Founded by Thomas McDonald in 2005, McDonald Partners LLC (“McDonald Partners” or the
“Firm”) is a dually registered investment adviser and broker-dealer headquartered in Cleveland,
Ohio with offices throughout Northern Ohio and Michigan. McDonald Partners provides a variety
of investment management services through its Financial Advisors to individual and institutional
clients, including banks, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and
business entities. These services are provided on a personalized basis with investment programs
tailored to reflect each client’s specific circumstances. These tailored services may include
restrictions of industry (i.e., gambling, tobacco, etc.), income needs, and tax planning, to name a
few. We work with you to design an investment portfolio and style that will meet your personal
goals.
McDonald Partners has four wealth management groups: CapTrust Financial Advisors, Mansour
Wealth Management, MRT Asset Management, and Goodman Financial Group/Goodman Wealth
Advisors. The first three groups are separate legal entities. The financial advisors in all of these groups
are investment adviser representatives and registered representatives of McDonald Partners.
Goodman Financial Group/Goodman Wealth Advisors is used as a “doing business as” by that
team.
Throughout this brochure, we refer to McDonald Partner’s investment adviser representatives
as Financial Advisors.
McDonald Partners charges a single fee based on the value of the Client’s assets under
management. The single fee includes portfolio management, trading commissions, and custody
services. Clients are required to establish brokerage accounts at a qualified custodian, RBC
Correspondent Services (“RBC CS”), our clearing broker-dealer. RBC CS is not affiliated with
McDonald Partners.
McDonald Partners provides various types of advisory programs including wrap programs,
financial planning, retirement plan consulting services, and participant education, and other
customized portfolio management services. This brochure describes McDonald Partners’ Flex
Program (“Flex Program”). For more information about McDonald Partner’s advisory services and
programs other than the Flex Program, please contact your investment advisor representative
(“Financial Advisor”) for a copy of a similar brochure that describes such service or program or
go to
www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. You should have a conversation with your Financial Advisor and
read this and similar brochures carefully, as they explain our services in detail.
Regardless of which program you select, our advisory process begins with a data collection
process to help our Financial Advisors understand, among other things, your short- and long-term
financial objectives, risk tolerance, tax status, current investment holdings, and asset allocation.
Our Financial Advisors will analyze current investment holdings as to their potential place in your
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 5
investment strategy and make several recommendations for potential improvements to align the
current portfolio with the proposed investment strategy.
Business Continuity Plan
Our Firm’s business continuity plan (“the Plan”) is designed to meet the needs of our clients and
minimize potential disruption in services during an emergency or disaster. The protocols and
capabilities within the plan include:
• Sufficient technical infrastructure and network capacity to support employees working
from home in specific areas, or companywide
• Secure, remote access for employees
• Videoconference capabilities in place for employees
• Redundancy capabilities within each of our business units
Flex Account
We offer the McDonald Partners Flex Account. Our Flex accounts can be non-discretionary (you
work alongside your Financial Advisor) as well as discretionary (your Financial Advisor has your
permission to manage your account without your consent as to what/when/how much or what
price to buy or sell securities in your account). The Flex account offers advisory services along
with transaction, clearing, and custodial services for one fee based on the assets under
management, and is considered a wrap-fee program. This is different from non-wrap-fee
management programs whereby services are provided for a fee, but transaction services are
billed separately on a per-transaction basis. Based upon information from you during an initial
interview, your Financial Advisor will construct a portfolio of securities based on your specific
individual needs, risk tolerance and investment objectives. Your portfolio can include some or all
of the following investment vehicles: load or no-load mutual funds, exchange-traded fund (ETFs),
stocks, bonds, cash, cash equivalents, closed-end funds, and other securities as appropriate for your
individual needs.
The Flex Account program includes access to an assigned Financial Advisor. Financial Advisors are
available during business hours and may be reached via telephone, email or in person at the
Firm’s offices.
Client assets are held at RBC CS, which is not affiliated with McDonald Partners.
In determining whether to establish a Flex account, a Client should be aware that the overall cost
to the Client of McDonald Partners’ Flex Account may be higher or lower than the Client might
incur by purchasing separately the types of securities available through the Flex Account Program.
To compare the cost of the Flex Account with unbundled services, the Client should consider the
turnover rate in his or her selected investment strategies, trading activity in the account,
standard advisory fees, and brokerage commissions that would be charged at other broker-
dealers and investment advisers.
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 6
Hegarty Asset Management
One of the investment options offered in the Flex Account is a proprietary asset management
program, Hegarty Asset Management, operating as a division of McDonald Partners. This option
is called “Core.” It is a large capitalization discipline investing in a blend of both growth and value
companies. The portfolio typically owns between 40-50 companies diversified among the eleven
major sectors of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. This index also represents the performance
benchmark. Key “Core” portfolio characteristics include discounted valuation on a price-book,
price-sales, and price-earnings basis. Companies in the portfolio have projected 3-5 year
earnings, revenue and dividend growth well above that projected for the market. The risk and
volatility profile is moderate with a beta below that of the S&P 500 Index.
“Core” is available to both McDonald Partners Financial Advisors and other investment advisory
firms. The fee to Hegarty Asset Management is competitive with other third-party managers.
Although the Flex program requires a minimum initial investment amount of $25,000, the
minimum account size required to invest in Hegarty Asset Management is $250,000. Exceptions
may be granted in the discretion of Bill Hegarty, the portfolio manager.
Bill Hegarty, Chief Investment Officer of McDonald Partners, is the portfolio manager. He has
over 35 years of investment research and portfolio management experience. Details regarding
Mr. Hegarty experience are outlined in his Form ADV Part 2B Supplement.
Conflict of Interest: Because McDonald Partners earns compensation from Hegarty Asset
Management for assets placed, this constitutes a conflict of interest. Individual representatives
of the Firm do not earn additional compensation for referring accounts to Hegarty Asset
Management; however, from a business aspect, the additional compensation presents a conflict
of interest for which you end up paying more or less for those same services. Please discuss all
fee arrangements with your Financial Advisor or if you have any questions regarding this conflict
of interest, please contact our compliance department.
Fees and Compensation
The Firm charges a single fee based on the value of the Client’s assets under management. The
single fee includes portfolio management, trading commissions, and custody services. The Client
authorizes McDonald Partners to debit the advisory fee directly from the Client’s investment
account. If insufficient cash is available to pay such fees, securities in an amount equal to the
balance of unpaid fees will be liquidated to pay for the unpaid balance.
Listed below are the maximum fees charged for McDonald Partners Flex Accounts:
Fixed Income Only Accounts:
On the first $500,000 1.75% annually
On the next $550,000 1.25% annually
On the next $1,000,000 1.00% annually
Asset above $2,000,000 0.75% annually
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 7
Equity/Balanced Accounts:
On the first $500,000 3.00% annually
On the next $500,000 2.50% annually
On the next $1,000,000 2.00% annually
On the next $2,000,000 1.50% annually
Option Trades
$ 9.00 per trade + $0.50 per option contract (minimum $3.00)
ACCESS Accounts
$ 9.00 per trade transaction fee + 0.04% ($40 minimum) fee for performance reporting
Depending on specific circumstances, fees may be subject to negotiation. McDonald Partners will
not change any fees without prior written notice and acceptance of the client. The Financial
Advisor’s Fee is included in the total investment management fee charged by the Firm and is paid
by the Firm to the Financial Advisor.
For Clients of the Goodman Financial Group/Goodman Wealth Advisors, the advisory fee on client
assets invested in IPOs and secondaries is waived for a period of one year. The Financial Advisors
that purchase IPOs and secondaries on behalf of client accounts receive a selling concession in
their role as registered representative of McDonald Partners as broker-dealer.
For Clients of CapTrust Financial Advisors that are invested in Michigan municipal tax-free bonds,
CapTrust Financial Advisors have determined that it is cheaper for the Client to purchase these
securities in a brokerage account, where the Financial Advisor receives a commission on the
trade, as opposed to placing the asset in the Client’s advisory account and charging a fee based
on the Client’s assets under management. In the event the Client does not have a brokerage
account with McDonald Partners, Michigan municipal tax-free bonds can be purchased in the
Client’s advisory account and the advisory fee is not charged on those assets. The Financial
Advisor will still receive a commission for the purchase or sale of the bonds.
The Firm provides advisory services to seven private funds that are managed by an affiliate of the
Firm. These private funds include MP127 LLC, MP DPI LLC, MPCF LLC, MPCF II LLC, MPCF III LLC,
Eden Rock Montenegro LLC, and ERM Resort LLC (the “Funds”). The account-level advisory fee
on Client assets invested in the Funds is waived until such time that the total dollar amount of
advisory fees waived equals or exceeds the placement fee charged for those Funds where
McDonald Partners received a placement fee. The fees to be charged on these assets are based
on the estimated fair value of the Funds and will not exceed the maximum advisory fees set forth
in Item 5 Fees and Compensation. In most cases, the assets in the Funds are not publicly traded
and are valued by McDonald Partners or an independent
valuation service provider in accordance
with the Firm’s valuation policy.
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 8
In the event of account termination of our services, you will only be charged for the days your
account was under management. You may terminate this agreement with us at any time by
written notice to us.
Account termination notices should be sent to McDonald Partners LLC, 1301 East 9th Street, Suite
3700, Cleveland, OH 44114 or by email to your Financial Advisor at his or her respective email
address. The client can also terminate the Investment Management Agreement within five days
of execution and receive a full refund of any fees charged under the program. However, in such
case, the client will be responsible for fees and/or commissions charged on trades executed prior
to the receipt of such notice by McDonald Partners.
Fees are computed and payable quarterly or monthly in arrears (unless you have negotiated a
different payment arrangement) on the valuation of your assets under management on the last
day of the quarter, depending on the agreement between the Client and McDonald Partners. The
value on the final day of the quarter, or month, as the case may be, is multiplied by the portion
of your annual fee attributable to that month or quarter (calculated by dividing the annual fee by
365 days (or 366 days in a leap year) then multiplying the quotient by the number of days in the
given month or quarter). Fees will automatically be deducted from your account on or about the
15th day following the end of each quarter or month, as the case may be, unless you have
arranged for an alternative method of payment. The fee does not include certain dealer markups
or markdowns, odd lot differentials, transfer taxes, exchange fees (among which SEC fees are
included), and any other fees required by law. The valuation used to calculate the fee is provided
by RBC CS for publicly traded securities.
Valuation Policy
When determining market value of an account for the purpose of calculating advisory fees,
McDonald Partner’s policy is as follows: For all publicly traded securities held in client accounts, the
Firm relies on the daily prices received from the clients’ custodians. For investments in private funds or
other illiquid assets that are not managed by McDonald Partners or its affiliates, the Firm relies on
the valuations provided by the issuer of the asset. Depending on the type of asset or the underlying
investment, valuations may be reflected at cost until such time as the issuer provides an updated
valuation. For the Funds, McDonald Partners values any non-publicly traded assets pursuant to its
valuation policy
Information about Compensation related to the Funds
As noted above, McDonald Partners serves, through an affiliated entity, as manager to seven
private funds. McDonald Management LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of McDonald Partners, is
the manager of these private funds. For the Funds, McDonald Management LLC receives no
compensation for its advisory services aside from reimbursement of its reasonable expenses.
Please see the discussion of fees paid by MPCF III LLC below.
This Brochure does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.
Persons reviewing this Brochure should not construe this as an offer to sell or solicitation of an
offer to buy the securities of any of the Funds described herein. Any such offer or solicitation will
be made only using a confidential private placement memorandum.
With respect to MP127 LLC, MPCF LLC, MPCF II LLC, MP DPI LLC, Eden Rock Montenegro LLC and
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 9
ERM Resort LLC, McDonald Partners served as placement agent and received placement fees
ranging from 3% to 5% of the gross proceeds of the offerings, as more fully described in the private
placement memorandum for each fund.
With respect to MP DPI LLC, McDonald Partners paid the Fund’s organizational, legal, and
accounting costs and other expenses and fees related to the Underlying Investment and the
Fund’s operation out of the placement agent fees it received for acting as the placement agent
for the Underlying Offering, including the proceeds of the Fund Offering. McDonald Partners
received compensation in the form of warrants to purchase common stock of Diasome
Pharmaceuticals Inc, the portfolio company of MP DPI LLC, as consideration for its financial
advisory services.
With respect to Eden Rock Montenegro LLC, McDonald Management LLC can receive a carried
interest as owner of Class B Units, if such units are issued. This interest will only be distributed
after each Class A Member has been paid a preferred return and all of its capital contributions
have been repaid.
With respect to ERM Resort LLC, McDonald Management LLC can receive a carried interest as
owner of Class B Units, if such units are issued. This interest will only be distributed after each
Class A Member has been paid a preferred return and all of its capital contributions have been
repaid.
With respect to MPCF III LLC, McDonald Management LLC, as fund manager, can receive a 20%
carried interest following the full return of capital to the members of the fund. Additionally, once
certain conditions are satisfied, the fund will pay to McDonald Partners a fee for management
and administrative services equal to 1% of the aggregate offering proceeds. McDonald Partners
did not receive a placement fee for its services as placement agent for this fund.
The account-level advisory fee on Client assets invested in the Funds is waived until such time
that the total dollar amount of advisory fees waived equals or exceeds the placement fee charged
for those Funds where McDonald Partners received a placement fee. The fees to be charged on
these assets are based on the estimated fair value of the Funds and will not exceed the maximum
advisory fees set forth in Item 5 Fees and Compensation. In most cases, the assets in the Funds
are not publicly traded and are valued by McDonald Partners or an independent valuation service
provider in accordance with the Firm’s valuation policy.
Mutual fund managers charge certain fees for their services and products. Those fees are in
addition to the investment management fees paid to the Firm and are separate and distinct from
the investment management fees charged by the Firm. These fees and expenses are described in
the prospectuses for each mutual fund. Some mutual funds charge front-end or back-end loads
(also known as initial or deferred sales charges), investment management fees, other fund
expenses and distribution fees (“12b-1 fees”).
Mutual funds provide for the payment of certain Rule 12b-1 and other similar asset-based
charges (“12b-1” fee). Typically, all or a portion of the 12b-1 fee is paid by a mutual fund company
to the Firm, as outlined in the applicable prospectus, potentially creating an incentive, and thus
a conflict of interest, for the Firm or your Financial Advisor to recommend a mutual fund that will
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 10
pay a 12b-1 fee as opposed to one that does not. We address this conflict of interest by (1)
offering Advisor share class Mutual Fund positions for new purchases in Client accounts (when
available), and (2) crediting any 12b-1 fees that we receive related to a mutual fund held in an
advisory account back to the Client Account.
Many mutual fund companies offer advisory, institutional, or other share classes that do not have
a sales load or assess 12b-1 fees. Many mutual funds offer multiple classes of shares which are
available based on various eligibility requirements as dictated by the fund company. RBC CS or
the Firm will decide which share classes to offer in the Firm’s Clients based on such eligibility
requirements, the availability of share classes under the distribution agreements available to the
Firm through RBC CS, and other considerations. In most cases, we recommend the lowest
expense ratio share class offered by the fund company and available through RBC CS, but in some
cases, we can choose to recommend a higher-cost share class. It should be noted that, in certain
instances, certain share classes are not available to us through RBC CS and there may be a
cheaper alternative available to you should you qualify for it and purchase it elsewhere.
Accordingly, the client should review both the fees charged by the funds and the applicable
program fee charged by the Adviser to fully understand the total amount of fees to be paid and
to thereby evaluate the Advisory services being provided.
Cash balances in Client accounts are invested in money market mutual funds including, as
permitted by law, those with which we have agreements to provide administrative, distribution,
and other services and for which we receive compensation for the services rendered. Clients who
participate in a program may pay more or less for the services described in this brochure and the
RBC CS Brochure than if they purchased such services separately.
McDonald Partners has a revenue sharing agreement with RBC CS whereby McDonald Partners
receives a rebate based on McDonald Partners’ monthly average daily balance in RBC Insured
Deposit Accounts. McDonald Partners also receives payments from RBC CS based on the Firm’s
monthly average balance in the U.S. Government Money Market Fund. If, however, the U.S.
Government Money Market Fund waives 50 basis points or more of its fees, then McDonald
Partners will not receive any payments. The U.S. Government Money Market Fund is available
for balances that exceed the FDIC insurance coverage limit.
Both of these arrangements calculate the payments to McDonald Partners using the Federal
Funds rate. When that rate is zero, the Firm does not receive any payments. As of the date of this
Brochure, McDonald Partners receives less than 5% of its revenue from these arrangements.
The RBC Insured Deposit Account and the U.S. Government Money Market Fund are cash sweep
options for client accounts with assets of $5,000,000 or more. Clients can select from these and
other sweep options when establishing their account at RBC CS.
Rollovers to an IRA
Effective February 1, 2022, for purposes of complying with the DOL’s Prohibited Transaction
Exemption 2020-02 (“PTE 2020-02”) where applicable, we are providing the following
acknowledgment to you:
McDonald Partners LLC – WRAP Program Brochure – Page 11
• 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. Under this special rule’s provisions, we must:
o Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations
(give prudent advice).
o Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations
(give loyal advice).
o Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments.
o Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your
best interest.
o Charge no more than is reasonable for our services.
o Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.