BetterWealth LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our firm,”) provides individuals and other types of clients with a
wide array of investment advisory services. Our firm is a limited liability company formed under the
laws of the State of California in 2015 and has been in business as an investment adviser since that
time. Our firm is owned by Scott Stauffer and Andrew Howard.
The purpose of this Brochure is to disclose the conflicts of interest associated with the investment
transactions, compensation and any other matters related to investment decisions made by our firm
or its representatives. As a fiduciary, it is our duty to always act in the client’s best interest. This is
accomplished in part by knowing our client. Our firm has established a service-oriented advisory
practice with open lines of communication for many different types of clients in an effort to help meet
their financial goals while remaining sensitive to risk tolerance and time horizons. Working with
clients to understand their investment objectives while educating them about our process facilitates
the kind of working relationship we value.
Types of Advisory Services Offered
Wealth Management:
As part of our Wealth Management service, we provide clients with asset management and financial
planning or consulting services. This service is designed in an effort to assist clients in meeting their
financial goals through the use of a financial plan or consultation. Our firm conducts client meetings
to understand their current financial situation, existing resources, financial goals, and tolerance for
risk. Based on what is learned, an investment approach is presented to the client, generally consisting
of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs. Additionally, our investment selections,
depending on the individual investment objectives and needs of the client, may include short-term
fixed income instruments, including but not limited to treasury bills and certificates of deposit
(“CDs”).
BetterWealth also occasionally offers advice regarding additional types of investments if we believe
they are appropriate to address the individual needs, goals, and objectives of the client or in response
to client inquiry. We may offer investment advice on any investment held by the client at the start of
the advisory relationship.
Once we determine what our firm deems to be an appropriate portfolio, portfolios are continuously
and regularly monitored, and if necessary, rebalanced based upon the client’s individual needs, stated
goals and objectives. Upon client request, our firm generally provides a written summary of
observations and recommendations for the planning or consulting aspects of this service.
Sub-Advisory Services:
Our firm utilizes the sub-advisory services of third party investment advisory firms to aid in the
implementation of an investment portfolio designed by our firm. Before selecting a firm, our firm will
ensure that the chosen party is properly licensed or registered. Our firm will not offer advice on any
specific securities or other investments in connection with this service. We will provide initial due
diligence on the third party managers we recommend and ongoing reviews of their management of
client accounts. In order to assist in the selection of a third party manager, our firm will gather client
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information pertaining to financial situation, investment objectives, and reasonable restrictions to be
imposed upon the management of the account.
When utilized, we can hire and terminate sub-advisers subject to the discretionary authority that
clients grant us in the BetterWealth advisory agreement; the client does not sign a separate
agreement with the sub-adviser. BetterWealth will deliver to sub-adviser at the time of engagement
and thereafter updating or revising as necessary a copy of the client’s investment guidelines, which
sub-adviser is instructed to rely upon to perform its sub-advisory services. When one or more outside
managers are utilized, BetterWealth will deliver at the time of engagement and thereafter updating
or revising as necessary a copy of each sub-adviser’s ADV 2A Brochure, applicable 2B Supplements,
and Form CRS.
When applicable, BetterWealth will review third party manager reports as part of our routine
oversight of client accounts. Our firm will also contact clients at least annually in order to review their
financial situation and objectives, communicate information to third party managers as warranted,
and assist the client in understanding and evaluating the services provided by the third party
manager. Clients will be expected to notify our firm of any changes in their financial situation,
investment objectives, or account restrictions that could affect their financial standing.
Pontera:
We provide an additional service for accounts not directly held in our custody, but where we do
have discretion, and may leverage an Order Management System “Pontera” to implement
tax-
efficient asset location and opportunistic rebalancing strategies on behalf of the client. These are
primarily 401(k) accounts, HSAs, and other assets held outside the custodian that we recommend.
On a quarterly basis, we review the available investment options in these accounts, monitor them,
and rebalance and implement our strategies in the same way we do other accounts, though using
different tools, as necessary.
“Pontera” is a third party platform to facilitate management of held away assets such as defined
contribution plan participant accounts, 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) are connected to the platform,
our firm will review the current account allocations. When deemed necessary, we will rebalance the
account considering each client’s investment goals and risk tolerance. Any change in allocations will
also 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.
Retirement Plan Consulting:
Our firm provides retirement plan consulting services to employer plan sponsors on an ongoing
basis. Generally, such consulting services consist of assisting employer plan sponsors in establishing,
monitoring, and reviewing their company’s participant-directed retirement plan. As the needs of the
plan sponsor dictate, areas of advising may include:
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• Establishing an Investment Policy Statement – Our firm may assist in the development of a
statement that summarizes the investment goals and objectives along with the broad
strategies to be employed to meet the objectives.
• Investment Options – Our firm may work with the Plan Sponsor to evaluate existing
investment options and make recommendations for appropriate changes.
• Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction – Our firm may develop strategic asset allocation
models to aid Participants in developing strategies to meet their investment objectives, time
horizon, financial situation, and tolerance for risk.
• Investment Monitoring – Our firm may monitor the performance of the investments and
notify the client in the event of over/underperformance and in times of market volatility.
• Participant Education – Our firm may provide opportunities to educate plan participants
about their retirement plan offerings, different investment options, and general guidance on
allocation strategies.
In providing services for retirement plan consulting, our firm does not provide any advisory services
with respect to the following types of assets: employer securities, real estate (excluding real estate
funds and publicly traded REITS), participant loans, non-publicly traded securities or assets, other
illiquid investments, or brokerage window programs (collectively, “Excluded Assets”). All retirement
plan consulting services shall comply with the applicable state laws regulating retirement consulting
services. This applies to client accounts that are retirement or other employee benefit plans (“Plan”)
governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). If the
client accounts are part of a Plan, and our firm accepts appointment to provide services to such
accounts, our firm acknowledges its fiduciary standard within the meaning of Section 3(21) or 3(38)
of ERISA as designated by the Retirement Plan Consulting Agreement with respect to the provision
of services described therein.
Tailoring of Advisory Services
Our firm offers individualized investment advice to our Wealth Management clients. General
investment advice will be offered to our Retirement Plan Consulting clients.
Each Wealth Management client may place reasonable restrictions on the types of investments to be
held in the portfolio such as when a client needs to keep a minimum level of cash in the account or does
not want our firm to buy or sell certain securities or security types. We reserve the right to limit client-
imposed restrictions if we feel that they would limit or prevent us from meeting or maintaining the
client’s investment strategy.
Participation in Wrap Fee Programs
Our firm does not offer or sponsor a wrap fee program.
Regulatory Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, our firm managed $492,238,451 on a discretionary basis and $9,489,492
on a non-discretionary basis for a total of $501,727,943 of regulatory assets under management.
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