Firm Description
MATTIA AND ASSOCIATES, LLC, DBA AS ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC,
(“FIRM NAME”) was founded in 2020.
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC offers personalized confidential financial
planning and investment management to individuals, trusts, estates, and small
businesses. Advice is provided through consultation with the client and may include:
determination of financial objectives, identification of financial problems, cash flow
management, tax planning, insurance review, investment management, education
funding, retirement planning, and estate planning.
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC is strictly a fee-only financial planning and
investment management firm. The firm does not sell annuities, insurance, stocks,
bonds, mutual funds, limited partnerships, or other commissioned products. The
firm is not affiliated with entities that sell financial products or securities. No
commissions in any form are accepted. No finder’s fees are accepted.
Investment advice is an integral part of financial planning. In addition, ATLAS
FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC advises clients regarding cash flow, college planning,
retirement planning, tax planning and estate planning, or other issues regarding their
financial circumstance.
Investment advice is provided, with the client making the final decision on
investment model selection. ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC does not act as
a custodian of client assets. The client always maintains asset control. ATLAS
FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC places trades for clients under a limited power of
attorney.
A written evaluation of each client's initial situation is provided to the client, often in
the form of a financial plan or analysis. Periodic reviews are also communicated to
provide reminders of the specific courses of action that need to be taken. More
frequent reviews occur but are not necessarily communicated to the client unless
immediate changes are recommended.
Other professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, etc.) are engaged
directly by the client on an as-needed basis. Conflicts of interest will be disclosed to
the client in the unlikely event they should occur.
The initial meeting, which may be by telephone, is free of charge and is considered
an exploratory interview to determine the extent to which financial planning and
investment management may be beneficial to the client.
Please Note: It remains the client's responsibility to promptly notify ATLAS
FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC if there is ever a change in their financial
situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing, evaluating or
revising ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC's previous recommendations
and or services.
Principal Owners
Laura Mattia and Stephen Craffen are the principal owners.
Types of Advisory Services
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC provides investment supervisory services,
also known as asset management services; manages investment advisory accounts
not involving investment supervisory services; furnishes investment advice through
consultations; issues periodicals about securities by subscription; issues special
reports about securities; and issues, charts, graphs, formulas, or other devices
which clients may use to evaluate securities.
On more than an occasional basis, ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC furnishes
advice to clients on matters not involving securities, such as financial planning
matters, taxation issues, and trust services that often include estate planning.
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC provides a timing service in two ways:
1. We may alter client bond investments based on our perception of the future
direction of interest rates. We may lengthen or shorten the duration of clients
fixed income investments if we believe interest rates may decrease or
increase or remain stable.
2. We rebalance client portfolios on a contingent basis. That is, we may sell or
purchase assets within a client’s portfolio if the representation of an asset it
within falls below or exceeds a threshold. At present we use a threshold of
20%. Thus, if an asset should represent 10% of a client’s portfolio if its
representation drops to 8% or rises to 12%, we will make trades to restore it
to its level as defined in the client’s investment policy statement.
3. We do not directly attempt to time price movements in markets.
As of March 6, 2024, ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC manages approximately
$231.2 million in assets.
Tailored Relationships
The goals and objectives for each client are documented in our financial planning
software or in our client database system or investment policy statements are
created that reflect the stated goals and objective. Clients may impose restrictions
on investing in certain securities or types of securities.
Agreements may not be assigned without client consent.
Types of Agreements
The following agreements define the typical client relationships.
Financial Planning Agreement
A financial plan is designed to help the client with all aspects of financial planning
without ongoing investment management after the financial plan is completed.
The financial plan may include, but is not limited to: a net worth statement; a cash
flow statement; a review of investment accounts, including reviewing asset allocation
and providing repositioning recommendations; strategic tax planning; a review of
retirement accounts and plans including recommendations; a review of insurance
policies and recommendations for changes, if necessary; one or more retirement
scenarios; estate planning review and recommendations; and education planning
with funding recommendations.
Detailed investment advice and specific recommendations are provided as part of a
financial plan. Implementation of the recommendations is at the discretion of the
client.
Clients may be charged either of two ways:
Flat Fee: The fee for a financial plan is predicated upon the facts known at the start
of the engagement. The fee range is $1,500 to $10,000 and is NEGOTIABLE.
Since financial planning is a discovery process, situations occur wherein the client is
unaware of certain financial exposures or predicaments. One half of the planning
fee is paid at the start of the process and one half at completion.
In the event that the client’s situation is substantially different than disclosed at the
initial meeting, a revised fee will be provided for mutual agreement. The client must
approve the change of scope in advance of the additional work being performed
when a fee increase is necessary.
After delivery of a financial plan, future face-to-face meetings may be scheduled as
necessary for up to one month. Follow-on implementation work is billed separately
at the rate of $150 to $450 per hour depending on the personnel involved.
Hourly: The fee for the plan will be billed on an hourly basis with the hourly rate
ranging from $150 - $550 per hour depending on which staff members are involved
in the work.
Advisory Service Agreement
Most clients choose to have ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC manage their
assets in order to obtain ongoing in-depth advice and life planning. All aspects of
the client’s financial affairs are reviewed, including those of their children. Realistic
and measurable goals are set and objectives to reach those goals are defined. As
goals and objectives change over time, suggestions are made and implemented on
an ongoing basis.
The scope of work and fee for an Advisory Service Agreement is provided to the
client in writing prior to the start of the relationship. An Advisory Service Agreement
includes: cash flow management; insurance review; investment management
(including performance reporting); education planning; retirement planning; estate
planning; and tax preparation, as well as the implementation of recommendations
within each area.
The annual fee for investment management services provided are based upon a
percentage (%) of the market value of the Assets under management in accordance
with the fee schedule in the Agreement signed by the Client. The Client
understands that ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC considers cash to be an
asset class and part of Assets under management and subject to the same fee
calculation
as the Client’s non-cash investments.
The annual Advisory Service Agreement fee for individuals and families is based on
a percentage of the investable assets according to the following schedule:
_1.25%_ on the first $500,000;
_1.00%_ on the next $4,500,000 (from 500,001 to 5,000,000); and
_0.90%_ on the next $1,000,000 (from 5,000,001 to 6,000,000); and
_0.80%_ on the next $1,000,000 (from 6,000,001 to 7,000,000); and
_0.70%_ on the assets above $7,000,000.
Advisor for Other Investment Advisors
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC offers its advisory services to other investment
advisors. Fees for this service is 0.35% of the managed assets.
Fees are Negotiable
Fees for new clients are billed quarterly in advance. Some current clients may be billed
in arrears.
Retainer Agreement
In some circumstances, a Retainer Agreement is executed in lieu of an Advisory
Service Agreement when it is more appropriate to work on a fixed-fee basis. A client
may also choose to hire ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC for a monthly fee for
financial planning services that fee may range from $500 to $3500 based on a
client’s income level, net worth and the complexity of their circumstance. That fee is
revaluated annually on the anniversary date of the inception of the original
agreement any changes only become effective on that date. Any changes are
communicated in writing. The client or ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC may
terminate this agreement at any time by written notice to the other party.
Hourly Planning Engagements
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC provides hourly planning services for clients
who need advice on a limited scope of work. The hourly rate for limited scope
engagements is $150 to $550 depending on the personnel involved.
Asset Management
For the growth portion of client portfolio assets are invested primarily in no-load
mutual funds and exchange-traded, usually through discount brokers or fund
companies. Fund companies charge each fund shareholder an investment
management fee that is disclosed in the fund prospectus. Discount brokerages may
charge a transaction fee for the purchase of some funds.
For the domestic fixed income portion of client portfolios client assets are mainly
invested in individual bonds issued by US Banks, Municipalities and the Federal
Government or Government Agencies. Bonds are typically laddered with maturities
coordinated with a client’s cash needs or based on our view regarding the interest
rate yield curve.
Stocks and bonds may be purchased or sold through a brokerage account when
appropriate. The brokerage firm charges a fee for stock and bond trades. ATLAS
FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC does not receive any compensation, in any form, from
fund or brokerage companies.
Investments may also include: equities (stocks), warrants, corporate debt securities,
commercial paper, certificates of deposit, municipal securities, investment company
securities (variable life insurance, variable annuities, and mutual funds shares), U. S.
government securities, options contracts, futures contracts, and interests in
partnerships.
Some of our investment models use "interval funds," which are 1940-act mutual
funds with limited sell liquidity. The fund managers will not liquidate more than 5% of
their asset base in three months. Therefore, if we need to liquidate a client's holding
and the total liquidation requests to the fund manager exceed the 5% threshold, we
may not get the liquidation requests fulfilled. In that scenario, the fund manager will
allocate across all the submissions, so we may be able only partially to complete the
sale. We will then reattempt to complete the liquidation at the next stated date for
future sales, typically scheduled on the same day in each calendar quarter.
Clients are always aware of this limitation, and if they choose not to be subject to it,
we have a second set of investment models that do not include interval funds.
Clients who decide to have the interval funds need to acknowledge this sell limitation
in writing before we purchase the holdings.
Initial public offerings (IPOs) are not generally available through ATLAS FIDUCIARY
FINANCIAL, LLC. We may provide access to them only on the request of an
individual client, and we do not participate nor do we allocate them.
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC may maintain cash positions for defensive
purposes from time to time. All cash positions are considered to be under
management for calculating the client’s advisory fee.
NAPFA
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC has paid the National Association of Personal
Financial Advisors (NAPFA) a fee to have its web site listed on NAPFA's web site.
This is a onetime fee and is not dependent on the number of referrals received as a
result of the listing. The only restriction regarding the ongoing listing is continued
membership with NAPFA.
Retirement Rollovers-No Obligation/Conflict of Interest
A client leaving an employer typically has four options (and may engage in a
combination of these options): 1) leave the money in his former employer’s plan, if
permitted, 2) roll over the assets to his/her new employer’s plan, if one is available
and rollovers are permitted, 3) rollover to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), or
4) cash out the account value (which could, depending upon the client’s age, result
in adverse tax consequences).
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC may recommend an investor roll over plan
assets to an IRA managed by ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC. As a result,
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC may earn an asset-based fee; however, a
recommendation that a client or prospective client leave their plan assets with their
old employer will result in no compensation. ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC
has an economic incentive to encourage an investor to roll plan assets into an IRA
that ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC will manage.
There are various factors that ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC may consider
before recommending a rollover, including but not limited to: i) the investment
options available in the plan versus the investment options available in an IRA, ii)
fees and expenses in the plan versus the fees and expenses in an IRA, iii) the
services and responsiveness of the plan’s investment professionals versus those of
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC, iv) required minimum distributions and age
considerations, and vi) employer stock tax consequences, if any. No client is under
any obligation to roll over plan assets to an IRA managed by ATLAS FIDUCIARY
FINANCIAL, LLC.
When we provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account
or individual retirement account, we are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as
applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. The way we make money
creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a special rule that
requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interests ahead of yours.
Under this special rule’s provisions, we must:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations
(give prudent advice);
• Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations
(give loyal advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in
your best interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
• Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
Termination of Agreement
A Client may terminate any of the aforementioned agreements at any time by
notifying ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC in writing and paying the rate for the
time spent on the investment advisory engagement prior to notification of
termination. If the client made an advance payment, ATLAS FIDUCIARY
FINANCIAL, LLC will refund any unearned portion of the advance payment.
ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC may terminate any of the aforementioned
agreements at any time by notifying the client in writing. If the client made an
advance payment, ATLAS FIDUCIARY FINANCIAL, LLC will refund any unearned
portion of the advance payment.