A. Description of the Advisory Firm
Curtis Advisory Group, LLC (hereinafter “CAG”) is a Limited Liability Company
organized in the State of California. The firm was formed in August 2009, and the owners
are Ryan Earl Curtis and Joshua Daniel Hayes.
B. Types of Advisory Services
Portfolio Management Services
CAG offers ongoing portfolio management services based on the individual goals,
objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance of each client. CAG will collect pertinent
information which outlines the client’s current situation (income, tax levels, and risk
tolerance levels) and then constructs a plan to aid in the selection of a portfolio that
matches each client's specific situation. Portfolio management services include, but are
not limited to, the following:
• Investment strategy • Personal investment policy
• Asset allocation • Asset selection
• Risk tolerance • Regular portfolio monitoring
CAG evaluates the current investments of each client with respect to their risk tolerance
levels and time horizon. CAG will request discretionary authority from clients in order to
select securities and execute transactions without permission from the client prior to each
transaction. Risk tolerance levels are documented in the Client Questionnaire Summary
or Appendix A of the Investment Policy Statement (IPS), which is given to each client.
CAG seeks to provide that investment decisions are made in accordance with the
fiduciary duties owed to its accounts and without consideration of CAG’s economic,
investment or other financial interests. To meet its fiduciary obligations, CAG attempts to
avoid, among other things, investment or trading practices that systematically advantage
or disadvantage certain client portfolios, and accordingly, CAG’s policy is to seek fair and
equitable allocation of investment opportunities/transactions among its clients to avoid
favoring one client over another over time. It is CAG’s policy to allocate investment
opportunities and transactions it identifies as being appropriate and prudent, including
initial public offerings ("IPOs") and other investment opportunities that might have a
limited supply, among its clients on a fair and equitable basis over time.
CAG may direct clients to third-party investment advisers to manage all or a portion of
the client's assets. Before selecting other advisers for clients, CAG will always ensure those
other advisers are properly licensed or registered as an investment adviser. CAG conducts
due diligence on any third-party investment adviser, which may involve one or more of
the following: phone calls, meetings and review of the third-party adviser's performance
and investment strategy. CAG then makes investments with a third-party investment
adviser by referring the client to the third-party adviser. These investments may be
allocated either through the third-party adviser's fund or through a separately managed
account managed by such third party adviser on behalf of CAG's client. CAG may also
allocate among one or more private equity funds or private equity fund advisers. CAG
will review the ongoing performance of the third-party adviser as a portion of the client's
portfolio.
Participant Account Management (Discretionary)
CAG also provides an additional service for accounts not directly held in our custody, but
where we do have discretion, and may leverage an Order Management System to
implement asset allocation and opportunistic rebalancing strategies on behalf of the client.
These are primarily 401(k) accounts and other assets we do not custody. We regularly
review the available investment options in these accounts, monitor them, and rebalance
and implement our strategies similar to our portfolio management services, though using
different tools as necessary.
CAG uses a third-party platform to facilitate management of held away assets with
discretion. The platform allows us to avoid being considered to have custody of Client
funds since we do not have direct access to Client log-in credentials to affect trades. We
are not affiliated with the platform in any way and receive no compensation from them
for using their platform. A link will be provided to the Client allowing them to connect an
account(s) to the platform. Once Client account(s) is connected to the platform, Adviser
will review the current account allocations. When deemed necessary, Adviser will
rebalance the account considering client investment goals and risk tolerance, and any
change in allocations will consider current economic and market trends. The goal is to
improve account performance over time, minimize loss during difficult markets, and
manage internal fees that harm account performance. Client account(s) will be reviewed
at least quarterly and allocation changes will be made as deemed necessary.
Pension Consulting Services
CAG offers consulting services to pension or other employee benefit plans (including but
not limited to 401(k) plans). Pension consulting may include, but is not limited to:
• identifying investment objectives and restrictions
• providing guidance on various assets classes and investment options
• recommending money managers to manage plan assets in ways designed
to achieve objectives
• monitoring performance of money managers and investment options and
making recommendations for changes
• recommending other service providers, such as custodians, administrators
and broker-dealers
• creating a written pension consulting plan
These services are based on the goals, objectives, demographics, time horizon, and/or risk
tolerance of the plan and its participants.
Financial Planning
Financial plans and financial planning may include, but are not limited to: investment
planning; life insurance; tax concerns; retirement planning; college planning; and
debt/credit planning.
Investment Tracking & Oversight Services
The firm also provides independent monitoring and reporting on outside accounts to
clients. Investment oversight is defined as providing asset allocation, diversification,
performance, fee analysis and guidance for a client’s account(s) that are not being actively
managed by the firm. The objective of the service is to provide Clients with a consolidated
view of all their accounts and bring potential red flags or opportunities to the attention of
the client. The firm does not have trading authority over these accounts and will not make
specific investment buy/sell/hold recommendations for clients that use this service.
Subscription Services
CAG provides a securities rating service to prospective clients
and clients using CAG's
other advisory services and it does not entail an additional fee. The firm will not make
specific investment buy/sell/hold recommendations for clients that use this service.
Services Limited to Specific Types of Investments
CAG generally limits its investment advice to mutual funds, fixed income securities, real
estate funds (including REITs), insurance products including annuities, equities, hedge
funds, private equity funds, ETFs (including ETFs in the gold and precious metal sectors),
treasury inflation protected/inflation linked bonds, commodities, non-U.S. securities,
venture capital funds and private placements. However, CAG primarily utilizes
exchange traded funds and open ended mutual funds to manage liquid portfolios on a
discretionary basis. we do not restrict any types of investments. on occasion, we will
recommend a separate account manager if we feel doing so would benefit the client. in
doing so, we may delegate some or all of the discretion to the subadvisor. CAG may use
other securities as well to help diversify a portfolio when applicable.
Schwab Institutional Intelligent Portfolios®
We also offer an automated investment program (“Schwab IIP”) through which clients
are invested in a range of investment strategies we have constructed and manage, each
consisting of a portfolio of exchange-traded funds (“Funds”) and a cash allocation. The
client may instruct us to exclude up to three Funds from their portfolio. The client’s
portfolio is held in a brokerage account opened by the client at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
(“CS&Co”). We use the Institutional Intelligent Portfolios® platform (“Platform”), offered
by Schwab Performance Technologies (“SPT”), a software provider to independent
investment advisors and an affiliate of CS&Co., to operate Schwab IIP. We are
independent of and not owned by, affiliated with, or sponsored or supervised by SPT,
CS&Co., or their affiliates (together, “Schwab”). We, and not Schwab, are the client’s
investment advisor and primary point of contact with respect to Schwab IIP. We are solely
responsible, and Schwab is not responsible, for determining the appropriateness of
Schwab IIP for the client, choosing a suitable investment strategy and portfolio for the
client’s investment needs and goals, and managing that portfolio on an ongoing basis. We
have contracted with SPT to provide us with the Platform, which consists of technology
and related trading and account management services for Schwab IIP. The Platform
enables us to make Schwab IIP available to clients online and includes a system that
automates certain key parts of our investment process (the “System”). Based on
information the client provides to us, we will recommend a portfolio via the System. The
client may then indicate an interest in a portfolio that is one level less or more conservative
or aggressive than the recommended portfolio, but we then make the final decision and
select a portfolio based on all the information we have about the client. The System also
includes an automated investment engine through which we manage the client’s portfolio
on an ongoing basis through automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting (if the client
is eligible and elects).
We charge clients a fee for our services as described below under Item 5 Fees and
Compensation. Our fees are not set or supervised by Schwab. Clients do not pay
brokerage commissions or any other fees to CS&Co. as part of Schwab IIP. Schwab does
receive other revenues, including (i) the profit earned by Charles Schwab Bank, a Schwab
affiliate, on the allocation to the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Sweep Program described
in the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Sweep Program Disclosure Statement; (ii) investment
advisory and/or administrative service fees (unitary fees) received by Charles Schwab
Investment Management, Inc., a Schwab affiliate, from Schwab ETFs™ Schwab Funds®
and Laudus Funds® that we select to buy and hold in the client’s brokerage account; (iii)
fees received by Schwab from third-party ETFs that participate in the Schwab ETF
OneSource™ program and mutual funds in the Schwab Mutual Fund Marketplace®
(including certain Schwab Funds and Laudus Funds) in the client’s brokerage account for
services Schwab provides; and (iv) remuneration Schwab may receive from the market
centers where it routes ETF trade orders for execution. We do not pay SPT fees for the
Platform so long as we maintain $100 million in client assets in accounts at CS&Co. that
are not enrolled in Schwab IIP. If we do not meet this condition, then we pay SPT an
annual licensing fee of 0.10% (10 basis points) on the value of our clients’ assets in Schwab
IIP. This fee arrangement gives us an incentive to recommend or require that our clients
with accounts not enrolled in Schwab IIP be maintained with CS&Co.
C. Client Tailored Services and Client Imposed Restrictions
CAG will tailor a program for each individual client. This will include an interview
session to get to know the client’s specific needs and requirements as well as a plan that
will be executed by CAG on behalf of the client. CAG may use model allocations together
with a specific set of recommendations for each client based on their personal restrictions,
needs, and targets. Clients may impose restrictions in investing in certain securities or
types of securities in accordance with their values or beliefs. However, if the restrictions
prevent CAG from properly servicing the client account, or if the restrictions would
require CAG to deviate from its standard suite of services, CAG reserves the right to end
the relationship.
Furthermore, we may tailor advisory services by considering the clients current positions,
the client’s investment experience, tax status, and cash flow need. For clients with larger
accounts, generally over $500,000, we have the ability to custom build portfolios to the
clients wishes; restricting certain investments or adding in preferred investment choices.
For most smaller accounts, we generally don't allow portfolio customization beyond
standard risk tolerance information.
D. Wrap Fee Programs
A wrap fee program is an investment program where the investor pays one stated fee that
includes management fees, transaction costs, and certain other administrative fees. CAG
does not participate in wrap fee programs.
E. Assets Under Management
CAG has the following assets under management:
Discretionary Amounts: Non-discretionary Amounts: Date Calculated:
$ 418,166,192.00 $ 525,446.00 December 2023
CAG has $ 14,379,010 in assets under advisement as of December 2023.