FAQ

Netvesco’s Founder  Monique Georges is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional. A Certified Financial Planner™ professional is an individual who has met the rigorous education, examination, experience, and ethical qualifications required by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP® Board).  Only financial planners who have accomplished the requirements of the CFP® Board may display the CFP® mark of excellence. This certification designates the planners’ high level of competency, ethics, and professionalism.

CFP® professionals provide their clients with comprehensive financial planning. Using a holistic approach, certified financial planners examine all facets of a client’s financial existence. Also, they pledge to act as fiduciaries when providing financial advice. This means they have agreed to put their clients’ interests first. Such a commitment can bolster clients with the confidence they need today to secure a prosperous tomorrow.

Netvesco is a fee-only firm. As such, we charge our clients a flat fee for the services we provide. Our investment advisement fee takes the form of a flat percentage of each client’s assets under management. This compensation structure differs from that employed by advisors who charge commissions. Unlike those advisors, Netvesco declines commissions for investment trades or product sales. Furthermore, we reject all referral fees, kickbacks, or any other kind of hidden compensation.

A fee-only payment structure mitigates the risk of conflicts of interest. In point of fact, fee-only financial planners earn no additional compensation by recommending one product over another. Rather, we advise in keeping with their fiduciary responsibility. Therefore, we must always act in our clients’ best interests.

Netvesco is a virtual financial planning firm. However, we are neither an algorithm nor are we a Robo Advisor. Rather, we are real, living, breathing financial planners who service clients across the country. We work out of our offices in Orange County, CA, and reach you wherever you want. “Virtual” simply refers to how we deliver our service to you.

To facilitate this virtual financial planning service, we implement innovative applications—like Zoom and DocuSign. Also, we provide you with online access so that you can see your account balances and activity daily. In addition, we are readily available via phone, e-mail, or video. As a result, we can work with clients all over the United States.

By employing this virtual financial planning model, Netvesco saves you time and money. For example, meeting with your planner is seamless. You do not have to gas up your car, drive to an office, search for a parking space, and wait in a cold lobby. Instead, we are only one phone call away. Netvesco’s goal is to make financial planning as efficient and economical as possible.

In terms of philosophy, Netvesco is a value investor. We believe in the traditional, time-tested, buy-and-hold investment approach. As such, we focus on selecting quality assets, investing for the long term, and managing risk through diversification.

Nevertheless, we recognize that each individual’s circumstances are unique. Therefore, our guidance is specific to each individual situation. Accordingly, our investment philosophy centers on the belief that the purpose of a portfolio is to achieve the client’s financial goals. Thus, we initiate each new portfolio with an Investment Policy Statement (IPS).

The IPS is an agreement which documents the client and advisor’s consensus on portfolio management issues. This statement serves three major objectives. The Investment Policy Statement:

1. Outlines the client’s goals, time horizon, liquidity requirements, asset constraints, and risk tolerance;
2. Discusses the advisor’s investment and asset allocation strategies; and
3. Reviews the monitoring and control procedures and assigns the responsibilities of each party.

The presence of an IPS helps bring clarity and guidance to the portfolio management process. It also prescribes the optimum investment philosophy for helping clients to achieve their long-term financial goals.

If you have financial goals, you need a financial plan. Your financial goals may include saving for your first home, your child’s education, or your retirement. In addition, developing a financial plan can help you to invest for future growth, prepare for important milestones, and manage sudden emergencies.

Writing your plan down will hold you accountable. Also, it will increase your likelihood of success. A well-written financial plan is the roadmap to your financial future.

The word “fiduciary” derives from the Latin fiducia, meaning “trust.” Thus, a fiduciary is a person or entity “who has the power and obligation to act for another under circumstances which require total trust, good faith and honesty.” Likewise, a fiduciary must legally and ethically to act in the beneficiary’s best interest. Even more importantly, fiduciaries are required to prevent conflict of interests.

Among the most common forms of fiduciaries are corporate board members, lawyers, real estate agents, insurance agents, registered investment advisors, and Certified Financial Planner™ professionals. In fact, as part of their commitment to the CFP® Board which created the CFP® designation, all Certified Financial Planner® (CFP) must adhere to the fiduciary standard. Thus, as a CFP®, Netvesco is a fiduciary.

Fiduciary duty is the cornerstone of CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct (“Code and Standards”). As per the Code and Standards, a CFP® professional must act in the best interests of client at all times when providing financial advice. More specifically, the certified financial planner must fulfill a Duty of Loyalty, a Duty of Care, and a Duty to Follow Client Instructions. Standard A.1 of the new Code and Standards defines each of these duties thusly:

As we described above, by law, a fiduciary must act solely in the best interest of the client. Also, they should only provide advice in areas in which they are competent to advise. More expressly, they shall only advise in those specializations wherein they possess the requisite care, skill, prudence, and diligence of a professional.

No. Not all financial advisors are fiduciaries. In fact, the vast majority of financial advisors are not fiduciaries.

As noted above, Certified Financial Planner™ professionals are fiduciaries. In accordance with their commitment to the CFP® Board, CFP® professionals subscribe to the fiduciary standard. Thus, they place their clients’ interests ahead of their own.

By contrast, brokers are not fiduciaries. They work for broker-dealers. Therefore, they serve the interest of their employers. As a result, brokers sometimes find themselves in conflict with their clients. At times, their employers may encourage the selling of their own instruments or impose unnecessary transaction charges. Clearly, this type of activity is at variance with the client’s best interest.

In addition, brokers are subject to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This self-regulatory organization (SRO) writes and enforces the rules governing registered brokers and broker-dealer firms in the United States. Its stated mission is “to safeguard the investing public against fraud and bad practices.” Nevertheless, the SRO refrains from imposing the fiduciary standard. Rather, FINRA applies the less stringent suitability rule.

In transactions with clients, brokers have no obligation to follow the fiduciary standard. Rather, they subscribe to a lower standard called the suitability rule. As enforced by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), brokers need only make recommendations that they believe are “suitable” for their clients.

In a sense, the FINRA suitability standard is commensurate with the caveat emptor concept in contract law. Loosely translated as “buyer beware,” the caveat emptor standard places the burden of due diligence on the buyer of a good or service. Financial services professionals held to the suitability rule need only:

1. Make a brief inquiry into a client’s financial profile when they are offering a product.
2. Provide that client with written disclosures about the risks.

After reading the supplied disclosures, it is the client’s responsibility to determine the appropriateness of the product. However, from a practical standpoint, most people do not have the ability to determine whether a financial product is right for them.

Further, when held to the suitability standard, financial services professionals have no obligation to ensure that the product they are offering is the best one for the client. Even more, they have no duty to point out potential conflicts of interest which might influence their recommendations.

It is true that some people are especially savvy regarding financial matters. With such individuals, the selection of a financial services professional who subscribes to the suitability standard may be sufficient. However, for those who do not meet that description should probably work with a financial advisor who conforms to the fiduciary standard.

In any case, prior to engaging in a relationship, financial consumers should always ask their prospective advisors which standard they follow.