Is your financial planning guidance held to a fiduciary standard of care?

Yes. All financial planners whose service models include advice pertaining to investment management and securities are held to a fiduciary standard of conduct as described in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.  This standard includes an obligation to place the client’s interest above those of the financial planner, to disclose potential conflicts of interest and avoid them where possible, and to clearly present all material facts.  

Under our financial planning agreement, we are transparent in our fee and conflict of interest disclosures as well as in explaining the rest of the terms of our engagement.  All asset-based financial planning clients are provided a copy of JW Cole’s SEC Form ADV 2A &2B, and well as J.W. Cole’s “Customer Relationship Summary” (CRS).  All fee-only planning clients are provided copies of Financial Planning Hawaii’s SEC Form ADV Parts 2A & 2B. These documents and all other client forms are uploaded to each client’s document storage vault in our financial planning platform.