We pride ourselves on helping people make informed decisions. That includes anyone exploring their options for a financial advisor. Below are a few frequently asked questions about our services. We value transparency and directness. If you can’t find the answer to a question here, please contact us.
Yes. As a fiduciary and a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) with the SEC, we are required to act in the best interest of our clients and provide objective, conflict-free advice. We always place the well-being and priorities of our clients first. ontent
As an independent advisor, we partner with Charles Schwab to provide custodial services for our clients’ assets. They provide safe, secure, and technically advanced financial services.
Once your assets are under management by North Berkeley and custodied at Charles Schwab, you will have access to two secure online portals. They provide access to view your portfolio, performance reports, past statements, and specific tax and other documents.
No. We are compensated for the work we do for you by the investment management fee you pay us each quarter.
Yes, we do manage our clients’ retirement accounts and can help you access self-directed brokerage options with most institutional 401(k) providers.
Yes. We have an extensive network of professionals specializing in many areas of your financial life. We recommend that our clients work with them or a professional with whom they have an existing relationship. We shepherd the process from intention to execution to ensure that these areas of your financial life are fully integrated and in alignment with your goals.
Common Areas of Referral
Refinancing a mortgage
Finding a tax preparer
Creating or revising a will or trust
Getting life insurance?
You may choose to receive most of your investment communications electronically.
The financial services industry is highly regulated and trade confirmations and other disclosures are mandatory. Much of what you receive may seem redundant, but it was legislated in order to protect investors who don’t always have good communication or access to an investment advisor. Sometimes the paperwork that comes from the custodian is confusing. The industry we work in is such that a high degree of caution and protection is in place for you, the investor, even if it is not well explained. Because there is a lot at stake with taking care of your money, we think this level of caution is appropriate. And, you can always call us or bring things in that you don’t understand. We will be happy to explain them to you.
We focus on quality of investment management and affordability of that quality. We think that the quality of the handful of management teams we choose through mutual funds is as high as the most exclusive of investment vehicles. In addition, mutual funds are generally much more affordable than other vehicles, such as hedge funds or separately managed accounts.
In addition, we have access to mutual funds that you wouldn’t otherwise have or that you would pay more money to buy in instances other than through our firm. At times, an investor buying on their own is charged up to 5% ‘front load’ or sales commission for mutual funds that waive that fee for us, in recognition that you are working with an advisor. We are happy to buy load funds with the load waived, no-load funds, or institutional class shares – we get to disregard a cost decision that becomes irrelevant and focus on the quality of the investment manager.
Also, there are times when certain mutual funds close to the public and no longer accept new investors. Some of those times, because of the previous relationship we have had with the mutual fund and its managers, we have retained access to that fund or to that manager’s fund lineup for both existing and new clients.
Finally, many mutual funds will allow us access to an institutional share class where the management fee charged to shareholders is materially lower.
We are consciously building our team so that we will have the capacity to provide continuity for clients as well as all our team members. We expect to continue to grow our advisor and service teams incrementally, bringing on new partners over time, and to gradually transition strategic leadership of the firm as well as our client relationships. After investing so much into getting to know us and having us take care of their financial and investment matters over a long period of time, we want clients to have continuity and be able to count on North Berkeley Wealth Management for generations.
More Questions?
We’re here to help. Please contact us by phone at 510.528.5820 or by email at [email protected]