Description of Services and Fees
Summit Financial Wealth Advisors, LLC ("Summit Financial," "we," "us" or the "Company") is a
registered investment adviser with offices in Lafayette, Louisiana; Monroe, Louisiana; Shreveport,
Louisiana and Ruston, Louisiana. Summit Financial succeeded to the advisory business of its
predecessor, Summit Financial of Louisiana, Inc., which was originally founded in 2010.
Summit Financial Wealth Advisors is part of the Focus Financial Partners, LLC ("Focus LLC")
partnership. Specifically, Summit Financial Wealth 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 Summit Financial Wealth Advisors is
an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Focus LLC, CD&R and Stone Point investment vehicles are
indirect owners of Summit Financial Wealth 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.
Our Management
We are managed by David R. Daniel, Todd F. Lambert, Michael E. Pharr, Suzette Broussard, Wesley
Gatreaux, Douglas Daniel and Lena Satge Ormond ("Summit Principals", pursuant to a management
agreement between Southern Asset Management ("Management Company") and Summit Financial.
The Summit Principals serve as officers of Summit Financial and are responsible for the management,
supervision and oversight of Summit Financial.
The following paragraphs describe our services and fees. Please refer to the description of each
investment advisory service listed below for information on how we tailor our advisory services to your
individual needs. As used in this brochure, the words "we", "our" and "us" refer to Summit Financial
Wealth Advisors, LLC and the words "you", "your" and "client" refer to you as either a client or
prospective client of our Company. Also, you may see the term Associated Person throughout this
brochure. As used in this brochure, our Associated Persons are our Company's officers, employees,
and all individuals providing investment advice on behalf of our Company.
Portfolio Management Services
We offer discretionary portfolio management services. Our investment advice is tailored to meet
your needs and investment objectives. If you retain us for portfolio management services, we will meet
with you to determine your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and other relevant information (the
"suitability information") at the beginning of our advisory relationship. We will use the suitability
information we gather to develop a strategy that enables us to give you continuous and focused
investment advice and/or to make investments on your behalf. As part of our portfolio management
services, we will customize an investment portfolio for you in accordance with your risk tolerance and
investing objectives. Your portfolio is individually managed and may or may not be similar to another
client with the same objectives. Once we construct an investment portfolio for you, or select a model
portfolio, we will monitor your portfolio's performance on an ongoing basis and will rebalance the
portfolio as required by changes in market conditions and in your financial circumstances.
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If you participate in our discretionary portfolio management services, we require you to grant
us discretionary authority to manage your account. Discretionary authorization will allow us to
determine the specific securities, and the amount of securities, to be purchased or sold for your
account without your approval prior to each transaction. Discretionary authority is typically granted by
the investment advisory agreement you sign with us, a power of attorney, or trading authorization
forms. You may limit our discretionary authority (for example, limiting the types of securities that can be
purchased for your account) by providing us with your restrictions and guidelines in writing. If you enter
into non-discretionary arrangements, we must obtain your approval prior to executing any transactions
on behalf of your account.
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).
Pension Consulting and Portfolio Management Services
Summit Financial is a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as
amended ("ERISA") with respect to portfolio management services and investment advice provided to
ERISA plan clients, including ERISA plan participants. Summit Financial is also a fiduciary under the
Internal Revenue Code (the "IRC") with respect to portfolio management services and investment
advice provided to ERISA plans, ERISA plan participants, IRAs and IRA owners (collectively
"Retirement Account Clients").
We offer pension consulting services as a fiduciary to employee benefit plans under ERISA and their
fiduciaries as an ERISA 3(21) investment advisor based upon the needs of the plan and the services
requested by the plan sponsor or named fiduciary. In general, these services may include, preparation
of an Investment Policy Statement, existing plan review and analysis, investment option search and
recommendations, plan review and ongoing investment option monitoring and review,
employee/participant education, assets allocation modeling in managed accounts or allocation of fund
securities, and/or ongoing consulting. We do not have any discretionary authority with respect to the
allocation of securities in the plan.
We may also provide non-fiduciary services to assist with participant enrollment meetings and provide
investment-related educational seminars to plan participants on such topics as:
•Diversification
•Asset allocation
•Risk tolerance
•Time horizon
Our educational seminars may include other investment-related topics specific to the particular plan.
We may also provide additional types of pension consulting services to plans on an individually
negotiated basis. All services,
whether discussed above or customized for the plan based upon
requirements from the plan fiduciaries (which may include additional plan-level or participant-level
services) shall be detailed in a written agreement and be consistent with the parameters set forth in the
plan documents.
In addition, we provide portfolio management services as a fiduciary on a discretionary basis to certain
ERISA plans as an ERISA 3(38) investment manager – meaning that we make investment
management decisions in our sole discretion without the ERISA plan client's prior approval. These
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services are provided in accordance with a written portfolio management agreement, and the fees for
these investment advisory services are consistent with the fee schedule shown in the Portfolio
Management Services section above.
As a fiduciary under ERISA and the IRC, Summit Financial is subject to specific duties and obligations
under ERISA and the IRC 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 in
which it has a conflict of interest, the fiduciary must either avoid or eliminate the conflict or rely upon a
prohibited transaction exemption (a "PTE").
Selection of Other Advisers
As part of our investment advisory services, we may recommend that you use the services of a third
party money manager ("MM") to manage all, or a portion of, your investment portfolio. After gathering
information about your financial situation and objectives, we may recommend that you engage a
specific MM or investment program. Factors that we take into consideration when making our
recommendation(s) include, but are not limited to, the following: the MM's performance, methods of
analysis, fees, your financial needs, investment goals, risk tolerance, and investment objectives. We
will periodically monitor the MM(s)' performance to ensure its management and investment style
remains aligned with your investment goals and objectives.
Financial Solutions
We offer clients the option of obtaining certain financial solutions from unaffiliated third-party financial
institutions through UPTIQ Treasury & Credit Solutions, LLC (together with UPTIQ, Inc. and its
affiliates, "UPTIQ"). Please see Items 5 and 10 for a fuller discussion of these services and other
important information.
Business Management Services
We offer outsourced bookkeeping, accounting, management of payables and receivables and cash
flow management to small businesses and individuals.
Divorce Financial Consulting Services
Through a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) we are able to offer financial consulting and
analysis to attorneys and couples relating to divorce to achieve equitable divorce settlements using
knowledge of tax law, asset distribution, and short- and long-term financial planning.
Types of Investments
We offer advice on equity securities, warrants, corporate debt securities, commercial paper, certificates
of deposit, municipal securities, mutual funds, ETFs, US Government securities, pension and profit
sharing plans, options contracts on securities, and interests in partnerships investing in real estate and
oil and gas.
Additionally, we may advise you on any type of investment that we deem appropriate based on your
stated goals and objectives. We may also provide advice on any type of investment held in your
portfolio at the inception of our advisory relationship.
You may request that we refrain from investing in particular securities or certain types of securities.
You must provide these restrictions to us in writing.
IRA Rollover Recommendations
For purposes of complying with the DOL's Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 ("PTE 2020-02")
where applicable, we are providing the following acknowledgment to you. When we provide
investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual retirement account, we
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are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and/or the
Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. The way we
make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a special rule that
requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. Under this special rule's
provisions, we must:
•Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give prudent
advice);
•Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations (give loyal
advice);
•Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
•Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your best
interest;
•Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
•Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
We benefit financially from the rollover of your assets from a retirement account to an account that we
manage or provide investment advice, because the assets increase our assets under management
and, in turn, our advisory fees. As a fiduciary, we only recommend a rollover when we believe it is in
your best interest.
Summit Financial 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. Summit Financial is also a fiduciary under section 4975
of the Internal Revenue Code (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, Summit Financial is subject to specific duties and obligations under ERISA and
the IRC 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").
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.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, we provide continuous management services for $1,247,530,946 in client
assets on a discretionary basis, and $182,932,743 in client assets on a non-discretionary basis.