A. Granite Bay Wealth Management, LLC (GBWM) has been in business as an investment
advisor since 2015, though its principals, Joseph R. Skees and Paul S. Stanley have each been in the
business of providing investment advice for more than 20 years. Mr. Skees and Mr. Stanley rendered
investment advice under the trade name of Granite Bay Wealth Management, LLC while still affiliated
with their prior firm.
B. GBWM seeks to provide clients with a thoughtful, client centered approach toward asset
management and financial planning. In addition, GBWM provides investment consulting services to
qualified plans and plan sponsors.
Asset Management
GBWM’s client centered approach to asset management begins with investigative client
consultation. A representative of GBWM will meet with the client to determine needs and goals, risk
tolerance, and any investment restrictions or preferences. This process includes a risk profile that
aids in the discovery of the client’s actual risk profile. In some cases, the results of this profile differ
from a client’s stated tolerances, or even what their age or other circumstances would traditionally
indicate as an appropriate risk level. Once this is completed, GBWM researches various investment
options for the client based on the client’s current investments and risk profile and prepares an asset
allocation that will serve as a guideline for the client’s ongoing investments. For the duration of the
relationship, GBWM continues to communicate with the client to ensure that the client’s objectives
and asset allocation remain optimal for the client’s evolving circumstances.
Many clients choose to work with GBWM on both asset management and financial planning, where
both services are seamlessly integrated. All asset management clients whose assets are in excess of
our minimum $250,000 account size, may upon request, receive financial planning services as part
of their asset management services. In the alternative, clients may choose to work with GBWM for
financial planning services on a stand-alone basis, without utilizing GBWM ongoing asset
management services, pursuing the financial planning process separately.
In very limited circumstances, GBWM may provide asset management services on a non-
discretionary basis. Assets are managed with the same process, but clients are consulted prior to the
implementation of recommendations.
Financial Planning
When working with GBWM on financial planning, clients will be led through a series of steps designed
to ensure that each client’s process is similar, yet the results unique. The process begins with a clear
definition between GBWM and the client of each party’s responsibilities. This definition is
memorialized in a written agreement. GBWM will gather and analyze information, but the firm will
not be able to accurately perform their obligations unless the client provides complete and accurate
information. Thereafter, GBWM will interview the client and gather documents from the client which
will allow the firm to identify the client’s ultimate financial goals, and also develop an outline of the
client’s current financial circumstances. Once the current circumstances and future circumstances
are determined, GBWM will analyze this information in order to determine potential paths toward
reaching that particular client’s goals, and ultimately present these options and recommendations to
the client.
For clients receiving a complete financial plan on a stand-alone basis, the process results in a financial
planning document that identifies and explains the recommendations. Planning services that are
limited to a specific aspect of a client’s financial life may not warrant a plan document, but results
and recommendations will be reviewed with a GBWM professional. In either case, it is the client’s
choice whether to follow the recommendations, and if they choose to do so, whether they will seek
assistance from GBWM in implementing the recommendations. Clients who elect to work with
GBWM for financial planning and asset management services will have the benefit of GBWM leading
an integrated process, whereby financial planning and the direction of asset management are
combined, and thus a separate planning document not created. This integration includes the
management of the assets identified in the plan in accordance with the directives of the plan, and an
ongoing review of the client’s goals and maintaining a portfolio that is in keeping with those goals.
Asset management processes are described more fully in Item 8 of this brochure.
Subject matters raised will include some or all of the subject fields identified by the Certified Financial
Planner Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, which include financial statement preparation
and analysis, risk management, employee benefits, investments, income taxes, retirement and estate
planning. Frequently, a thorough financial plan will require the assistance of other professionals in
implementation. Because GBWM’s professionals are neither attorneys nor accountants, no part of
their services includes tax or legal advice. However, an attorney may be required for the purpose of
executing an estate plan, or an accountant needed for additional tax consultation. If requested,
GBWM will provide a recommendation for such a professional, but the client is under no obligation
to accept that recommendation. GBWM does not receive any sort of referral fees from professionals
it recommends. If you engage any professional recommended by GBWM, and a dispute arises
thereafter relative to such engagement, you agree to seek recourse exclusively from and against the
engaged professional.
Asset Management – Institutional Intelligent Portfolios™ Program
GBWM has recognized certain clients
and their younger family members new to the investing space
or with limited assets need an alternative to their traditional asset management methodology and
program. For these clients and their families, GBWM will provide portfolio management services
through an investment service called Institutional Intelligent Portfolios™, an automated, online
investment management platform for use by independent investment advisors offered by Schwab
Performance Technologies (the “Program” and “SPT,” respectively). Through the Program, GBWM
will offer clients a range of investment strategies we have constructed and manage, each consisting
of a portfolio of exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) and a cash allocation. The client’s portfolio is held
in a brokerage account opened by the client at SPT’s affiliate, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“CS&Co”).
We are independent of and not owned by, affiliated with, or sponsored or supervised by SPT, CS&Co
or their affiliates (together, “Schwab”). The minimum investment required to open an account in the
Institutional Intelligent Portfolios Program is $5,000, therefore enabling certain clients to begin a
formal investment program.
We, and not Schwab, are the client’s investment advisor and primary point of contact with respect
to the Program. We are solely responsible, and Schwab is not responsible, for determining the
appropriateness of the Program 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 technology platform and related trading and
account management services for the Program. This platform enables us to make the Program
available to clients online and includes a system that automates certain key parts of our investment
process (the “System”). The System includes an online questionnaire that helps us determine the
client’s investment objectives and risk tolerance and select an appropriate investment strategy and
portfolio. Clients should note that we will recommend a portfolio via the System in response to the
client’s answers to the online questionnaire. 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).
Clients do not pay fees to SPT in connection with the Program, but GBWM charges 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 the Program. 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 (or 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 the Program. 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 the
Program. This fee arrangement gives us an incentive to recommend or require that our clients with
accounts not enrolled in the Program be maintained with CS&Co.
Retirement Plan Consulting Services
The fiduciaries of self-directed retirement plans (which can include 401(k) plans) are required to,
among other things, determine a selection of investments from which the plan’s participants choose
for their personal allocation in their individual participant account. GBWM provides assistance to plan
sponsors in meeting this obligation through a consultative relationship, which includes the selection
of the plan investment options in accordance with the plan’s objectives, as well as the ongoing
monitoring of those options to assist the plan sponsor in determining when changes to these options
are needed. This advice is rendered on a non-discretionary basis, meaning the plan sponsor is free to
accept or reject GBWM’s recommendations.
C. All engagements are tailored to the specific needs of an individual client. GBWM does not
use “model” portfolios where all clients in the model contain the exact same investments. Clients
may place reasonable restrictions on the management of assets, including regarding specific
securities or types of securities. However, clients should understand that significant restrictions
cannot only decrease the ability of GBWM to meet the client’s goals, but also increase the costs
associated with managing the client’s portfolio.
D. GBWM neither participates in, nor sponsors a wrap fee program.
E. As of December 31, 2023, GBWM managed $357,344,239 in client assets including
$344,274,957 on a discretionary basis.