Services
GLA provides a variety of investment management services to individual and institutional clients,
including banks, investment companies, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts and business
entities. These services are provided on a personalized basis with investment programs designed
to reflect the individual client’s circumstances.
This brochure provides information about the Wintrust Multi-Asset Strategy Account Program
(“Multi-Asset Strategy” and the “Program”). The Program is provided to clients for an inclusive
fee. The Adviser also offers other investment Advisory services both for an inclusive fee and with
the client paying separately for execution of transactions. Brochures for these programs,
including the Private Wealth Direct Program, Multi-Asset Strategy ETF Program, and the Guided
Account Program are delivered to clients participating in such programs and may be obtained by
contacting the Adviser at the address or phone number indicated on the cover page of this
brochure.
The Adviser also serves as investment adviser to The Chicago Trust Company, N.A, and as General
Partner and Adviser to the GLA Small Cap Focus Fund, L.P.; an unregistered private placement
pursuant to Regulation D under the Securities Act. The Adviser may serve as sub-adviser to
clients of other investment advisers pursuant to which the Adviser receives fees for providing
investment management services to clients of such investment advisers. The services provided
by the Adviser under these arrangements are generally similar to those provided to the Adviser’s
other clients.
Wintrust Investments LLC (“WTI”), an affiliated securities broker-dealer/registered investment
adviser of the Adviser, also offers all-inclusive fee programs and mutual fund asset allocation
programs. Brochures for these programs offered through WTI are delivered to clients
participating in such programs and may be obtained by contacting WTI at the address or phone
number indicated on the cover page of this brochure. WTI also offers discretionary investment
advisory services with the client paying for brokerage. In addition, WTI offers financial planning
services for a fixed fee.
Wintrust Multi-Asset Strategy Account Program
Under the program, (1) the Adviser assists the client in formulating the client’s investment
objectives, policies and constraints, and in gauging the client’s risk tolerance; (2) the Adviser
provides continuous investment management services with respect to the cash and securities in
the client’s account (the “Account”) under the Program; (3) the Adviser effects transactions in
securities for the client’s Account through broker-dealers selected by the Adviser, including
Wintrust Investments, LLC (“WTI”), an affiliated securities broker-dealer; and (4) First Clearing,
LLC (“WFCS”), an unaffiliated broker-dealer which maintains custody of the client assets under
the Program. Under the Program, the client pays an all-inclusive fee that covers investment
management services, execution of transactions, and custody of Account assets.
The Program is discretionary pursuant to an Agreement between you and the Adviser. The
Adviser has discretionary authority to invest and reinvest all cash and securities in your Account
under the Program. Such discretion will be exercised in accordance with your investment
objectives, policies and constraints, and risk parameters as set forth in the Investor Profile or
similar document, as discussed below. Accordingly, the Adviser is empowered to buy, sell, or to
otherwise effect transactions in securities for your Account at any time and in any amount
without discussing the specific transaction with you or obtaining your prior or subsequent
approval of the transaction.
The Multi-Asset Strategy Program is a dynamic program, delivered via nine investment objectives
utilizing the Adviser’s proprietary risk based asset allocation process, which may be implemented
using mutual funds, ETF’s, individual stocks, and individual bonds.
This program is based on both fundamental and quantitative research and other independent
research. The Adviser may develop specific investment strategies using a mix of these analytic
methods. Quality and concentration requirements to provide overall discipline are established.
In special circumstances, the strategies may also include margin transactions, option strategies,
and trading or short sale transactions.
The Adviser, in addition to proprietary research, may use third-party research to assist in
developing security selection models for the program. When seeking to anticipate trends and
identify undervalued securities with sound fundamentals, the Adviser may also use a security
selection and portfolio modeling process that incorporates fundamental, technical and statistical
analyses of historical data. Due to any number of factors, including timing of deposits, investment
selection process or investment needs, certain clients may receive different execution prices and
investment results.
Fees and Compensation
The Program is offered for an all-inclusive fee which is payable to the Adviser. This covers the
investment management services, as well as charges for execution of transactions, custody of
Account assets.
The fee is payable quarterly in advance and is computed based on the market value of the total
assets under management at the close of the last business day of the preceding calendar quarter.
Effective, July 1, 2013, new accounts established with the Adviser will be charged the fee based
on all assets including assets invested in any investment company for which the Adviser provides
investment advisory services (“GLA Advised Fund”) with the exception of ERISA and IRA accounts.
The fee schedule for the Program is as follows:
Maximum Allowable Fee as a Percent of Market Value
Account Size Equity and Balanced Fixed Income
First $5 Million
Above $5 Million
2.0%
Negotiable
0.85%
Negotiable
You should be aware that program fees charged may be higher or lower than those otherwise
available if you were to select a separate brokerage service and negotiate commissions in the
absence of the extra advisory service provided. Our fee schedules may be subject to negotiation
depending upon a range of factors including, but not limited to, account sizes and overall range
of services provided.
You should consider the value of this advisory service when making such comparisons. The
combination of custodial, advisory and brokerage services may not be available separately or
may require multiple accounts, documentation and fees. You should also consider the amount of
anticipated trading activity when selecting among the programs and assessing the overall cost.
Advisory programs typically assume a normal amount of trading activity and, therefore, under
particular circumstances, prolonged periods of inactivity or asset allocations with significant fixed
income or cash weightings may result in higher fees than if commissions were paid separately for
each transaction.
A portion of the fees charged for the programs described may be paid to the WTI Financial
Advisor (“FA”) in connection with the management of accounts as well as for providing client-
related services within the program. This compensation may be more or less than the FA would
receive if you paid separately for investment advice, brokerage, and other services, and may vary,
depending on the program or services offered.
Unless agreed upon otherwise, you authorize us to deduct a quarterly fee calculated at the rate
indicated in the Fee Schedule from your account, in advance. For the purposes of calculating
program fees, “total account value” shall mean the sum of the long and short market value of all
securities and mutual funds, if applicable. In valuing the account, we will use the closing prices
or, if not available, the lowest published “bid price” and if none exist, the last reported
transaction if occurring within the last 45 days. For mutual funds, we use the fund's most current
net asset value, as computed by the fund company. In so doing, we will use information
provided
by quotation services believed to be reliable.
The initial fee is calculated as of the inception date, the date the account is accepted into and
invested in the program and covers the remainder of the calendar quarter. Subsequent fees will
be determined for calendar quarter periods and shall be calculated on the value of the account
on the last business day of the prior calendar quarter.
Whenever there are changes to the fee schedule, the schedule charges previously in effect shall
continue until the next billing cycle.
Additionally, your Account will normally participate in a “sweep program” for the automatic
purchase and redemption of cash balances in connection with free credit balances and to satisfy
debit balances in the custodial brokerage accounts (net of free credit balances). Through our
Insured Bank Deposits Program (“IBD”), available cash balances in a WTI account are
automatically deposited into one or more interest-bearing, bank deposit accounts established at
our affiliated Wintrust banks (“Program Banks”) and insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (“FDIC”). If cash balances are deposited in a bank deposit account in one or more
affiliated Program Banks, the participating Bank(s) will benefit from use of the deposits and WTI
will receive compensation from the Program Banks.
Risk in the Use of Margin
To the extent margin is used in your account, you should be aware that the margin debit balance
will not reduce the market value of eligible assets, and will therefore increase the asset -based
fee you are charged. The increased asset-based fee may provide an incentive for the Adviser to
recommend the use of margin strategies. The use of margin is not suitable for all investors, since
it increases leverage in your Account and therefore risk.
Other Account Fees
The fee does not include certain dealer markups or markdowns, odd lot differentials, transfer
taxes, exchange fees, execution fees (foreign and/or domestic) when applicable, and any other
fees required by law. Cash balances in an Account may be invested in the insured bank deposit
program or money market mutual funds including, as permitted by law, those with which we
have agreements to provide advisory, administrative, distribution, and other services and for
which we receive compensation for the services rendered. In a low interest rate environment,
the yield that you earn on cash and cash alternatives, including cash sweep funds, CDs and money
market funds may not offset advisory fees. In some instances, the effective yield of the
investment may in fact be negative.
Non-brokerage-related fees, such as IRA fees, are not included in the program fee and may be
charged to your account separately. As more fully described in the fee schedules above, the fees
you are charged may be different, depending on the asset type invested by the account.
Costs of Investing in Mutual Funds
In addition to program fees, as a shareholder of a money market, mutual fund or closed -end
fund, you will bear a proportionate share of the fund's expenses, including investment
management fees that are paid to the fund's investment adviser. WTI may receive fees from
these mutual funds or closed-end funds. For more information about these funds, refer to their
prospectuses.
You should be aware that you may invest in Money Market Funds or Mutual Funds directly
without incurring the fee charged for participation in a program. In addition, certain institutional
investors may directly purchase a class of shares of certain money market funds or funds that do
not charge shareholder services, sub-accounting or other related fees. If you do, however, you
will not receive the various program services provided under the program and some mutual funds
may impose a sales load on direct investments. You will receive a prospectus for each money
market and mutual fund purchased, as required by securities regulations.
WTI may collect such fees directly or indirectly from some or all of the mutual funds in which you
invest, and we may pay any such fees it receives to FAs. The amount of the fees we or your FA
receive will vary, depending on the percentage paid pursuant to a fund's Rule 12b-1 plan.
Certain Funds make multiple no-load, institutional, advisory, or load-waived share classes
available for purchase through investment advisory programs. These share classes may be
available only through investment advisory programs and have different and lower shareholder
servicing, sub-accounting, investment management and 12b-1 fees and charges from other
shares classes offered by those Funds. As a result, some clients may have purchased these lower-
cost institutional share classes, while others may have purchased a non-institutional share class.
Referrals
The Adviser may pay fees to certain of its or WTI’s employees or other persons for referring
potential clients to the Adviser in amounts to be determined by the Adviser. As a result, such
employees may have a financial incentive to refer potential clients to the Adviser rather than to
other GLA or WTI programs or services. However, the payment of such fees will not result in an
increase in the fees payable by a client who has been so referred. In addition, the Adviser may
enter into agreements with independent contractors or firms not affiliated with the Adviser for
the promotion of investment Advisory services to qualified prospects. Such independent
contractors or firms may receive a retainer payment and/or a percentage of the fee to be paid to
the Adviser.
Account Termination
Your account agreements may be terminated by either party at any time upon 30 days’ advance
written notice. If you terminate your Agreement, a pro rata refund will be made, less reasonable
start-up costs. You have the right, within five (5) days of execution, to terminate the Client
Agreement without penalty. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the Adviser, the client’s written
confirmation that it wishes to withdraw all assets from the Account shall be considered a written
notice of termination of the Client Agreement by the client. In the event of cancellation of Client
Agreements, fees previously paid pursuant to the fee schedule will be refunded on a pro rata
basis, as of the date notice of such cancellation is received by the non-canceling party, less
reasonable start-up costs.
If you choose to terminate your agreement, we can liquidate your account if you instruct us to
do so. If so instructed we will liquidate your account in an orderly and efficient manner. We do
not charge for such redemption; however, you should be aware that certain mutual funds impose
redemption fees as stated in their fund prospectus. In addition, some custodians may charge a
termination fee if closing the custodial brokerage account. You should also keep in mind that the
decision to liquidate security issues or mutual funds may result in tax consequences that should
be discussed with your tax advisor.
We will not be responsible for market fluctuations in your account from the time of notice until
complete liquidation. All efforts will be made to process the termination in an efficient and timely
manner. Factors that may affect the orderly and efficient liquidation of an account might be size
and types of issues, liquidity of the markets, and market makers' abilities. Should the necessary
securities' markets be unavailable, and trading suspended, efforts to trade will be done as soon
as possible following their reopening. Due to the administrative processing time needed to
terminate an advisory account, termination orders cannot be considered market orders. It may
take several business days under normal market conditions to process your request.
If a program account is terminated, but you maintain a brokerage account with our affiliate, the
money market fund used in a “sweep” arrangement may be changed and/or your shares may be
exchanged for shares of another series of the same fund. You will bear a proportionate share of
the money market fund's fees and expenses. You are subject to the customary brokerage charges
for any securities positions sold in your account after the termination of program services.