Wealth Management Associates, Inc. (WMA) is an investment advisor registered with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission and is a corporation formed under the laws of the state of New Jersey.
• James B. Johnson, III
is the
President, Managing Director and 50% owner of Wealth
Management Associates, Inc.
• David R. Hess is the firm’s Vice President, Managing Director Chief Compliance Officer, and 50%
owner of the firm.
• WMA has been registered as an investment advisor since March 5, 1999.
General Description of Primary Advisory Services
Following are brief descriptions of our primary advisory services. More detailed descriptions of our
advisory services are provided in
Item 5 – Fees and Compensation so that clients and prospective clients
can review the description of services and description of fees in a side-by-side manner.
Financial Planning Services – We provide advisory services in the form of financial planning services.
Financial planning services do not involve the active management of client accounts, but instead focuses
on a client’s overall financial situation. Financial planning can be described as helpi
ng individuals
determine and set their
long-term financial goals, thro
ugh investments, tax planning, asset allocation, risk
management, retirement planning, and other areas. T
he role of a financial planner is to find ways to help
the client understand his/her
overall financial situation and help t
he client set financial
objectives.
Asset Management Services – We provide advisory services in the form of asset management services.
Asset management services involve providing clients with continuous and on-going supervision over
client accounts. This means that we will continuously monitor a client’s account and make trades in client
accounts when necessary.
Qualified Plan Services -- We provide advisory services to qualified retirement plan accounts
established with outside custodians.
Retirement Plan Rollover Recommendations - When WMA provides investment advice about your
retirement plan account or individual retirement account (“IRA”) including whether to maintain investments
and/or proceeds in the retirement plan account, roll over such investment/proceeds from the retirement
plan account to a IRA or make a distribution from the retirement plan account, we acknowledge that WMA
is a “fiduciary” within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”)
and/or the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts.
The way WMA makes money creates conflicts with your interests so WMA operates under a special rule
that requires WMA to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of you.
Under this special rule’s provisions, WMA must act as a fiduciary to a retirement plan account or IRA
under ERISA/IRC:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (e.g.,
give prudent advice);
• Never put the financial interests of WMA ahead of you when making recommendations
(e.g., give loyal advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that WMA gives advice that is in your
best interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for the services of WMA; and
• Give Client basic information about conflicts of interest.
To the extent we recommend you roll over your account from a current retirement plan account to an
individual retirement account managed by WMA, please know that WMA and our investment adviser
representatives have a conflict of interest.
We
can earn increased investment advisory fees by recommending that you roll over your account at the
retirement plan to an IRA managed by WMA. We will earn fewer investment advisory fees if you do not
roll over the funds in the retirement plan to an IRA managed by WMA.
Thus, our investment adviser representatives have an economic incentive to recommend a rollover of
funds from a retirement plan to an IRA which is a conflict of interest because our recommendation that
you open an IRA account to be managed by our firm can be based on our economic incentive and not
based exclusively on whether or not moving the IRA to our management program is in your overall best
interest.
We have taken steps to manage this conflict of interest. We have adopted an impartial conduct standard
whereby our investment adviser representatives will (i) provide investment advice to a retirement plan
participant regarding a rollover of funds from the retirement plan in accordance with the fiduciary status
described below, (ii) not recommend investments which result in WMA receiving unreasonable
compensation related to the rollover of funds from the retirement plan to an IRA, and (iii) fully disclose
compensation received by WMA and our supervised persons and any material conflicts of interest related
to recommending the rollover of funds from the retirement plan to an IRA and refrain from making any
materially misleading statements regarding such rollover.
When providing advice to your regarding a retirement plan account or IRA, our investment advisor
representatives will act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then
prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the
conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims, based on the investment objectives, risk,
tolerance, financial circumstances, and a client’s needs, without regard to the financial or other interests
of WMA or our affiliated personnel.
Referral of Third-Party Money Managers – We provide advisory services by referring clients to outside,
or unaffiliated, money managers that are registered or exempt from registration as investment advisors.
Third-party money managers are responsible for continuously monitoring client accounts and making
trades in client accounts when necessary.
Seminars -- Associated persons of WMA may present seminars.
Limits Advice to Certain Types of Investments
WMA provides investment advice on the following types of investments:
• Exchange-listed securities (i.e. stocks)
• Securities traded over-the-counter (i.e. stocks)
• Foreign Issues
• Warrants
• Corporate debt securities (other than commercial paper)
• Commercial paper
• Certificates of deposit
• Municipal securities
• Variable life insurance
• Variable annuities
• Mutual fund shares
• United States government securities
• Options contracts on securities
WMA does not provide advice on foreign issues, hedge funds and other types of private (i.e. non-
registered) securities.
When providing asset management services, we typically construct each client’s account holdings using
fixed income investments, annuities, mutual funds and equities to build diversified portfolios. It is not our
typical investment strategy to attempt to time the market but we may increase cash holdings modestly as
deemed appropriate, based on your risk tolerance and our expectations of market behavior. We may
modify our investment strategy to accommodate special situations such as low basis stock, stock options,
legacy holdings, inheritances, closely held businesses, collectibles, or special tax situations. (Please refer
to Item 8 – Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss for more information.)
Tailor Advisory Services to Individual Needs of Clients
Our services are always provided based on the individual needs of each client. This means, for example,
that you are given the ability to impose restrictions on the accounts we manage for you, including specific
investment selections and sectors. We work with each client on a one-on-one basis through interviews
and questionnaires to determine the client’s investment objectives and suitability information.
Client Assets Managed by WMA
The amount of client’s assets managed by WMA under fee-based arrangements was $555,255,227 of as
of January 31, 2024. Approximately $545,857,707 these assets are managed on a discretionary basis
and approximately $9,397,520 are managed on a non-discretionary basis.