Firm Description and Types of Advisory Services
IFO provides various financial services to high net worth individuals, their families, their affiliated
entities and certain charitable entities (each referred to as “Client”). These services include
advice and implementation support for issues associated with investments, bill paying, payroll,
reporting, estate planning, trust accounting, income tax planning, preparation and compliance,
cash management and personal risk management, as well as the selection of other advisers. In
limited instances, IFO will manage Client investment accounts separately.
IFO was founded in 2005.
The Advisor serves as a fiduciary to Clients, as defined under 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. Our fiduciary commitment is further
described in our Code of Ethics. For more information regarding our Code of Ethics, please see
Item 11 – Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and Personal Trading.
Principal Owners
W. Michael Reickert is majority owner and Managing Member of IFO.
Types of Advisory Services:
Wealth Management Services
IFO 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 Supervisory Services
In the context of its investment supervisory services, IFO works with its clients to (1) identify
their investible assets, expected cash flows, and projected tax liabilities, (2) assess their risk
tolerances, (3) assess possible and probable investing outcomes based on historical
statistics for various asset allocations, (4) determine an appropriate allocation of assets
based on the foregoing factors, (5) identify suitable investment vehicles on a best practices
basis, (6) monitor the performance of the chosen vehicles to determine adherence to plan
and expectations, and (7) report performance information to its clients.
Individual determinations of investment allocation and investment vehicle selection are made by
the Client. IFO may accept limited trading authority from Clients to implement an investment
program.
Retirement Accounts – When deemed to be in the Client’s best interest, the Advisor will
recommend that a Client take a distribution from an ERISA sponsored plan or to roll over the
assets to an Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”), 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).
In such instances, the Advisor will serve as an investment fiduciary as that term is defined under
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The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and/or the Internal Revenue
Code (“IRC”), as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. 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.
Financial Planning
IFO offers financial planning services, which include, but are not limited to: cash
management,
risk management review, bill paying, reporting, insurance needs, retirement planning, estate and
charitable giving planning, tax planning, and negotiation of financing. Investment supervisory
services may be offered as a component of the overall financial planning services. These services
may also be offered on a standalone basis.
Financial planning recommendations may pose a conflict between the interests of the Advisor
and the interests of the Client. For example, IFO has an incentive to recommend that Clients
engage the Firm for investment management services or to increase the level of investment
assets with the Firm, as it would increase the amount of advisory fees paid to IFO. Clients are
not obligated to implement any recommendations made by the Firm or maintain an ongoing
relationship with the Firm. If the Client elects to act on any of the recommendations made by the
Firm, the Client is under no obligation to implement the transaction through the Firm.
Use of Independent Managers
IFO may recommend that certain Clients authorize the active discretionary management of a
portion of their assets by and/or among certain independent investment manager(s)
(Independent Manager(s)), based upon the stated investment objectives of the Client. The
terms and conditions under which the Client shall engage the Independent Manager(s) shall be
set forth in separate written agreements between the Client and the designated Independent
Manager(s). IFO shall continue to render services to the Client relative to the discretionary
selection of Independent Manager(s) as well as the monitoring and review of account
performance and Client investment objectives.
When selecting an Independent Manager for a Client, IFO shall review information about the
Independent Manager(s) such as its disclosure statement and/or material supplied by the
Independent Manager(s) 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 IFO shall consider in selecting Independent Manager(s) include the Client’s stated
investment objective(s), management style, performance, reputation, financial strength,
reporting, pricing, and research.
IFO does not receive compensation for the recommendation of other Independent Managers.
Tailored Relationships
IFO tailors investment advisory services to the individual needs of the Client. The goals and
objectives for each Client are documented in our Client relationship management system.
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Other Business Services
IFO provides diverse services to high net worth individuals, their families, their affiliated entities
and certain charitable entities. These services include advice and implementation assistance
with issues associated with investments, estate planning, trust accounting, income tax planning,
cash management and personal risk management. These services are intended to be similar to
those that might be provided by a dedicated family office.
IFO estimates that more than 75% of its activities on behalf of Clients represent services other
than providing investment advice.
Wrap Fee Programs
IFO does not participate in a Wrap Fee Program.
Client Assets
As of December 31, 2023, IFO provided supervisory or management services for $556,353,136
in assets, of which $17,120 is supervised/managed on a non-discretionary basis and
$556,336,016 is supervised/managed on a discretionary basis.