Hey there – Jesse here. Are you looking for retirement planning help?
I am a partner and advisor with Rialto Wealth. We are headquartered in Syracuse, NY. I run our Rochester, NY office.
We serve clients from all over the USA – including locally here in Upstate NY.
Specifically, I focus on retirement planning. Most of my personal clients have worked hard and saved diligently to build a portfolio between $1 million and $5 million. My colleagues have other specialties and focus areas. If you’re looking for professional guidance, we’d love to learn more.
BUT –
You probably have important questions first. Please find our FAQ below, covering topics ranging from fiduciary duty to investment philosophy to fees.
Fiduciary Duty and Ownership
Is Rialto a fiduciary for their clients? Does Rialto’s ownership structure create any conflicts of interest?
My colleagues and I are fiduciaries in every interaction with our clients. Our firm, Rialto Wealth, is an SEC-registered investment advisory firm. We’re legally and ethically bound to act in our clients’ best interest. We are happy to put that in writing (like this very answer!)
We do. 100%. We are 100% independently owned by the advisors and employees who you’ll interact with. We do not have public shareholders or private equity influence.
No. We work on a fee-only arrangement with all of our clients. That means no commissions, no product sales, no kickbacks. When we give you advice or build you a portfolio, we only do so because that guidance is in your best interest. No hidden financial motive.
No. We are totally independent. We are locally owned and locally operated. We, and we alone, make decisions for our clients.
Scope of Services
What does Rialto do, and whom does Rialto do it for?
We’re too small to serve everyone. I focus my practice on retirement planning. I work with people planning for retirement, especially those with nuanced questions about tax planning and optimal withdrawal strategies. Most of my clients have between $1M and $8M, where good planning can make an impact.
Yes. In fact, we prefer it. This is important and complex work that many families don’t feel comfortable doing on their own. Investment management is important, of course, but it’s just one small piece of our work.
Our clients need more than just investment advice. Our ongoing planning work covers topics such as:
- Cash flow and income planning throughout retirement.
- Custom investment allocation
- Withdrawal optimization / tax-efficient withdrawals.
- Long-term tax planning (Roth conversions, tax-gain harvesting, etc)
- Healthcare planning (especially pre-65 years old)
- Estate planning and gifting strategies
Yes. We view this as central to what we do. Roth conversions, capital gains harvesting, asset location, and withdrawal sequencing are core parts of our ongoing client relationships, not an add-on.
Only in rare exceptions. We prefer not to. We have seen this option lead to worse client outcomes. We believe in giving great advice and ensuring it gets implemented in your portfolio.
Philosophy and Approach
How does Rialto think about client success and client service?
Our successful clients can easily connect their desired lifestyle to their financial decisions, and vice versa. They make smart financial choices in support of their “bigger yes.”
Our successful clients feel more financially empowered and less financially stressed. They make decisions with knowledge, rather than uncertainty.
We love hearing when clients sleep better, feel less anxious, pursue their dreams, and trust us to guide them.
Our clients often ask us to take their entire life savings and “steer the ship” into the remaining decades of their lives. That’s an incredibly serious responsibility.
We believe in rigorous and detailed planning for our clients. We need to understand you (and do so deeply) before we can make recommendations and decisions.
Our investment approach balances rigorous academic research and low-cost simplicity. Our portfolios are built on low-cost, diversified, long-term index investing. For some client situations, we use a “pure Boglehead” portfolio consisting entirely of market-cap weighted index funds. For other situations, we utilize factor investing (such as tilting a portfolio toward value instead of growth, etc).
Our onboarding process is detailed, often involving 3-5 deep conversations during our first few months of working together.
Once you have a plan in place, we typically hold in-depth reviews twice per year.
We also send quarterly statements and commentary, and a brief monthly email.
Importantly, we are always available on an ad hoc basis. Life will throw you financial curveballs with bad timing – we hope we’re your first phone call.
Fees
What fees does Rialto charge?
As a fee-only fiduciary, we agree on a clear fee arrangement with each and every client. This fee is only way we are paid. No commissions, no kickbacks. While we charge less than some of our competitors, we aren’t cheap. Our minimum fee is $8,000 per year.
Some clients pay a flat fee.
Some pay an “assets under management” fee:
- 0.75% on the first $1M we manage.
- 0.55% on the next $4M
- 0.35% on the next $5M
- 0.20% on assets above $10M
As a small firm, we are flexible on fee negotiations when a client is a good fit for our practice.
Since 2022, we’ve grown from three employees to nine, and from 75 clients to 400 clients.
Most investments come with an annual fee paid directly to the fund management company. This fee is called an “expense ratio.”
Our portfolios are intentionally designed with low-cost funds. Our typical portfolio cost is below 0.10%.
No. We prefer to work with clients on an ongoing, year-over-year basis.
Why a Small Firm?
People like the idea of working with a small firm — better service, personal attention, direct access to expertise, and long-term relationships. A smaller firm can focus on your unique needs without getting bogged down by large corporate structure.
But small firms aren’t without their own concerns.
We understand that – and we have proactive solutions to the common problems that small firms face.
We have a motley assortment of hardcore financial expertise. A few of our colleagues’ resume items include:
- Complex tax and estate planning at Goldman Sachs family office.
- Stock analysis on a Wall Street trading desk for one of the largest banks in the US.
- Portfolio construction at one of the world’s largest hedge funds.
- Creating custom software models that simulate orbital dynamics (ok – that’s not financial, but it’s certainly complex!)
Out of nine employees, we have three CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS (plus three more employees studying for their CFP). We also have an attorney and two CFAs (the highest designation in investment analysis)
Point being – we have strong financial backgrounds and technical expertise. As a partnership, we continually share time and resources with one another for the benefit of the firm’s clientele.
Every client at Rialto has a primary and secondary advisor. Every client has a backup in place.
Our systems and tools (e.g. portfolio management software, etc.) are accessible by all advisors. If it’s ever needed, any Rialto advisor could step in to help you if your primary and secondary advisors are both unavailable.
We know that clients seek a multi-decade relationship with their advisor, and that “succession planning” to the next-generation advisor is important.
There are many stories in our industry of large, acquiring firms (“aggregators”) buying small firms en masse to provide a “succession plan” to the small firm. Unfortunately, the common theme in these stories is that clients and employees get squeezed so that the aggregator can achieve more profit.
We are committed to avoiding that fate and remaining independent.
Succession planning is in our DNA. We currently have two senior advisors who are transitioning their clients to younger advisors at the firm. We’re preserving the expertise and service our clients have come to expect, and ensuring it continues for many decades.
We recognize this same problem will (eventually) face those of us in our 30s and 40s. We’re already building a roadmap to account for that future succession. We’re committed to staying independent.
Think of it this way: the big firms use Microsoft Word. So do we.
The best-in-class tools and products for financial planning are widely available. We have access to the same commercial products as the big box firms.
We have built an excellent “technology stack” of tools and software for our clients’ benefit.
SEC rules mandate that all independent investment advisors utilize a third-party custodian. It’s important for you, the client.
We have chosen to use Charles Schwab as our third-party custodian. Schwab the market leader in serving this role for independent advisory firms.
This custodian role ensures absolute transparency. It means that you have full, independent access to your Schwab accounts. You don’t need to “ask us for a key,” so to speak.
As we stated above, we don’t think we’re cheap. Our minimum fee is $8,000 per year.
We believe our fee model is fair to all parties involved. It represents the time and expertise we commit to all of our clients. If we had public shareholders or private equity oversight, we’d likely have to raise our fees to ensure more profit for the corporate overlords.
Instead, we get to focus on our clients, our employees, and reinvesting to make ourselves a better firm.
What’s the Next Step?
If you’re interested to start a conversation with Jesse Cramer or his colleagues at Rialto, simply fill out the form below: