It is vital that you have a complete understanding of your financial advisor’s compensation. Advisors are typically compensated through one or a combination of the following models:
Fees for time or services rendered (hourly or fixed rate).
A percentage of assets under management (AUM).
Commissions from product sales.
A professional certainly deserves fair compensation, but you must demand transparency. If you don’t ask about fees, you risk paying substantial, hidden costs. Many financial products, such as mutual funds, insurance policies, and annuities, contain high embedded fees that pay the selling representative. You may not write a direct check, but these costs directly erode your potential returns.
At TTG Financial, we operate strictly as a Fee-Only advisor. We receive no commissions or third-party fees whatsoever. Our compensation is transparently charged as a percentage of your assets under management (AUM), billed to your account at the end of every quarter. This structure ensures our success is directly aligned with yours: we only do better when you do better.
TTG Financial is a corporation and is a Registered Investment Advisor under the Securities and Exchange Commission.
There are different ways for you to get help with your investment decisions. You should carefully consider what types of accounts and services are right for you. Before investing you should also review our form ADV II, our Client Relationship Summary and our Investment Policy Statement.
Both accounts serve as a foundation for buying and selling securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.). The key distinction lies in who provides the guidance and how that guidance is paid for.
A standard brokerage account is set up with a firm to facilitate the buying and selling of securities.
| Category | Description |
| Self-Directed | You manage the account, select all investments, and are responsible for decisions. |
| Broker-Assisted | A registered representative (Stock Broker) assists with setup and may help with investment selection. |
| Compensation | Fees and commissions depend on the investments selected. In broker-assisted accounts, the broker typically receives commissions on the products sold. |
An advisory account is also a brokerage account platform, but it operates under a different service and compensation structure.
| Feature | Description |
| Guidance | A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) helps set up the account and generally manages the investment selection. |
| Discretion | RIAs often retain discretion over investment choices, though client input is common. |
| Compensation | The most common payment is a fee charged as a percentage of Assets Under Management (AUM), billed quarterly. Some RIAs charge flat or hourly fees. Crucially, the fee is paid by the client directly. |
To help decide which path is best for you, we encourage you to utilize the free resources and educational material available at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website: www.investor.gov.
While our core mission is to tailor every strategy to your unique needs and risk tolerance, it is essential that you understand our general approach to managing wealth.
1. Customization First: We manage client portfolios across the full spectrum of risk profiles, from conservative income to aggressive growth. Your plan will align specifically with your personal goals, timeline, and comfort level.
2. Focus on Risk Management: Our philosophy tends toward being a conservative anchor in a portfolio. We are highly concerned with guarding against significant losses during inevitable market downturns. As the famed Will Rogers once put it, “We are more concerned with the return of your money than the return on your money.”
3. Tactical Deployment: Our strategy is to proactively guard against losses when the market is negative and then re-focus on capitalizing on gains and growth when market conditions become favorable. This disciplined approach is designed to help smooth the path toward your long-term objectives.
There is no single universal investment strategy. We build your portfolio on sound, proven guidelines, but the final selection is fully customized based on the following strategic drivers:
Your Time Horizon: Defining appropriate risk and asset class exposure based on your age and when you need the money.
Your Risk Tolerance: Ensuring every holding aligns with your emotional and financial comfort level.
Your Specific Goals: Differentiating the strategy for retirement, education funding, or short-term objectives.
Tax Efficiency: Maximizing the use of tax-advantaged accounts (IRAs, 529s, etc.) to pursue goals efficiently.
Current Market Dynamics: Making active, regular adjustments to holdings based on our analysis of long-term market cycles to mitigate risk during downturns and capture growth potential during upturns.
While the RIA status is our foundation, the financial industry offers dozens of professional credentials—a veritable “alphabet soup.” While many designations exist, the sheer volume can make it difficult to differentiate their value; therefore, we believe it is safest to rely on the most recognized, long-standing credentials that require demonstrable rigor.
We pursue and maintain credentials bestowed by the most longstanding and trusted sources, which require rigorous testing and years of experience to maintain good standing:
| Advisor | Role | Professional Background & Credentials |
| Jim Kotagides | President | In financial services since 1996. MBA (University of Michigan), Undergrad in Econometrics (Ohio State University), Master Registered Financial Consultant (MRFC). |
| Jim Evans | VP & Chief Compliance Officer | In financial services since 1985. Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Qualified Pension Administrator (QPA), Qualified 401k Administrator (QKA), Chartered Special Needs Consultant (ChSNC). |
| Morgan Hood | Advisor | With TTG since 2021. Holds the Qualified 401k Administrator (QKA) designation. |
The Bottom Line: When working with any financial professional, it is paramount that you know the extent of their expertise, their legal status, and their commitment to the fiduciary standard—and that you verify the rigor behind their credentials.
As mentioned above, the Fiduciary standard is the highest of standards and requires a financial planner to recommend investments and give advice that he or she believes is in YOUR best interest. A Fiduciary must continually monitor their advice to you to make certain it remains in your best interests. The advisers at TTG Financial are Fiduciaries. Until recently financial sales people, such as insurance agents and annuity salespeople, who are not fiduciaries, were required only to make sure that the product they were selling was ‘suitable’ at the point of sale. The word ‘suitable’ proved to be largely ineffective at stopping the abusive sales of high cost financial products. For instance, a high commission, high churn, high ongoing fee growth oriented mutual fund might be judged suitable for an investment for a growth-oriented client, but a lower fee option could achieve the same return? And although an annuity, with its high commissions and low payout may also be judged as suitable for the client, there may be other ways to achieve equal or better payout with no additional risk, no severe restrictions and penalties and certainly no high commissions. To its’ credit the SEC has recognized for some time that ‘suitable’ was ineffective. They first attempted to make everyone in the financial services industry fiduciaries. This was met with huge resistance from banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms as none of them wanted to take on fiduciary responsibility for the products they sell. These industries have very powerful lobbies. They were able to persuade legislators to let them off the hook for fiduciary responsibility. Instead, non-fiduciary financial product sales people must now make certain the product is in a consumer’s Best Interest on the date of sale. There is no ongoing requirement. Many consumer advocates have argued this really did nothing other than substitute the words ‘Best Interest’ for ‘Suitable.’ A Registered Investment Advisor takes on fiduciary responsibility for your account. In other words, they must always put your interests ahead of their own. Investments and advice offered via a stock broker or insurance agent do not at this time carry fiduciary responsibility. Rather they are offered on a “Buyer Beware” basis as are most other products that you consume. What is the difference? An example would be when you visit the Appliance store to purchase a new stove. The sales person shows you the stoves and, if he is fortunate, you purchase a stove from him. Upon delivery you find the stove does not fit in its’ assigned space. So, who’s fault is it? The fault is entirely yours. The sales person is not obligated to find you the best stove for you. He is compensated for selling stoves – period. This does not make him/her dishonest. It is just a fact. This is what we mean by “Buyer Beware.” In much the same way a stock broker or Insurance agent is paid to sell a product – they are not obligated to determine if the product is in your best interests – that is up to you. It is TTG’s opinion that most people would find a benefit in working with a fiduciary on their financial affairs rather than under a “Buyer Beware” scenario.
Since you are paying TTG to manage your money and your financial plan for you, you should expect some level of service for those fees. We will include a full financial plan as part of our services. Additionally, if you need to sit with an attorney or accountant to execute Trusts or wills, or any other document required to execute your plan, then we will attend those meetings to add our expertise, and with no additional charge. TTG offers Advisory accounts on a discretionary basis for an asset-based fee. For complete fees and disclosure information on TTG please request our Form ADV by using the “Contact Us” page on this web site. If you prefer, you can use our CRD number, which is 129004, on FINRA’s own web site. TTG also offers financial planning, business planning and 401k and pension administration and consulting. These services are normally included in our asset fees – but depending on the scope of work there may be additional fees for these services. These fees – if necessary, will be negotiated with you. You will always be informed ahead of time of any additional fees. We offer our services to individuals, businesses, trusts and retirement plans. TTG selects your investments on a discretionary basis based on your personalized risk profile. Our clients are categorized into one of 6 risk categories. This allows us to more efficiently purchase and sell securities for our clients who have similar risk profiles. We monitor your investments and the market in general daily. If engaged to do so TTG provides advice on general financial and business planning subjects. TTG provides advice that is complementary to that of your other professionals such as your CPA and attorney. If the scope of work is too large to include within our normal asset fees then TTG will provide you with an additional contract with the scope of work outlined along with the anticipated additional fees.
As you’re dealing with a person that’s in the business of helping others plan for retirement, you should hope that your financial planner has his or her own future mapped out as well. That person should understand that his or her own career won’t last forever and should have a good plan in place to assure your needs are met once that future comes to pass. TTG’s Investor Advisors have an agreement to provide service for all TTG clientele. To this end all advisors actively work on all accounts. Per the firms buy/sell agreement, if an IA is unable to perform his duties, the remaining IA(s) will become the primary contact and be responsible for the effected accounts. Should a disaster occur whereby all TTG employees are lost in one event (God forbid) you may still obtain service from Charles Schwab & Co. They can perform trades, make distributions and generally service your account. In the unlikely event that this situation was to occur you would have several non-time sensitive choices to consider: 1: Ask Schwab to become your primary advisor – they would assign you to a local office 2: Retain your account with Schwab but choose another Financial Planner that works with Schwab 3: Retain your account with Schwab and manage it yourself 4: Choose a new advisor and a new custodian thus ending your relationship with Schwab
A good financial planner will recognize that your entire net worth won’t be tied up in assets under his or her direct control. You may have things like a 401(k) at your work or a rental property or some other form of investment that doesn’t necessarily make sense to turn over to your planner. We will partner with you to develop a plan that incorporates your full financial picture, including the money and assets not under our direct control. You should expect to keep us abreast of the state of those other assets so that your end-to-end plan still works for you.
This question is one of the key reasons to consider engaging the services of a financial planner in the first place. Even if you are one of the smartest money managers in the world, there will come a time when your capacity to manage your affairs is impaired, either through your passing or potentially through cognitive decline. You want your money to either be there to provide for your care in your decline or to efficiently transfer to those you care about once you’re gone. We will be able to help you with both a good estate plan and with solid strategies for protecting your money from unethical characters that would take advantage of the elderly.
Especially early in your working relationship, we will want you to keep closely connected with your financial adviser. Once you’ve established a solid plan, meetings can be less frequent, but you’ll still want regular touchpoints. After all, life happens, and the more in touch you and we are, the easier it will be to adapt your plan to the other changes in your life and priorities. TTG provides a reasonable balance between adapting to changes in your life while not being so overly reactive to daily changes in the market. That being said, at TTG, you are welcome at our office anytime and as often as you wish, to discuss your holdings and the performance of your plan. Our door is truly always open to you.
Your funds and securities will be held at Charles Schwab and Company, one of the most reputable names in the business. No cash or equities will be held at TTG Financial. All transactions of cash will be to and from Charles Schwab and only to you, at your address of record. TTG also has the ability to use other custodians if the need should ever arise.
We will measure success based on how well your plan is progressing against the goals we discussed when your account was opened or when revised at one of your office visits. We will show how you’re performing against a relevant benchmark, and regularly send you reports documenting this performance. If for some reason your performance is off track vs. your goals or the benchmark, then we will come up with strategies to try to get you back on track. The right benchmark is rarely just “am I keeping up with the market?” Indeed, that is only a reasonable benchmark for your longer-term financial goals and only if your risk tolerance will let you be heavily invested in stocks. For your more immediate needs or if you’re not comfortable with the volatility of a stock-heavy portfolio, a more conservative benchmark should be used.
A key rule in financial planning is to not let the tax tail wag the investing dog. After all, a very easy way to keep a person’s tax burden down is to lose a lot of money investing, and on the flip side, taxes are ultimately a sign of a profitable investment move. That said, there’s a wide latitude between completely ignoring taxes and managing exclusively around the tax implications of moves, and a competent advisor should be willing to follow a balanced strategy. In addition to individual investment choices and their tax implications, a we should be able to help you leverage tax-advantaged accounts. For retirement planning, there are accounts like traditional and Roth IRAs and 401(k)s. For college planning, there are accounts like 529 plans. Each of those accounts have advantages and disadvantages, and we will help you figure out how to balance your investments across account types to give you a decent shot at end-to-end success.
TTG does not sell products nor do we have an employee relationship with any other firm that would create a conflict between your interests and ours. We do better when you do better. That said, the principals of TTG would often like to own the same securities that we are investing in for our clients. This could potentially lead to a conflict known as ‘front running’ which is not legal. The idea is you purchase a security before making a large purchase for a big block of clients. The block purchase might potentially drive up the price of a security allowing the ‘front runner’ to make a short-term profit. This is forbidden in the industry and such behavior would and should lead to loss of license, restitution and fines. TTG prohibits front running.