Services
OTFS has been a state registered investment adviser registered since 2015. Prior to
registering as an independent investment adviser, OTFS was a boutique financial service
organization founded in 2009 offering advisory services and securities through LPL Financial,
an SEC registered investment adviser and FINRA/SIPC member broker/dealer. Investment
advisor representatives of OTFS remain registered representatives of LPL Financial in order
to continue to conduct securities business.
OTFS filed its initial application to become registered as an investment adviser with the U.S.
Securities Exchange Commission in February 2022, which was accepted on March 31, 2022.
OTFS (“Advisor”) offers asset management services based on the individual needs of the
client. This Brochure provides a description of the advisory services offered under the
OTFS Asset Management ("OTFSAM") program.
In the OTFSAM program, Advisor provides ongoing investment advice and management on
assets in the client’s account. Advisor provides advice on the purchase and sale of various
types of investments, such as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), variable
annuity subaccounts, equities, fixed income securities and others. Advisor provides advice
that is tailored to the individual needs of the client based on the investment objective
chosen by the client. Clients may impose restrictions on investing in certain securities or
groups of securities by indicating in the written advisory agreement with Advisor.
Advisor provides management services on a discretionary basis. The client authorizes the
Advisor to have discretion by signing an advisory agreement.
Assets for program accounts are held at LPL Financial (“LPL”) as custodian. LPL also acts
as executing broker/dealer for transactions placed in program accounts and provides other
administrative services as described throughout this Brochure.
Fees
In the OTFSAM, clients pay Advisor a single annual advisory fee for advisory services and
execution of transactions. Clients do not pay brokerage commissions, markups or
transaction charges for execution of transactions in addition to the advisory fee. The
advisory fee is negotiable between the client and the Advisor and is set out in the advisory
agreement. The advisory fee is a percentage based on the value of all assets in the account,
including cash holdings. The maximum advisory fee is 2.0%. The advisory fee may be
higher than the fee charged by other investment advisors for similar services. The advisory
fee is paid to Advisor and is shared between Advisor and its associated persons. Advisor
does not accept performance-based fees for program accounts.
The advisory fee is deducted from the account by LPL as the custodian of assets based on a
written authorization from the client. LPL calculates and deducts the advisory fee
quarterly in advance. If the advisory agreement is terminated before the end of the
quarterly period, client is entitled to a pro-rated refund of any pre-paid quarterly advisory
fee based on the number of days remaining in the quarter after the termination date.
Although clients do not pay a transaction charge for transactions in a program account,
clients should be aware that Advisor pays LPL transaction charges for the transactions.
The transaction charges paid by Advisor vary based on the type of transaction (e.g., mutual
fund, equity or fixed income security) and range from $0 to $35. Because Advisor pays the
transaction charges in program accounts, there is a conflict of interest. Clients should
understand that the cost to Advisor of transaction charges may be a factor that the Advisor
considers when deciding which securities to select and how frequently to place
transactions in a program account.
Other Types of Fees and Charges
Program accounts will incur additional fees and charges from parties other than the
Advisor as noted below. These fees and charges are in addition to the advisory fee paid to
Advisor. Advisor does not share in any portion of these third party fees.
LPL, as the custodian and broker-dealer providing brokerage and execution services on
program accounts, will impose certain fees and charges. LPL notifies clients of these
charges
at account opening and makes available a list of these fees and charges on its
webs
ite at www.lpl.com. LPL will deduct these fees and charges directly from the client’s
program account.
There are other fees and charges that are imposed by other third parties that apply to
investments in program accounts. Some of these fees and charges are described below.
• If a client’s assets are invested in mutual funds or other pooled investment products,
clients should be aware that there will be two layers of advisory fees and expenses for
those assets. Client will pay an advisory fee to the fund manager and other expenses as
a shareholder of the fund. Client will also pay Advisor the advisory fee with respect to
those assets. Most of the mutual funds available in the program may be purchased
directly, subject to investment minimums. Therefore, clients could generally avoid the
second layer of fees by not using the management services of Advisor and by making
their own investment decisions.
• Certain mutual funds impose fees and charges such as contingent deferred sales
charges, early redemption fees and charges for frequent trading. These charges may
apply if client transfers into or purchases such a fund with the applicable charges in a
program account.
• Although only no-load and load-waived mutual funds can be purchased in a program
account, client should understand that some mutual funds pay asset based sales charges
or service fees (e.g., 12b-1 fees) to the custodian with respect to account holdings.
• If client holds a variable annuity as part of an account, there are mortality, expense and
administrative charges, fees for additional riders on the contract and charges for
excessive transfers within a calendar year imposed by the variable annuity sponsor.
Further information regarding fees assessed by a mutual fund, or variable annuity is
available in the appropriate prospectus, which is available upon request from the Advisor
or from the product sponsor directly.
Other Important Considerations
• The advisory fee is an ongoing wrap fee for investment advisory services, the execution
of transactions and other administrative and custodial services. The advisory fee may
cost the client more than purchasing the program services separately, for example,
paying an advisory fee plus commissions for each transaction in the account. Factors
that bear upon the cost of the account in relation to the cost of the same services
purchased separately include the type and size of the account, historical and or
expected size or number of trades for the account, and number and range of
supplementary advisory and client-related services provided to the client.
• The advisory fee also may cost the client more than if assets were held in a traditional
brokerage account. In a brokerage account, a client is charged a commission for each
transaction, and the representative has no duty to provide ongoing advice with respect
to the account. If the client plans to follow a buy and hold strategy for the account or
does not wish to purchase ongoing investment advice or management services, the
client should consider opening a brokerage account rather than a program account.
• The Advisor recommending the program to the client receives compensation as a result
of the client’s participation in the program. This compensation includes the advisory fee
and also may include other compensation, such as bonuses, awards or other things of
value offered by LPL to the Advisor or its associated persons. The amount of this
compensation may be more or less than what the Advisor would receive if the client
participated in other LPL programs, programs of other investment advisors or paid
separately for investment advice, brokerage and other client services. Therefore, the
Advisor may have a financial incentive to recommend a program account over other
programs and services.
• The investment products available to be purchased in the program can be purchased by
clients outside of a program account, through broker-dealers or other investment firms
not affiliated with Advisor.