Novi Wealth and its successor firm were founded in 1998. Novi Wealth is a Fee-Only™,
comprehensive financial planning firm. There are six (6) CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
practitioners in the firm, all are members of the prestigious National Association of Personal
Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and two are members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA).
Novi Wealth is primarily owned and managed by its managing principal, Robert Dunn.
Novi Wealth currently provides investment management services to approximately $425 million
dollars in assets under management on both a discretionary and non-discretionary basis.
Financial Planning:
Novi Wealth provides its clients with financial planning and consultation services (e.g., review of
goals and objectives, analysis and recommendations for cash flow planning, asset
allocation/investment planning, income tax planning, insurance planning, estate planning, retirement
planning, education planning, real estate/mortgage planning, etc.).
Investment Management Services:
Novi Wealth provides discretionary investment management services on a fee-only basis. Novi
Wealth primarily allocates client’s investment assets among: (1) the various mutual funds, mutual
fund asset allocation programs, and separate account management programs offered through
Charles Schwab & Company, Inc. (“Schwab”)and/or (2) among various mutual funds, and/or
independent managers offered by and/or obtained through SEI. In the event a sub-advisor is
selected, Novi Wealth or the sub-advisor will provide its respective disclosure brochures (ADV Part
2A) to its clients.
Novi Wealth takes a less subjective, more systematic approach to investing-an approach we can
implement consistently and is easily understood by the investors. The investment philosophy,
process, substantial education, and financial planning help our clients understand and stick with the
plan personally created for them.
1. Passive management is preferable to active management, especially in the core portion of a
portfolio. Find the most efficient investment method to increase the probability/likelihood
of a client meeting their financial objectives.
2. We focus on the factors we can control such as asset allocation, expenses, and style purity.
3. Manage the total portfolio for the highest after-tax return not the highest pretax return.
4. Our stock investments will be high risk because of their overweighting towards small cap
and value type stocks. Our bond investments will trend towards high quality and low
duration to reduce the overall risk of the portfolio. We will include alternative asset classes
such as global real estate and commodities in our portfolios to achieve as much
diversification as possible.
Our first step in the investment process is to decide on asset allocation that is appropriate to meet
the client’s financial objectives. Three primary factors go into the allocation decision; needs and
circumstances, risk tolerance and time horizon. Our financial planning process uncovers and
clarifies the needs and circumstances. The next step is to get an understanding of a client’s risk
tolerance. While there are no guarantees we discuss past investment experience and also request
that each client complete the FinaMetrica risk tolerance
questionnaire. Their score provides a good
approximation of the client’s risk tolerance. We combine their risk tolerance score with our
knowledge of their goals, time horizon, and their past experience with the financial markets to
formulate the most appropriate asset allocation. This asset allocation is documented and agreed
upon with the client when we present to them their investment policy statement.
We typically implement our investment strategies utilizing Schwab’s Institutional platform. When
possible, we will invest the asset allocation model across multiple accounts for tax and expense
efficiency. We will rebalance accounts as needed according to the investment policy statement.
SEI is a global asset management company and sponsor of its own proprietary mutual funds. SEI
Trust Company, a subsidiary of SEI, serves as custodian for each SEI account, and provides each
client with reporting services, including consolidated monthly statements, quarterly performance
reports, and year-end tax reports. SEI enables investment advisers such as Novi Wealth to offer its
clients mutual fund asset allocation models, underlying individual mutual funds, separate account
management services and investment management programs (i.e., tax managed investment
programs, etc.) that are not otherwise available to the general public. As part of its overall
investment management program, SEI offers quarterly rebalancing of each client’s investment assets
for the purpose of maintaining the assets in accordance with the client’s previously designated
percentage (%) asset allocations for the SEI account. If a client desires automatic account
rebalancing, he/she/they/it must first provide such authorization directly to Novi Wealth, who will
then advise SEI accordingly. Novi Wealth obtains many no-load mutual funds without transaction
charges and other mutual funds at nominal transaction charges.
With respect to its non-discretionary asset management services, Novi Wealth generally maintains
ongoing responsibility to make recommendations, based upon the needs of the client, as to the
securities the account may purchase or sell and, if such recommendation is accepted by the client,
Novi Wealth is responsible for arranging or effecting the purchase or sale.
Other Terms & Conditions:
Prior to engaging Novi Wealth to provide any investment management or financial planning
services, the client will be required to enter into an investment advisory agreement (“Advisory
Agreement”) setting forth the terms and conditions under which Novi Wealth shall manage the
client's assets, and a separate custodial/clearing agreement with each designated broker-dealer. The
Advisory Agreement between Novi Wealth and the client will continue in effect until terminated by
either party. An advisory client will have a period of five (5) business days from the date of signing this
agreement to unconditionally rescind the agreement and receive a full refund of all fees. The Advisory
Agreement will continue in effect until terminated by either party within 30 days written notice to the
other (email notice will not suffice). In the event the client terminates Novi Wealth’s services, the
balance of any unearned fee, if any, shall be refunded to the client.