TAG offers a variety of advisory services, which include financial planning, consulting, and investment management services. Prior to TAG rendering any of the foregoing advisory services, clients are required to enter into one or more written agreements with TAG setting forth the relevant terms and conditions of the advisory relationship (the “Advisory Agreement”). TAG has been registered as an investment adviser since May 10, 2021, and is owned by Alera Group Inc. As of March 1, 2024, the Firm had $2,880,025,369 in assets under management, all of which was managed on a discretionary basis. TAG services clients through its network of investment advisor representatives (“Advisor Representatives” or “IARs”). IARs may have their own legal business entities whose trade names and logos are used for marketing purposes and may appear on marketing materials or client statements. Clients should understand that the businesses are legal entities of the IAR and not of TAG. The IARs are under the supervision of TAG, and the advisory services of the IAR are provided through TAG. The Firm, The Ascent Group, LLC, has the arrangement described above with the following IARs:
• Summit Group of Virginia
• Walsh & Nicholson Financial Group While this brochure generally describes the business of TAG, certain sections also discuss the activities of its Supervised Persons, which refer to the Firm’s officers, partners, directors (or other persons occupying a similar status or performing similar functions), employees or other persons who provide investment advice on TAG’s behalf and are subject to the Firm’s supervision or control. Financial Planning and Consulting Services TAG offers clients a broad range of financial planning and consulting services. Financial planning services can be comprehensive or limited to a specific issue. Services provided through a financial planning and consulting arrangement can include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following functions:
• Retirement Planning and Analysis
• Portfolio Review and Allocation
• Employee Benefits Analysis
• Business Valuation Consulting
• Estate Planning and Analysis
• Retirement Plan and Income Consulting
• Insurance Planning and Analysis
• Business Succession Planning
• Tax Planning
• Education Planning and Analysis Page | 6 © MarketCounsel 2024 While each of these services is available on a stand-alone basis, certain of them can also be rendered in conjunction with investment portfolio management as part of a comprehensive wealth management engagement (described in more detail below). In performing these services, TAG is not required to verify any information received from the client or from the client’s other professionals (e.g., attorneys, accountants, etc.,) and is expressly authorized to rely on such information. TAG recommends certain clients engage the Firm for additional related services, its Supervised Persons in their individual capacities as insurance agents or registered representatives of a broker-dealer and/or other professionals to implement its recommendations. Clients are advised that a conflict of interest exists for the Firm to recommend that clients engage TAG or its affiliates to provide (or continue to provide) additional services for compensation, including investment management services. Clients retain absolute discretion over all decisions regarding implementation and are under no obligation to act upon any of the recommendations made by TAG under a financial planning or consulting engagement. Clients are advised that it remains their responsibility to promptly notify the Firm of any change in their financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing, evaluating or revising TAG’s recommendations and/or services. Investment and Wealth Management Services TAG manages client investment portfolios on a discretionary and/or non-discretionary basis. In addition, TAG provides certain clients with wealth management services which include a broad range of financial planning and consulting services as well as discretionary management of investment portfolios. TAG primarily allocates client assets among various mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), individual debt and equity securities, and independent investment managers (“Independent Managers”) in accordance with their stated investment objectives. The representative that works with the client (the “Advisor”) will help determine the investment options for the client. The allocation can be done either by the Advisor, through Independent Managers, or through models run by the Firm. Where appropriate, the Firm also provides advice about any type of legacy position or other investment held in client portfolios, but clients should not assume that these assets are being continuously monitored or otherwise advised on by the Firm unless specifically agreed upon. Clients can engage TAG to manage and/or advise on certain investment products that are not maintained at their primary custodian, such as variable life insurance and annuity contracts and assets held in employer sponsored retirement plans and qualified tuition plans (i.e., 529 plans). In these situations, TAG directs or recommends the allocation of client assets among the various investment options available with the product. These assets are generally maintained at the underwriting insurance company or the custodian designated by the product’s provider. TAG tailors its advisory services to meet the needs of its individual clients and seeks to ensure, on a continuous basis, that client portfolios are managed in a manner consistent with those needs and objectives. TAG consults Page | 7 © MarketCounsel 2024 with clients on an initial and ongoing basis to assess their specific risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity constraints and other related factors relevant to the management of their portfolios. Clients are advised to promptly notify TAG if there are changes in their financial situation or if they wish to place any limitations on the management of their portfolios. Clients can impose reasonable restrictions or mandates on the management of their accounts if TAG determines, in its sole discretion, the conditions would not materially impact the performance of a management strategy or prove overly burdensome to the Firm’s management efforts. The Firm has a number of solutions for Advisors to use with clients. Those solutions include the following: Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Program TAG may provide portfolio management services through the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios program (the “SIPP”), an automated, online investment management platform for use by independent investment advisors and sponsored by Schwab Wealth Investment Advisory, Inc. (“SWIA”), an affiliate of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Through the SIPP, TAG offers clients investment strategies that TAG has constructed and manages, each consisting of a portfolio of mutual funds and/or ETFs. The client's portfolio is held in a brokerage account opened by the client at Schwab. TAG is independent of and not owned by, affiliated with, or sponsored, or supervised by SWIA, Schwab, or their affiliates. TAG is the client's investment advisor and primary point of contact with respect to the SIPP, and, as such, TAG determines the appropriateness of the SIPP for clients, chooses suitable investment strategies and portfolios for clients’ investment needs and goals, and manages portfolios on an ongoing basis. The SIPP is described in the Schwab Wealth Investment Advisory,

Inc. Institutional Intelligent Portfolios Disclosure Brochure (“the SIPP Brochure”), which is delivered to clients by SWIA during the online enrollment process. TAG will charge clients fees (as described below in Item 5) for TAG’ services in connection with the SIPP. Clients do not pay brokerage commissions to Schwab as part of the SIPP. TAG does not pay SWIA fees for the SIPP so long as TAG maintains $100 million in client assets in accounts at Schwab that are not enrolled in the SIPP. If TAG does not meet this condition, then TAG may pay SWIA an annual fee of 0.10% on the value of clients' assets in the SIPP. This fee arrangement gives TAG an incentive to recommend that clients with accounts that are not enrolled in the SIPP be maintained with Schwab. Independent Managers As mentioned above, TAG selects certain Independent Managers to actively manage a portion of its clients’ assets. The specific terms and conditions under which a client engages an Independent Manager are set forth in a separate written agreement with the designated Independent Manager and/or the third-party platform used to access the Independent Manager(s) (this could be an application through the account custodian or an independent third party (together called “Manager Platform”). That agreement can be between the Firm and Page | 8 © MarketCounsel 2024 the Independent Manager (often called a subadvisor) or Manager Platform, or the client and the Independent Manager (sometimes called a separate account manager) or Manager Platform. In addition to this brochure, clients will typically also receive the written disclosure documents of the respective Independent Managers engaged to manage their assets. TAG evaluates a variety of information about Independent Managers, which includes the Independent Managers’ public disclosure documents, materials supplied by the Independent Managers themselves and other third-party analyses it believes are reputable. To the extent possible, the Firm seeks to assess the Independent Managers’ investment strategies, past performance and risk results in relation to its clients’ individual portfolio allocations and risk exposure. TAG also takes into consideration each Independent Manager’s management style, returns, reputation, financial strength, reporting, pricing and research capabilities, among other factors. TAG continues to provide services relative to the discretionary selection of the Independent Managers. On an ongoing basis, the Firm monitors the performance of those accounts being managed by Independent Managers. TAG seeks to ensure the Independent Managers’ strategies and target allocations remain aligned with its clients’ investment objectives and overall best interests. The Firm receives marketing funds from AssetMark, Inc., which is an Independent Manager that TAG will recommend to clients. The support is contingent on TAG continuing to recommend AssetMark as its primary Independent Manager as well as maintaining a certain level of assets managed by AssetMark among other conditions. These conditions result in a conflict of interest for the Firm to recommend AssetMark over other Independent Managers or other solutions. For the AssetMark solution, AssetMark will take the fee from the client account for the Firm and AssetMark. The following solutions use Independent Managers (the terms of the Firm’s services regarding Independent Managers are described in the Advisory Agreement):
• Custom Indexing: TAG provides custom indexing through a subadvisor to deliver personalized asset management solutions with factor-based metrics and advanced tax management capabilities.
• Direct Indexing: TAG provides access to direct indexing portfolios that aim to replicate the performance of an index by purchasing the underlying individual stocks in the index to deliver tax-efficient and personalized portfolios.
• Independent Mangers: TAG provides direct access to several third-party asset managers who can be hired under separate written agreement to provide asset management strategies
• AssetMark Models: TAG offers, through a customized version of the AssetMark platform, a series of unique portfolios that incorporate asset management strategies and strategists. Page | 9 © MarketCounsel 2024
• Fee-Based Annuity: TAG makes several annuity products available through a fee-based program that utilizes TAG's asset allocation models or specific volatility-managed portfolio options.
• Asset Management Partners (AMP) - Direct: TAG offers access to a curated suite of asset managers to make available tailored investment management options at Schwab and Fidelity through a multi-manager platform. AMP will use asset managers directly or through Manager Platforms. In most cases, clients will have to sign a separate agreement with the Independent Manager.
• Asset Management Partners (AMP) – 55ip: TAG offers access to a curated suite of asset managers through the 55 Institutional Partners, LLC, (“55ip”) Manager Platform to make available tailored investment management options at Schwab, Fidelity or any other custodian recommended. When using, the Firm engages directly with the Manager Platform. TAG Managed Portfolios In addition to the portfolios discussed in the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Program and the recommendations of Independent Managers, the Firm will also manage portfolios using proprietary recommendations. These can be customized recommendations as well as Firm-managed model portfolios. Subadvisory Services to Other Registered Investment Advisers TAG can also be engaged by other registered investment advisers (“RIAs”) to manage the assets of those RIAs’ clients. In those situations, there is an agreement between TAG and the RIA. There can also be a tri- party agreement between TAG, the RIA and the end client. In either type of relationship, the RIA (not TAG), through that firm or its investment adviser representatives, is responsible for determining the investment needs of its clients on an initial and ongoing basis. The RIA will provide TAG with an investment profile or other information to help determine the proper allocation for that client. TAG will manage the assets similarly to the services mentioned herein, but subject to the hiring, firing and direction of the RIA to determine the services and portfolios that clients will be allocated to. The end clients will be provided with TAG’s disclosure brochure by the RIA. Retirement Plan Consulting Services TAG provides various consulting services to qualified employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries. This suite of institutional services is designed to assist plan sponsors in structuring, managing and optimizing their corporate retirement plans. Each engagement is individually negotiated and customized, and includes any or all of the following services:
• Plan Design and Strategy
• Plan Review and Evaluation
• Executive Planning & Benefits
• Investment Selection Page | 10 © MarketCounsel 2024
• Plan Fee and Cost Analysis
• Plan Committee Consultation
• Fiduciary and Compliance
• Participant Education As disclosed in the Advisory Agreement, certain of the foregoing services are provided by TAG as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). In accordance with ERISA Section 408(b)(2), each plan sponsor is provided with a written description of TAG’s fiduciary status, the specific services to be rendered and all direct and indirect compensation the Firm reasonably expects under the engagement.