Description of Services and Fees Amidon & Petersen Financials is a registered investment adviser based in Niverville, New York. We are organized as a limited liability company under the laws of the State of New York and have been providing investment advisory services since 2007. Our members individually have more than 30 years experience in the financial services industry. Douglas S. Petersen is our principal owner. Currently, we offer the following investment advisory services, which are personalized to each individual client:
•Financial Planning Services
•Portfolio Management Services
•Selection of Other Advisers
•Pension Consulting Services 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 Amidon & Petersen Financials and the words "you", "your" and "client" refer to you as either a client or prospective client of our firm. Also, you may see the term Associated Person or Investment Adviser Representative throughout this brochure. As used in this brochure, our Associated Persons or Investment Adviser Representatives are our firm's officers, employees, and all individuals providing investment advice on behalf of our firm.
Financial Planning and Consulting Services We offer modular and consultative financial planning services to clients who require advice on specific areas of their finances. Financial plans can be limited to retirement planning, educational planning, and estate planning, or it can start with your budget and include a detailed lifetime plan. If you retain our firm for financial planning services, we will meet with you to gather information about your financial circumstances and objectives. Once we review and analyze the information you provide to our firm, we will deliver a written plan or verbal recommendation to you, designed to help you achieve your stated financial goals and objectives.
Financial plans are based on your financial situation at the time we present the plan to you, and on the financial information you provide to our firm. You must promptly notify our firm if your financial situation, goals, objectives, or needs change.
The initial consultation with our firm is free. We charge a fixed fee of $250 for a basic financial plan, which is negotiable depending upon the complexity and scope of the plan, your financial situation, and your objectives. We also offer complex financial planning services and general consulting services on an hourly basis. Our rate for such services is $200 per hour and is negotiable depending on the scope and complexity of the plan, your financial situation, and your objectives. An estimate of the total time/cost will be determined at the start of the advisory relationship. In limited circumstances, the cost/time could potentially exceed the initial estimate. In such cases, we will notify you in advance and request that you approve the additional fee. Fees are due upon completion of services rendered. Under no circumstances will we require prepayment of a fee more than six months in advance and in excess of $500.
We will reduce the fee to $100 if you choose to participate in our portfolio management program with up to $50,000 in assets under management and will waive the fee if you deposit $50,000 or more in assets under management, or purchase commissionable products through associated persons of the firm in their separate capacities as insurance agents or registered representatives. However, you are under no obligation to act on our financial planning recommendations. Should you choose to act on 4 any of our recommendations, you are not obligated to implement the financial plan through any of our other investment advisory services. Moreover, you may act on our recommendations by placing securities transactions with any brokerage firm.
We also offer budget preparation at an hourly rate of $200 after the initial consultation. You may terminate the financial planning agreement within five days from the date of acceptance without penalty. After the five day period, either you or the firm may terminate the financial planning agreement by providing written notice to the other party. You will incur a pro rata charge for services rendered prior to the termination of the agreement. Refunds are not applicable since fees are paid upon completion of services rendered.
Portfolio Management Services We offer discretionary portfolio management services. Our investment advice is tailored to meet our clients' needs and investment objectives. If you retain our firm 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 our firm to give you continuous and focused investment advice and/or to make investments on your behalf. As part of our portfolio management services, we may customize an investment portfolio for you in accordance with your risk tolerance and investing objectives. Once we construct an investment portfolio for you, 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.
If you participate in our discretionary portfolio management services, we require you to grant our firm discretionary authority to manage your account. Discretionary authorization will allow our firm 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 our firm, 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 our firm with your restrictions and guidelines in writing. Our fee for portfolio management services is based on a percentage of your assets we manage and is set forth in the following fee schedules. As disclosed in Item 12, we recommend the brokerage and custodial services of Schwab and under some circumstances, the custodial services of Trust Company of America. In addition to our investment advisory fee, you will also incur transaction charges and/or brokerage fees when purchasing or selling securities. Schwab offers a program whereby such charges are billed in the form of asset-based fees in lieu of transaction-based fees. Where appropriate for the client's account, and depending on the client's account value and the strategy we implement for the client's portfolio, we may recommend that clients elect to be charged an asset-based fee for securities transactions. Assets Under Management 2,3,4Equities/Mutual Funds Bonds Asset Based Trading Fee1 First $99,999.991.20%0.75%0.30% Next $150,0001.10%0.70%0.30% Next $250,0001.00%0.65%0.30% Next $250,000 0.85%0.60%0.30% At or above $750,0000.70%0.50%0.30% 5 Any clients which are under the control of our firm and Schwab is their custodian will never be charged a commission either on the purchase or sale of the security. If not enrolled in an Asset Based Fee arrangement with the custodian, there may be a nominal transaction fee charged by the custodian for trades done on their platform. 2 At our discretion, we may combine the account values of family members living in the same household to determine the applicable advisory fee. For example, we may combine account values for you and your minor children, joint accounts with your spouse, and other types of related accounts. Combining account values may increase the asset total, which may result in your paying a reduced advisory fee based on the available breakpoints in our fee schedule stated above. We may also consider giving discounts to clients who have been long term loyal clients. 3 Schwab charges and collects the Asset Based Fee. 4 Schwab collects an $6.95 fee on all stock or exchange traded funds transactions in accounts other than those designated as Asset Based Fee Accounts. Other Schwab fee schedules apply to other asset types, such as Options.
Our annual portfolio management fee is billed and payable quarterly in advance based on the value of your account on the last day of the previous quarter. If the portfolio management agreement is executed at any time other than the first day of a calendar quarter, our fees will apply

on a pro rata basis, which means that the advisory fee is payable in proportion to the number of days in the quarter for which you are a client. Our advisory fee is negotiable, depending on individual client circumstances.
We will send you an invoice for the payment of our advisory fee, or we will deduct our fee directly from your account through the qualified custodian holding your funds and securities. We will deduct our advisory fee only when you have given our firm written authorization permitting the fees to be paid directly from your account. Further, the qualified custodian will deliver an account statement to you at least quarterly. These account statements will show all disbursements from your account. You should review all statements for accuracy.
You may terminate the portfolio management agreement within five days from the date of acceptance with no penalty. After the five-day period, either you or our firm may terminate the portfolio management agreement upon 30-days' written notice to the other party. You will incur a pro rata charge for services rendered prior to the termination of the portfolio management agreement, which means you will incur advisory fees only in proportion to the number of days in the quarter for which you are a client. If you have pre-paid advisory fees that we have not yet earned, you will receive a prorated refund of those fees.
We encourage you to reconcile our invoices with the statement(s) you receive from the qualified custodian. If you find any inconsistent information between our invoice and the statement(s) you receive from the qualified custodian please call our main office number located on the cover page of this brochure. Selection of Other Advisers As part of our investment advisory services, we may recommend that you use the services of a third party investment adviser ("TPA") to manage your entire, or a portion of your, investment portfolio. After gathering information about your financial situation and objectives, we will recommend that you engage a specific TPA or investment program. Factors that we take into consideration when making our recommendation(s) include, but are not limited to, the following: the TPA's performance, methods of analysis, fees, your financial needs, investment goals, risk tolerance, and investment objectives. We will periodically monitor the TPA(s)' performance to ensure its management and investment style remains aligned with your investment goals and objectives.
We do not charge you a separate fee for the selection of other advisers. We will share in the advisory fee you pay directly to the TPA. The advisory fee you pay to the TPA is established and payable in accordance with the brochure provided by each TPA to whom you are referred. These fees may or may not be negotiable. Our compensation may differ depending upon the individual agreement we have with each TPA. As such, a conflict of interest may arise where our firm or our Associated Persons 6 may have an incentive to recommend one TPA over another TPA with whom we have more favorable compensation arrangements or other advisory programs offered by TPAs with whom we have less or no compensation arrangements.
You will be required to sign an agreement directly with the recommended TPA(s). You may terminate your advisory relationship with the TPA according to the terms of your agreement with the TPA. You should review each TPA's this brochure for specific information on how you may terminate your advisory relationship with the TPA and how you may receive a refund, if applicable. You should contact the TPA directly for questions regarding your advisory agreement with the TPA.
Pension Consulting Services We offer pension consulting services to employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries based upon the needs of the plan and the services requested by the plan sponsor or named fiduciary. In general, these services may include an existing plan review, asset allocation advice, money management services, communication and education services where we assist the plan sponsor in providing meaningful information regarding the retirement plan to its participants, investment performance monitoring, and/or ongoing consulting. We may have agreements with third party administrators ("TPA") to provide these services as part of the TPA's agreement with the plan. In these instances, the TPA may pay a portion of the fee charged to the plan to our firm for their services. In other instances, we may be introduced to a plan through a TPA and will provide service directly to the plan.
We will hold educational seminars for the plan employees and provide information on the plan specifics and allocation choices. We will also meet with individual plan participants and offer personalized information based on their individual objectives.
The compensation arrangement for these services will be based on the same fee schedule shown above in the portfolio management section of this brochure. The type and amount of the fees charged to you, subject to negotiation, will be based on the scope and complexity of the qualified plan and the requested services. An estimate of the total cost will be determined at the start of the advisory relationship. Our firm requires the payment of fees quarterly in advance for our pension consulting services. Under no circumstance will we require prepayment of a fee more than six months in advance and in excess of $500.
Accounts are regulated under the Employee Retirement Income Securities Act ("ERISA"). We will provide consulting services to the plan fiduciaries as described above. Typically, the named plan fiduciary must make the ultimate decision as to retaining the services of such investment advisers as we recommend. The plan fiduciary is free to seek independent advice about the appropriateness of any recommended services for the plan.
You may terminate the pension consulting agreement within five days from the date of acceptance without penalty. After the five-day period, either party to the pension consulting agreement may terminate the agreement upon written notice to the other party. The pension consulting fees will be prorated for the quarter in which the termination notice is given and any unearned fees will be refunded to the client.
Rollover Recommendations Effective December 20, 2021 (or such later date as the US Department of Labor ("DOL") Field Assistance Bulletin 2018-02 ceases to be in effect), 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.
7 When we provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual retirement account, we 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.
Types of Investments We generally offer advice on equity securities, warrants, corporate debt securities, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, municipal securities, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, variable annuities, variable life insurance, U.S. Government securities, options contracts on securities, interest in partnerships investing in real estate, and 1031 property exchanges.
You may request that we refrain from investing in particular securities or certain types of securities. You must provide these restrictions to our firm in writing.
Assets Under Management As of December 31, 2023, we provided continuous management services for $37,782,592 in client assets on a discretionary basis.