risk results to the extent
available. Factors that Coastal Bridge Advisors considers in recommending an Independent
Manager include the client’s stated investment objectives, management style, performance,
reputation, financial strength, reporting, pricing, and research. The investment management
fees charged by the designated Independent Managers, together with the fees charged by the
corresponding designated broker-dealer/custodian of the client’s assets, are exclusive of, and
in addition to, Coastal Bridge Advisors’ investment advisory fee.
In addition to Coastal Bridge Advisors’ written disclosure statement, the client also receives
the written disclosure statement of the designated Independent Managers. Certain
Independent Managers can impose more restrictive account requirements and varying billing
practices than Coastal Bridge Advisors. In such instances, Coastal Bridge Advisors can alter its
corresponding account requirements and/or billing practices to accommodate those of the
Independent Managers.
Subadvisory Arrangement
Coastal Bridge Advisors is a subadviser of Fergus Reinsurance Limited (“Fergus” or the “Fund”),
a Bermuda-based reinsurance company. Depending on our clients’ investment objectives and
risk tolerance and their eligibility to invest in Fergus, we will recommend Fergus to our clients
as a way to diversify their portfolios. See Items 5 and 10 for additional information.
Advice to Retirement Plan Participants
Coastal Bridge Advisors is a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974, as amended (“ERISA”) with respect to investment management services and investment
advice provided to ERISA plans and ERISA plan participants. Coastal Bridge Advisors is also a
fiduciary under section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “IRC”)
with respect to investment management services and investment advice provided to
individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), ERISA plans, and ERISA plan participants. As such,
Coastal Bridge Advisors is subject to specific duties and obligations under ERISA and the IRC,
as applicable, that include, among other things, prohibited transaction rules which are
intended to prohibit fiduciaries from acting on conflicts of interest. When a fiduciary gives
advice, the fiduciary must either avoid certain conflicts of interest or rely upon an applicable
prohibited transaction exemption (a “PTE”).
Retirement Plan Consulting Services
Coastal Bridge Advisors provides various consulting services to qualified employee benefit
plans and their fiduciaries. This suite of institutional services is designed to assist plan sponsors
in structuring, managing and optimizing their corporate retirement plans. Each engagement
is individually negotiated and customized, and includes any or all of the following services:
Plan Design and Strategy; Plan Review and Evaluation; Executive Planning & Benefits;
Investment Selection; Plan Fee and Cost Analysis; Plan Committee Consultation; Fiduciary and
Compliance; and Participant Education.