HCR Wealth Advisors (“HCR”) is a SEC-registered investment adviser with its principal place of business
located in CA. HCR began conducting business in 1988.
Listed below is the firm's principal shareholder (i.e., those individuals and/or entities controlling 25% or
more of this company).
• Gregory Sandor Heller, President
HCR offers the following advisory services to our clients:
INVESTMENT SUPERVISORY SERVICES ("ISS")
INDIVIDUAL PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Our firm provides continuous advice to a client regarding the investment of client funds based on the
individual needs of the client. Through personal discussions in which goals and objectives based on a
client's particular circumstances are established, we develop a client's personal investment policy and
create and manage a portfolio based on that policy. During our data-gathering process, we
determine the client’s individual objectives, time horizons, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs. As
appropriate, we also review and discuss a client's prior investment history, as well as family composition
and background.
We manage these advisory accounts on a discretionary basis. Account supervision is guided by the
client's stated objectives (i.e., maximum capital appreciation, growth, income, or growth and income),
as well as tax considerations. We may agree with clients to abide by certain restrictions, including but
not limited to restrictions on securities or types of securities.
Our investment recommendations are not limited to any specific product or service offered by a
broker-dealer or insurance company and will generally include advice regarding the following
securities:
• Exchange-listed securities
• Securities traded over-the-counter
• Foreign issuers
• Warrants
• Corporate debt securities (other than commercial paper)
• Commercial paper
• Certificates of deposit
• Municipal securities
• Variable life insurance
• Variable annuities
• Mutual fund shares
• United States governmental securities
• Interests in partnerships investing in real estate
• Structured Notes
• Alternatives
HCR recommends different mutual fund class shares for investment in clients’ portfolios. HCR considers
a number of different factors when determining the appropriate class share including the existence of
sales loads, transaction fees, minimum investment amounts, and operating expense ratios, among
other things. Specifically, HCR will generally recommend either retail shares or institutional shares.
• Retail shares – generally have a sales charge, also called a front-end load, that is paid
immediately before any principal is invested thereby reducing the amount of your initial
investment, although the sales charge may be waived by certain broker-dealers including
those used by HCR. For example, if you invest $1,000 in a retail share with a 5.0% sales charge,
$50 would be deducted from your investment. The remaining $950 of principal would be
invested in the mutual fund. Although the operating expenses may be higher, retail shares tend
to have lower minimum investment amounts and can be purchased directly from the sponsor.
• Institutional shares - they are intended only for financial institutions purchasing shares for their
own or their clients’ accounts. Institutional shares have no sales charge and generally lower
annual operating expenses, have higher minimum investment amounts, and can only be
purchased through a financial intermediary. For example, an institutional share may require a
minimum investment of $100,000 but since there is no sales charge, the entire $100,000 of
principal would be invested in the mutual fund. Institutional shares may have transaction
charges paid to the broker-dealer for purchases and sales of institutional shares, although HCR
attempts to negotiate such transaction charges to the extent feasible.
Because some types of investments involve certain additional degrees of risk, they will only be
implemented/recommended when consistent with the client's stated investment objectives, tolerance
for risk, liquidity and suitability.
FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONSULTING
We provide financial planning and consulting services. Financial planning is a comprehensive
evaluation of a client’s current and future financial state by using currently known variables to predict
future cash flows, asset values and withdrawal plans. Through the financial planning process, all
questions, information and analysis are considered as they impact and are impacted by the entire
financial and life situation of the client. Clients purchasing this service receive a written report which
provides the client with a detailed financial plan designed to assist the client achieve his or her
financial goals and objectives.
In general, the financial plan can address any or all of the following areas:
• PERSONAL: We review family records, budgeting, personal liability, estate information and financial
goals.
• TAX & CASH FLOW: We analyze the
client’s income tax and spending and planning for past, current
and future years; then illustrate the impact of various investments on the client's current income tax
and future tax liability.
• INVESTMENTS: We analyze investment alternatives and their effect on the client's portfolio.
• INSURANCE: We review existing policies to ensure proper coverage for life, health, disability, long-
term care, liability, home and automobile.
• RETIREMENT: We analyze current strategies and investment plans to help the client achieve his or her
retirement goals.
• DEATH & DISABILITY: We review the client’s cash needs at death, income needs of surviving
dependents, estate planning and disability income.
• ESTATE: We assist the client in assessing and developing long-term strategies, including as
appropriate, living trusts, wills, review estate tax, powers of attorney, asset protection plans, nursing
homes, Medicaid and elder law.
We gather required information through in-depth personal interviews. Information gathered includes
the client's current financial status, tax status, future goals, returns objectives and attitudes towards risk.
We carefully review documents supplied by the client, including a questionnaire completed by the
client, and prepare a written report. Should the client choose to implement the recommendations
contained in the plan, we suggest the client work closely with his/her attorney, accountant, insurance
agent, and/or stockbroker. Implementation of financial plan recommendations is entirely at the client's
discretion.
Typically the financial plan is presented to the client within six months of the contract date, provided
that all information needed to prepare the financial plan has been promptly provided.
Financial Planning recommendations are not limited to any specific product or service offered by a
broker-dealer or insurance company. All recommendations are of a generic nature.
When we offer financial consulting services to a client, we provide advice regarding, among other
things, the purchase or sale of a business by a client, the purchase or sale of real estate, or financial
issues and considerations relating to a divorce. These financial consulting services do not include the
ongoing management of a client’s investment portfolio.
RETIREMENT ROLLOVERS
A client leaving an employer typically has four options (and may engage in a combination of these
options):
I. Leave the money in their former employer’s plan, if permitted,
II. Roll over the assets to their new employer’s plan, if one is available and rollovers are permitted,
III. Rollover to an IRA, or
IV. Cash out the account value (which could, depending upon the client’s age, result in adverse tax
consequences).
We may recommend an investor roll over retirement plan assets to an Individual Retirement Account
(IRA) managed by HCR. As a result, HCR and its advisors may earn an asset-based fee on those assets.
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 interest ahead of yours.
Specifically, if HCR recommends a client roll over its retirement assets to an HCR managed account,
such a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if we will earn new (or increase our current)
compensation as a result of the rollover. Depending on the options available to the individual, rolling
over assets to an HCR managed account could incur higher fees than leaving it in a current plan or
moving to another employer-sponsored plan. In contrast, a recommendation that a client or
prospective client leave their plan assets with their old employer or roll the assets to a plan sponsored
by a new employer will generally result in no compensation to HCR. We have an economic incentive
to encourage an investor to roll plan assets into an IRA that we will manage.
There are various factors that HCR 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 HCR’s,
IV. Protection of assets from creditors and legal judgments,
V. Required minimum distributions and age considerations,
VI. Employer stock tax consequences, if any,
VII. Plan’s withdrawal options or limitations, before and/or after retirement
No client is under any obligation to rollover retirement plan assets to an account managed by HCR.
AMOUNT OF MANAGED ASSETS
As of December 31, 2023, we were actively managing $1,504,064,085 of clients' assets on a
discretionary basis.