Description of Firm
Ridgewood Investments LLC ("Ridgewood" or "Advisor") is a registered investment adviser primarily
based in Springfield, New Jersey. We also have offices in Hermosa Beach, California and conduct
business under the DBA Dividend Growth Partners. Ridgewood is organized as a limited liability
company under the laws of the State of New Jersey. We have been providing investment advisory
services since 2002. Our principal owners are Kaushal Majmudar, Ahalya Nava-Majmudar, and
Terrance McGuire.
The following paragraphs describe our services and fees. Refer to the description of each investment
advisory service listed below for information on how we tailor our advisory services to your individual needs.
As used in this brochure, the words "we", "our" and "us" refer to Ridgewood and the words "you", "your" and
"client" refer to you as either a client or prospective client of our firm.
Portfolio Management Services
Ridgewood Investments LLC ("Ridgewood" or "Advisor") provides fee-based discretionary and non-
discretionary investment advice and portfolio management services to individuals, high net-worth
individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, foundations, corporations and other business
entities. On occasion, Ridgewood offers consulting services on an hourly, performance based, asset
based or fixed fee basis. Prior to engaging the Advisor for portfolio management services, a client is
required to enter into written agreement(s) with the Advisor setting forth the terms and conditions under
which Ridgewood renders its services.
The Advisor's portfolio management services are provided in accordance with the client's investment
objective(s) and time horizon. Management and/or consulting fees are negotiable and dependent upon
the scope and complexity of the engagement as well as the amount of assets to be supervised. As part
of our portfolio management services, in addition to other types of investments (see disclosures below
in this section), we may invest your assets according to one or more model portfolios developed by our
firm. For example Dividend Growth Partners follows a disciplined approach to dividend growth
investing, relying on research and dividend growth investing experience throughout multiple business
cycles. Our services offered may include comprehensive advice and recommendations in the following
areas:
• Investment research and investment management
• Portfolio construction and management
• Securities selection
• Strategic asset allocation
• Cash flow planning
• Retirement planning
• Income planning
• Estate and financial planning
To the extent specifically requested by a client, Ridgewood may provide limited consultation services
on a fee for service basis to its clients on investment and non-investment related matters. For example,
Ridgewood may render non-discretionary investment management services to clients relative to:
• Individual employer sponsored retirement plans
• Trusts, Charitable Trusts, and other accounts managed by third parties
• 401k and other defined contribution or ERISA plans
In doing so, Ridgewood either directs or recommends the allocation of client assets among the various
options available to client. The client assets shall be maintained at the custodian, trust company, or
plan respectively.
Ridgewood may also recommend an investment in one or more private funds that are managed by
Ridgewood Investments or one of our affiliates. Our funds sometimes charge asset management fees
and generally charge performance based fees (and sometime a combination of both of these fees).
Our fund investments are only offered to accredited investors or qualified clients, as defined by current
securities regulations. Our funds are
exempt from registration under Rule 3(c)(1) of the Investment
Company Act of 1940, which limits the number of limited partners allowed to invest in each fund.
Details regarding the investment policies and business practices of each fund are outlined in the
information memorandum and subscription documents for the each respective fund which you should
review carefully before deciding to make or not make an invest in any of our private funds. You can
find more information about our private funds including a list of our funds and how performance based
fees work including information about conflicts of interest in Item 6 (Performance Based Fees and Side
by Side Management), Item 10 (Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations), and Item 15
(Custody).
Ridgewood uses a third-party platform to facilitate management of held away assets such as defined
contribution plan participant accounts, with discretion. The platform allows us to avoid being
considered to have custody of Client funds since we do not have direct access to Client log-in
credentials to affect trades. Ridgewood is not affiliated with the platform in any way and receive no
compensation from them for using their platform. A link will be provided to the Client allowing them to
connect an account(s) to the platform. Once a Client account(s) is connected to the platform, Adviser
will review the current account allocations. When deemed necessary, Adviser will rebalance the
account considering client investment goals and risk tolerance, and any change in allocations will
consider current economic and market trends. The goal is to improve account performance over time,
minimize loss during difficult markets, and manage internal fees that harm account performance.
Client account(s) will be reviewed at least quarterly and allocation changes will be made as deemed
necessary.
IRA Rollover Recommendations
Effective December 20, 2021 (or such later date as the US Department of Labor ("DOL") Field
Assistance Bulletin 2018-02 ceases to be in effect), 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.
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:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give prudent
advice);
• Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations (give loyal
advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your best
interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
• Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
We benefit financially from the rollover of your assets from a retirement account to an account that we
manage or provide investment advice, because the assets increase our assets under management
and, in turn, our advisory fees. As a fiduciary, we only recommend a rollover when we believe it is in
your best interest.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, we provide continuous management services for $270,687,358 in client assets
on a discretionary basis, and $55,0051,181 client assets on a non-discretionary basis.