Align Wealth Management (Align) is a federally registered investment advisory firm headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Align also maintains an office in Tampa Bay. Align is comprised of a highly-skilled fee-only fiduciary wealth management team that helps successful people keep and grow their wealth. Our process combines decades of financial science with customized financial planning. We strive to deliver peace of mind by helping clients make the most of their one financial life.
Our advisors are Certified Financial Planners™ who can help you manage your investments, plan your retirement, reduce your taxes, minimize your risks, and leave a legacy to your loved ones. Recognized six times as one of America's best by Wealth Manager Magazine, Align has developed a solid reputation for its strong client-focused culture. Financial Times named Align as one of it's elite 300 independent advisory firms.
Our sole mission is to help you make the most of your one financial life. We believe in straight talk, good old-fashioned common sense, intense research, hard work on your behalf, and complete transparency. Importantly, we serve one master – our valued clients. We don't work for (nor do we accept compensation from) any brokerage firm, insurance company, or financial company. We are a "fee-only" firm, and we never accept commissions for the sale of financial or insurance products. Every ounce of our allegiance flows directly to our clients and every penny of our compensation flows directly from our clients via fully disclosed fees. And, speaking of fees, you'll find the total cost of our services to be most competitive.
We are backed up with a deep bench of wealth management professionals through our strategic alliance with Forum Financial Management. Forum is an independent registered investment advisor firm of 60 investment professionals (including CFPs, CPAs, CFAs, and attorneys). Forum provides Align and it's clients with a deep multi-disciplinary bench of high caliber professionals. Each Forum principal brings over 25 years experience in one or more aspects of financial management including: investment portfolio design, retirement, estate, insurance, and tax planning. Like Align, Forum is engaged in delivering wealth management services in the real world to real clients. Throughout the years, our ability to freely share ideas with other successful wealth management firms like Form has proven extremely valuable to our family of clients. Together, Align and Forum manage over $3.5 billion.
All of our services are provided on a fee-only basis, the fees cover all periodic client conferences, client meetings, performance reviews, portfolio reporting, tax reports, and cash flow projections. Our fees are billed on a quarterly basis, in arrears, and are calculated on the total portfolio value as of the last day of each quarter. Fees are calculated in accordance with the tiered schedule below:
Account Size | Annual Fee |
$750,000 — $1,000,000 | 1.00% |
Next $2,000,000 | 0.90% |
Next $2,000,000 | 0.75% |
Next $5,000,000 | 0.60% |
Over $10,000,000 | 0.40% |
Industry Average |
Align |
|
Advisory Fee for $2,000,000 Account | 1.00% | 0.95% |
Third Party Portfolio Management Fee¹ | Varies | None |
Mutual Fund Expense Ratio | 1.25%2 | 0.26%3 |
Mutual Fund Trading Charges | 1.44%4 | 0.09%5 |
TOTAL | 3.69% | 1.30% |
Because not all income is taxed the same, we utilize a process called Asset Location. The goal of Asset Location is to minimize taxes on your portfolio as a whole by holding the right assets in the right accounts. It involves carefully determining which assets to hold in your taxable accounts (joint accounts and revocable trusts), which assets to hold in your tax-deferred accounts (IRAs and 401Ks), and which assets to hold in your tax-free accounts (Roths). For example, we would hold municipal bonds in a taxable account and we would hold a high-yielding REIT in a tax-deferred and/or tax-free account.
In addition to utilizing Asset Location, we take a number of additional steps to maximize your after-tax returns:
Via our third-party performance reporting system, we maintain performance data on our model portfolio strategies. Please keep in mind that past performance is no indication of future results. It is important to understand that Align builds and manages portfolios for clients on a case-by-case basis and that our model performance is an aggregate of all of our managed accounts net of all fees and expenses.
Important Disclosures: Performance results are presented net-of-fees and reflect the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Portfolio returns are composite returns of all clients invested within the respective portfolios. Individual results may vary as each client’s portfolio is customized to their particular circumstances. In addition, returns will likely vary based on the timing of deposits and withdrawals, as well as the use of asset classes and investments that are not part of our current portfolio allocations. Returns are time-weighted returns. No current or prospective client should assume that the future performance of any specific investment or strategy will be profitable or equal to past performance levels. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss and past perfomance is no indication of future performance. Changes in investment strategies, contributions or withdrawals, and economic conditions may materially alter the performance of your portfolio. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific investment or strategy will either be suitable or profitable for a client's investment portfolio. Historical performance results for investment indexes and/or categories generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges or the deduction of an investment management fee, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. There are no assurances that a portfolio will match or outperform any particular benchmark.
No. Align Wealth Management is not affiliated with Schwab or TD Ameritrade, nor are we compensated by any of those companies in any manner. We receive no fees, commissions, or incentives from Schwab, TD Ameritrade, or any other financial institution.
No. There is no reason to visit a Schwab or TD Ameritrade office to open accounts yourself. When you are ready to become an Align client, we will send you the necessary paperwork for your signature. We know your time is valuable and we like to keep things simple and easy for you.
Schwab and TD Ameritrade send monthly statements to all clients for all accounts. These statements show account balances, trades, cash flows, and unrealized gains. Statements are available in paper as well as through email. In addition, Align will send you a detailed performance report each quarter that compares your portfolio's performance to a series of relevant benchmarks.
Yes. At the end of each year, Schwab and TD Ameritrade will send 1099s to you for each taxable account. This includes a realized gain/loss statement. Align can also provide a detailed tax report to you (and to your CPA if desired) detailing interest, dividends, short-term capital gains and long-term capital gains.
Yes. All accounts are insured on multiple levels. The coverage extended to you at Schwab and TD Ameritrade is extensive. For details on each custodian's coverage, please visit each custodian's website. Align Wealth Management also carries extensive Errors and Omissions insurance and a separate Fidelity Bond for retirement accounts and pension funds.
Simply contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation. The first step of our wealth management process is an initial one hour Discovery Meeting. This complimentary Discovery Meeting provides an opportunity for you to learn more about our firm and how we may be able to assist you.
If appropriate, we then take your information and create a draft investment plan to align your money with your goals and objectives. In our second meeting (the Investment Plan Meeting), we review your draft investment plan with you. During this Investment Plan Meeting, we walk you through your plan and highlight the investment strategies that we recommend to help you maximize the probability of achieving your goals.
At this point, we find that many people want to immediately move ahead. Instead, we typically ask that you set a time for a Mutual Commitment Meeting. This allows you to take your plan home so that you have plenty of time to review it. We do this because we are looking for lifelong relationships, not short-term transactions. At the Mutual Commitment Meeting, we answer any questions you have about your investment plan and discuss any fine-tuning adjustments. If we mutually agree that we have a strong basis for a continued working relationship, we then assist you in completing the documents needed to get your plan started.
A Diagram of our wealth consulting process is below:
With fee-only compensation, you pay us a fair and transparent fee for the services we provide you. Refusing commissions or other compensation from third-parties removes conflicts of interest. This arrangement keeps us on the same side of the table and helps ensure we're focused only on your best interests.
A Fiduciary is a person who is responsible for managing the assets of another person and who stands in a special relationship of trust, confidence, and/or legal responsibility. As a Fiduciary, we have the legal responsibility to follow prudent investment practices, as well as to serve your best interest at all times. The Align Wealth Management Client Agreement specifically identifies Align Wealth Management as your investment fiduciary. We also have designed our operations to reflect prudent practices and procedures.
Yes. Align serves clients all across the United States. If you do not live near one of our offices, we can utilize technology such as the telephone, email, and web/video conferencing to accommodate you.