Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA)?

A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) is a firm engaged in the investment advisory business and registered either with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or state securities authorities. RIAs have a fiduciary duty to their clients, which means they have a fundamental obligation to provide suitable investment advice and always act in their clients' best interests.

What fees do you charge?

Our fees are typically tiered based on asset levels. However, we believe in fairness, and will only charge fees based on the scope of services that we provide. Please contact us for more details.

How do I move my money to FC Wealth Solutions?

Just contact us and we will take care of the rest.

Why should I work with a fee based advisor?

By paying a set fee based on the amount of assets under management, you can be assured that the investments and advice that we provide is conflict free and always in the best interest of our clients.

Where will my money be kept?

We do not take custody of client assets. We believe it is important to keep client assets with reputable third party custodians. We have custodial partnerships with Fidelity and Interactive Brokers.

What are “Advanced Investment Strategies”?

Advanced investment strategies are a generic classification for our various investment strategies we offer. While they all have their differences, they are all actively managed investment strategies that strategically alter their portfolio holdings between riskier, higher returning securities and more defensive securities with a rules-based approach.

There are many different strategies you offer. How do I know which ones to use?

We will work with you to find the best mix of strategies which match your goals and fit your risk tolerance. Because we internally developed our investment strategies, we have more in-depth insight into how and when our various offerings are most beneficial for our clients.

How do your strategies make their investment decisions?

Our rules-based approach will differ across strategies but one thing they all have in common is they track multiple indicators in order to detect turning points in investment cycles. In all, there are over 30 different indicators which are monitored with a systematic process. The general thesis behind the strategies is that economic growth is not a random walk. Rather, it cycles between growth and contraction. These cycles create different investment environments favorable for different securities. Growth cycles favor riskier, higher-returning securities such as stocks, and contraction cycles favor more defensive securities such as bonds. Our proprietary strategies monitor economic developments in order detect where we are in these cycles and invests accordingly.

I’ve always heard markets cannot be timed, therefore a buy-and-hold approach is better. Are you claiming you can time the markets?

We do not believe markets can be timed with 100% precision. However, we do believe that by monitoring a diverse set of thoroughly researched, forward looking indicators, we can put the odds of more timely investment decisions on our side.

You claim you are more concerned with asset allocation mix than picking the best stocks or mutual fund managers. Why?

In our opinion, the asset allocation mix is by far the biggest factor in determining long-term returns. It is far more important than individual manager or security selection. Academic research has shown that approximately 90% of a portfolio’s return comes from its asset-allocation policy. When the stock market rallies, most all stocks tend to rally, and when it declines, most all stocks decline too. In our opinion, this is why picking the best stocks is a very difficult game to win, and why most mutual fund managers fail to beat their benchmarks. Avoiding an asset class when it is declining will be more significant for long-term returns than remaining in the asset class but navigating through it by means of individual security selection.

What about trading costs? Won’t it cost me something every time a trade is made?

Trading costs will likely be higher in an actively managed strategy than with a traditional buy-and-hold approach. However, avoiding material losses in a declining market far outweigh small increases in trading costs. We believe the benefits associated with a more active portfolio far outweigh the trading costs associated with it.

What about taxes? Will a more active portfolio have tax implications?

Some of our strategies are more active, as such they can have different tax implications associated with it versus your traditional buy-and-hold approach. An investment held for less than one year is often taxed as ordinary income, and investments held for longer than one year are often taxed at capital gains rates (typically less than ordinary income rates but varies depending on the individual). Some of our strategies may generate ordinary income tax status but we still believe the benefits of a dynamic portfolio outweigh the potentially higher tax implications. If an investment is out of favor, holding on to it for tax reasons can be extremely costly if that investment continues to decline. Sometimes the better long-term decision is to sell it and realize the taxes that year.

If an investor has a tax-deferred vehicle such as an IRA, taxes are deferred until withdrawal, so tax implications due to shorter holding periods would not be an issue. Our strategies can also be tailored for tax sensitive clients. If this is of interest to you, please contact us for further information at info@fcwealthsolutions.com.