Distinctive Guidance for Private Wealth
With great wealth comes significant opportunity, as well as an increasing complexity of choice—especially with respect to who you entrust to share your financial and personal aspirations. While maintaining and growing your assets are critical, equally important is developing a long‐term vision and strategy, and having the freedom to pursue what is most important to you.
Putting Your Wealth to Work for You The purpose of Meridian Wealth Management is to deliver a purely individualized approach to exceptional financial guidance. We help you with strategies that seek to build, manage and preserve your wealth. Goals‐based investing empowers you to plan for today and envision tomorrow, enabling you to pursue your life’s meaningful aspirations. With unbiased investment guidance and financial planning, we are uniquely positioned to help you manage your distinct financial goals and needs over your lifetime and beyond.
Contents Collaboration and Support …………….…………………………….………….….4 Approach …..……………………………………………………………..………………..5 Wealth Vision ……………..………………………………………………………………6 Philosophy ……………………………………………………………………..…………..7 Benefits …………………………………………………………………………..………….8 Independence and Service ………………………………………………………….9 Richard “Chip” Mower, CFP® …………………..……………….……………….10 Contact …………………………………………………………………..…………………11
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Strategic Collaboration and Personalized Support Our expectation is the same as yours—to be there for you when you need us. Life’s variability demands a financial advisor that is a trusted partner, someone with whom you can share your life’s ambitions and concerns, someone committed to preserving wealth, growing assets and minimizing risks. With a lifelong approach to strategies that seek to help you grow and manage wealth, we help you to understand the impacts of “Life’s What‐Ifs”‐‐ all the avenues of decision and opportunity available to you. Exceptional Service and Communication Our service to you is of the utmost importance, and at the heart is a professional communication model. We place emphasis on fostering a trusted relationship that encourages an open exchange of ideas and shared concerns. Most importantly, we’re available whenever you want to discuss your ongoing portfolio objectives, and we proactively reach out to you whenever presented with opportunities to help you grow and preserve your wealth. And because life changes faster than the markets, quarterly investment reviews help to ensure that we have your best interests covered. Engaging My Team Today’s market complexity and volatility demand specialized attention with a holistic approach to wealth management. We provide the intellectual capital and resources needed to offer a truly dynamic approach to your investment objectives. In concert with our experienced staff, we can engage a referral network of trusted professionals—such as accounting, legal, real estate and insurance professionals—to support all facets of your wealth management needs. We can also partner with existing experts that you have come to know and trust. 4
Approach As CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, our process begins by simply listening and having authentic conversations about life, family and wealth. In this way, we are able to gain a deep appreciation and thorough understanding of your core values, investment goals and unique perspectives on finances. Perspectives on Wealth Through definition of your underlying values, we are able to create strategies that are unique to your situation. What are you trying to accomplish? What is important about money to you? With what are you concerned? What are your values and motivations? Why is this important? These exchanges help define and articulate the purpose of your wealth while also defining the scope of our engagement. We make it our goal to anticipate your needs, taking proactive steps to make timely recommendations that hold true to your best interests. Clearly articulated goals keep your financial plan on track and help to maintain alignment with what’s important so that goals have a better chance of being realized. We call this goals‐based investing. Equipped with this knowledge, we are able to look to the near and long‐term future with a truly fresh perspective, and create strategies that are transparent. Client satisfaction is our only measure of success. Active Listening → Define Perspec ves on Finances → Ar culate the Purpose of Your Wealth = Goals‐Based Investing
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Wealth Vision Perspectives With insight into your specific financial situation, we begin to design a highly customized, integrated wealth management solution using our Wealth Vision system. This dynamic, easy‐to‐use tool supports goals‐based investing from a secure, feature‐rich platform. It quickly organizes, analyzes and monitors your financial situation. It provides a comprehensive financial picture and consolidated, real‐time insights for your anytime convenience. Anticipating the financial impacts of various courses of action is part of any enduring plan. Wealth Vision allows us to go beyond simple analysis projections, entering variables into the system based upon any number of different “What‐If” scenarios illustrating possible choices and outcomes relative to your goals. What if you retire early? What if you choose to sell your business? What if you chart this course or another entirely? By mapping the different paths you might choose in your lifetime, Wealth Vision gives you the almost omniscient benefit of assessing these choices and related outcomes well in advance of actually encountering them in reality. It helps you make informed decisions and gain a full view of your financial life. Additionally, the answers to your “What‐Ifs” help you make very purposeful choices that provide the means to pursue what’s most important to you today and in the future. What keeps you up at night? What gets you out of bed in the morning? As your CFP®, we help you assess the choices and opportunities, and bring all the pieces together.
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Philosophy When creating your personalized plan, we use strategies based on key principles such as the importance of diversification and the central role of asset allocation in managing risk. We are skilled in addressing the unique complexities and concerns of our clients, and having managed assets through a wide range of market cycles, we understand the importance of adopting a long‐term, disciplined perspective and maintaining a consistent approach.
Managing Behavioral Finance
Goals‐based investing clearly defines the purpose of your wealth. It also helps to avoid emotional investing which can derail your long‐term goals and potentially cause underperformance. The phenomenon of emotional investing is a real, human behavior. As such, it cannot be ignored. However, when goals are clearly defined, and the purpose of wealth is completely understood, we gain long‐term perspective which helps to avoid short‐term emotional traps. These are best avoided through competent structure and financial organization.
Portfolio Construction for Goals‐Based Investing
Utilizing portfolio design based on long‐term goals and core values, your customized strategies are structured to manage risk and retain focus through a wide range of market cycles. We recognize that the sequencing and consistency of returns matter. Losses are much more damaging than gains are beneficial. Significant drawdowns mean fewer assets are available when the markets begin to improve. Therefore we must be diligent in managing downside risk.
Consequently, we believe one of the most effective ways to achieve favorable risk‐versus‐reward characteristics is to build portfolios through core and satellite portfolio construction strategies. Since it is impossible to predict which investment class will perform best in any given period, adding satellite asset classes increase diversification, help to further manage potential risk, and possibly lead to higher returns.* *There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non‐diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
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Benefits Unbiased Guidance We have no proprietary investment products to sell, no investment banking relationships to promote, nor any other business conflicts to get in the way of providing sound, unbiased recommendations. As a knowledgeable, credentialed financial professional, we deliver open, genuine guidance and deep expertise free of conflicts of interest. Personalized Service We serve a limited number of valued clients by design, empowering us to connect on a more personal level and build multi‐generational trust. By simply listening, we gain a thorough understanding of your unique perspectives, core values and investment goals. Through frequent and authentic communication and quarterly reviews, we’re able to monitor your progress and navigate your unique circumstances. We are deeply engaged, accessible, trusted and transparent family financial ambassadors. Innovative Strategies We have a solid understanding of the myriad opportunities available to you, as well as the complex challenges you face. We are free to recommend only those strategies that align with your future goals and aspirations. We call this process “Working on Life’s What‐Ifs.”
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Independence and Service are Your Advantage Independence means we can provide you with objective, unbiased financial guidance, allowing us to act in your best interests at all times. As an independent firm, Meridian Wealth Management has the flexibility to offer you access to a wide range of non‐proprietary products and services without the obligation to sell any particular investment or brand, keeping our focus solely on your wealth management and legacy objectives.
Additionally, our advisors are affiliated with LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker/dealer.* With $438 billion in advisory and brokerage assets, ** LPL Financial provides the technology and breadth of services to support sophisticated wealth management strategies.
LPL Financial is a leading source of objective advice for accumulating and managing personal wealth.
Independence Powered by LPL Financial Range of Services • • • • • • • • •
The LPL Financial SIPC membership provides account protection up to a maximum of $500,000 per customer, of which $250,000 may be claims for cash. An explanatory brochure is available at www.SIPC.org. Additionally, through London Insurers, LPL Financial accounts have additional securities protection to cover the net equity of customer accounts up to an overall aggregate firm limit of $575 million subject to conditions and limitations.
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Comprehensive financial planning Advanced estate planning Investment consulting Advanced portfolio and investment analytics Tax‐sensitive investing Alternative investments Trust services Single stock risk management Executive compensation arrangements Business exit planning Financial windfall planning Insurance planning Foundation and endowment guidance
The account protection applies when an SIPC member firm fails financially and is unable to meet obligations to securities clients, but does not protect against losses from the rise and fall in the market value of investments.
As your financial advocate, I uniquely leverage these valuable resources to prepare and deliver our best investment ideas designed exclusively to support your financial and personal aspirations. *As reported by Financial Planning Magazine, June 1996‐2013, based on total revenue.
**As of March 31, 2013
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Richard “Chip” Mower, CFP® Professional Experience Chip is Co‐Founder, LPL Financial Registered Principal and Managing Partner of Meridian Wealth Management with offices in Boulder and Denver, Colorado. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, he specializes in family wealth planning, retirement income planning and asset management. Through a goals‐based investment approach and Wealth Vision™ planning process, Chip helps clients make better decisions when accumulating, protecting and transferring wealth. Chip began his career as a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley. And prior to co‐founding Meridian Wealth Management in 2005, he worked as a Financial Consultant in the Private Client Group of Wells Fargo Bank assisting corporate executives, business owners and high net‐worth families. Chip has been entrusted with managing client assets in confidence for seventeen years. Professional Designations and Licenses • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Practioner • Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65) • General Securities Principal (Series 24) • Registered Securities Representative (Series 7) • Uniform Securities Agent State Law (Series 63) • Licensed Insurance Producer Recognitions Unbiased investment advice and highly personalized service are the • 2013, 2012, 2011 Denver Business Journal and NABCAP “Top Advisory Practice”* hallmarks of service to my clients. • 2013, 2012, 2010 Colorado Biz and 5280 Magazine “Five Star Wealth Manager”** Personal Interests Chip volunteers for the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) helping children with physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral challenges. He is also Director of the Puksta Foundation and has served as an advisory council member of Hope House of Colorado. You can find Chip skiing, golfing and biking all over Colorado.
*Denver Business Journal awards based on an evaluation of 20 different practice categories such as experience, credentials, assets under management, fee structure, and philosophy, among other factors. **2012 and 2013 Five Star Manager award based on ten objective criteria associated with providing quality services to clients such as credentials, experience, and assets under management, among other factors. Prior to 2012, award was based on client satisfaction. Respondents evaluated criteria such as customer service, expertise, value for fee charge and overall satisfaction. The overall score is based on an average of all respondents and may not be representative of any one client’s experience.
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Chip Mower
Richard “Chip” Mower 303‐357‐4741 Richard.Mower@lpl.com
Mission Statement Meridian Wealth Management exists to help our valued clients build, manage and preserve their wealth. Our work makes a difference in the way our clients live their lives. That is why we have a passion for doing it ethically and exceedingly well. We deeply appreciate the respect and trust our clients place in us. We are reminded every day, through personal interaction, that we are creating a special connection and enriching our clients’ lives.
www.meridianteam.com
Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Meridian Wealth Management, a registered investment advisor and separate entity from LPL Financial.
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