What does fiduciary mean to you?
Simply put: a fiduciary is legally required to put their client's best interest ahead of their own. As an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor), Fire Financial Group, is a fiduciary and must act in your best interest.
What does that mean to me as client?
As a client our fiduciary responsibility will not go unnoticed. We will disclose all conflicts of interest, avoid products with commissions, and we will only make recommendations after a thorough analysis. Additionally, we will strive to trade securities with the best combination of low cost and efficient execution.
Doesn't every financial advisor act in my best interest?
Not all of them! Most of them are actually just following the "suitability standard" instead of the "fiduciary standard". The suitability standard means that the advisor (or broker-dealer) only has to reasonably believe the recommendations are suitable in terms of your financial situation. This means that the investment doesn't necessarily have to be the one in your best interest, just suitable. This means that an advisor following the suitability standard could sell you a mutual fund or investment for a higher fee or commission than the less expensive one of equal value. This can also incentivize brokers to sell their own products ahead of competing for products that may cost less.
Don't you want to make commissions? How else do you get paid?
Instead of basing our business model on commissions, we chose to be fee-only to avoid conflicts of interest. This means that we can get paid in three ways:
A one time planning fee
A retainer fee (like a monthly subscription)
A performance fee based on percentage of assets under management
This way we don't feel pressured to sell you something for a commission and can just focus on giving high quality investment advice, because that's what you are paying for!