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Our Services
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We believe choice advised by good planning can best be served by an independent advisory service platform. Therefore, when appropriate, we provide financial planning and consulting services that (1) inventory the client's unique situation, assets and liabilities, and planning objectives; (2) needs analysis planning that project life scenarios into the future and advise of planning adjustments; (3) recommendations to achieve the planning objectives. We have used Financial Profiles planning software since 1984, a comprehensive planning technology that includes modules for financial independence, investment risk analysis and investment management, survivor needs at death or disability, estate planning, college education planning, and business planning. Our plans are provided as a fee-for-service. We meet initially with prospective planning clients at no fee or obligation to review planning objectives and to provide a fee quote. Good planning requires solid implementation with sound financial services. Gary Bedford with Mid Atlantic Capital Group provide an extensive universe of financial services which are organized into five groups: Asset Management Services Asset Consulting Portfolio Administration Financial Planning & Consulting Financial Products & Brokerage The Mid Atlantic organization is comprised of 2 key business units that work together to provide clients with high quality, “turnkey” services: Mid Atlantic Financial Management, Inc. is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor Mid Atlantic Capital Corporation is a Registered Broker/Dealer and Member of the FINRA and SIPC Gary and Mid Atlantic provide financial and investment services for individuals and families, and business services that focus on qualified retirement plans. Key Characteristics of Gary’s and Mid Atlantic's Services ”Turnkey”... Our clients increasingly demand turnkey services which minimize the number of providers, fees, statements, and reports. Turnkey services integrate and consolidate portfolio management, performance monitory, and reporting. ”Unrestricted Choices”... Through the planning and consulting process, Gary and the client can identify appropriate service platforms among a range of alternatives. Available investment platforms include private portfolio asset managers, mutual funds, brokerage services, and financial products. The client is not restricted to "in-house" proprietary products or a limited list of alternatives. Rather, we work with custodians such as Schwab or NFS LLC, a Fidelity investment company, that provide windows to the complete financial universe of assets, including stocks, bonds, ADRs, mutual funds, CDs, and money markets. And as an institutional advisor, we can often access your portfolio to products not available to you directly, such as load mutual funds purchased at no-load or “NAV”, or institutional mutual funds with high minimum investments. ”Fee-Based”… There are two principal methods of compensation for financial services in the industry: commissions and fees. Gary’s clients often prefer fee-based because they ensure flexibility, objectivity, and service disclosure. Clients may also elect to pay for services with traditional commissions. ”Institutional Quality”… Gary with Mid Atlantic provide to our individual clients similar sophisticated, fee-based financial services which have been available to large corporations and institutions for decades. Gary, along with Mid Atlantic, have evolved their services in institutional (e.g. ERISA) environments that demand high quality and objectivity. These services are designed for qualified retirement plans, endowments, foundations and trusts, and may also serve the needs of our individual clients. ”Individualized”… Services and strategies are carefully customized to the particular client’s situation and objectives. Ongoing servicing is also customized, including direct client consultations with Gary, Private Luncheon Briefings, weekly briefs, newsletters, websites, and internet portfolio access. Asset Management Services: If the client chooses asset management services, Gary with Mid Atlantic are asked to perform all of the portfolio management responsibilities and then report regularly to the client. Assets are therefore managed according to proven disciplines to maximize portfolio return and minimize portfolio risk. Gary consults with each client and develops a specific, defined investment policy which: (1) Identifies the purpose of the assets (2) Defines the asset’s time horizon (3) Defines the client's risk tolerance and performance objective (4) Provides initial and ongoing asset research (5) Selects the appropriate asset allocation model (6) Places the assets in the portfolio and provides custody (7) Provides ongoing portfolio performance monitoring using industry standards of measurement, comparing performance to appropriate indices (8) Regularly re-balances the portfolio to model (9) Provides regular and extensive portfolio performance reports Portfolios may be comprised of no-load mutual funds, load funds purchased at no-load or NAV, stocks, bonds and fixed income, or combinations of all of these. Mutual funds are regularly analyzed against benchmark data. Mutual Fund Advisory Services: Many clients prefer the diversification capability of mutual funds. Mid Atlantic can access virtually the entire universe of mutual funds, and can then execute the investment policy by using the fund allocations appropriate for the client’s investment policy. Portfolios can be diversified into U.S. and international or global funds, and diversified by multiple fund families (e.g. Vanguard, Fidelity), by manager styles (e.g. value, growth, blend, index), and by asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate). Portfolios can also be managed tax efficiently to minimize taxable income, are re-balanced regularly, funds are scrutinized regularly for risk and performance, and compared to key indexes for objective, unbiased quality measurement. Services include: Dynamic Fund Strategies Socially Responsible Investment Portfolio Private Portfolios: Some experienced clients prefer the customized advantages of “private portfolios”. Gary and Mid Atlantic use institutionally proven due diligence and research methodologies to analyze stocks, bonds, ADRs, and other instruments to provide customized, more tax-efficient, and more personalized portfolios for both individual and trusteed assets such as IRAs, trust accounts, pension and retirement accounts, and personal or joint accounts. Portfolios may also be screened to be “socially responsible” using customized client preferences. Asset Consulting Services: Some clients, such as trustees of pension plans, prefer a consulting relationship with Gary and Mid Atlantic. Consulting services provide all of the same due diligence, research, investment policy development and execution, and asset-reporting services described above, but the client retains the final daily decision-making power. Consulting services therefore include: Mutual Fund Consulting Service is an asset consulting service that provides custom investment assistance, researched fund alternatives, fiduciary documentation, monitoring, performance measurement, and reporting. Private Portfolio Consulting Service is an asset consulting service that assists with investment policy development, due diligence, manager search and selection, performance measurement, and risk management and accesses the client to the best private money managers from a universe of 4000 firms across the country. 401(k) and Self-Directed Retirement Plan Consulting Service provides the plan trustee with comprehensive, turn-key services, including asset selection using mutual funds, and Managed Lifestyle Portfolios. Virtually all necessary fiduciary services are available in a comprehensive, turn-key service, including fiduciary compliance and record-keeping, participant education and communication, institutional custodians (e.g. Schwab, NFS LLC), daily valuation and trading, and perhaps most importantly direct connectivity between Gary, Mid Atlantic (the registered investment advisor), the custodian (e.g. Schwab or NFS LLC), and the plan administrator. Portfolio Administration Today’s sophisticated client, whether individual or trustees of retirement plans, require cutting edge administration services for their assets. Gary Bedford with Mid Atlantic provide technologically advanced 401(k) and retirement plan administration (defined benefit and defined contribution), charitable remainder trust and charitable gift annuity administration, trust services, custodial accounts, and Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) account administration. Financial Planning & Consulting Gary’s uniquely interdisciplinary credentials and experience, coupled with the organization’s sophisticated resources, provide his clients with sophisticated financial, estate, retirement, charitable tax, business continuation, and executive compensation planning strategies. Financial Products and Brokerage Gary with Mid Atlantic also provide traditional brokerage services to meet the client’s specific needs and requirements, including low-cost brokerage and trading, mutual funds, variable annuities, and life insurance. |