FAQ'S
Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.
Tony Robbins
1. Q: Doing Business With Rosenberg Asset Management where are my assets held?
- A: All assets are held primarily with Pershing LLC. Pershing is a subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon. http://www.pershing.com/about_us/index.html. Any Assets not held with Pershing are held directly at the sponsor company. For example 529 plans or annuities would be held with their carrier.
2. Q: Are my Assets Insured?
- Yes. Dollar Limitations Ask Summit about the additional coverageSecurities Investor Protection Corporation ("SIPC") coverage is also limited to $500,000 per customer, including up to $250,000 for cash. For purposes of SIPC coverage, customers are persons who have securities or cash on deposit with a SIPC member for the purpose of, or as a result of, securities transactions. For example, if a customer has 1000 shares of XYZ stock valued at $201,000 and $11,000 cash in the account, both the security and the cash balance would be protected. SIPC does not protect customer funds placed with a broker-dealer just to earn interest. Insiders of the broker-dealer, such as its, owners, officers, partners, are not customers for SIPC coverage. SIPC coverage does not protect against market losses or the decline in value of your assets.
- Excess of SIPC Coverage Through Underwriters at Lloy d’s In addition to SIPC protection, Pershing provides coverage in excess of SIPC limits from certain underwriters in Lloyd’s insurance market. The excess of SIPC insurance program is valid through February 10, 2015 for Pershing LLC accounts. It provides the following protection for Pershing LLC’s global client assets:
›› An aggregate loss limit of $1 billion for eligible securities—over all client accounts
›› A per-client loss limit of $1.9 million for cash awaiting reinvestment—within the aggregate loss limit of $1 billion SIPC and the excess of SIPC insurance policy do not protect against loss due to market fluctuation.
An excess of SIPC claim would only arise if Pershing failed financially and client assets for covered accounts—as defined by SIPC—cannot be located due to theft, misplacement, destruction, burglary, robbery, embezzlement, abstraction, failure to obtain or maintain possession or control of client securities, or to maintain the special reserve bank account required by applicable rules. Lloyd’s currently holds an A+ rating from Standard & Poor’s® (S&P®), an A rating from A.M. Best and an AArating from Fitch. These ratings are based on the financial strength of the company and are subject to change by the rating agencies at any time.1 For more information about Lloyd’s, please see lloyds.com.
Protected Investments
Not all investments are protected by SIPC. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual fund and other investment company shares, and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver, or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.
3: Q: Rosenberg Asset Management holds itself out as independent, what does that mean?
- A: All individual advisors are required by law to have a broker dealer (for us, Summit Brokerage ) and a clearing firm (Pershing). In our view Independence means that we do not have ANY proprietary products, nor are we required to sell specific investments to clients. We are able to work directly with each individual based on their goals and objectives, not the firm's. The independence opens up avenues that you may not see with firms that sell proprietary products.
4. Q: How does the firm get compensated?
- A: There are numerous ways that RAM gets compensated. We are big believers in “putting ourselves on the same side as our clients”. The majority of our business is not “commission” based, meaning most of our clients have a fee-based or a trail-based investment. This business model does not force us to make trades or provide advice to generate commissions, but rather keeps us engaged with our clients to help aximize value. In a fee-based account, as our clients investments increase in value, so does our compensation.
5. Q: How to I open an account with RAM?
- A: When accepting new clients we feel that the initial in-depth interviews are possibly the most important part when establishing a relationship with a new advisor. This allows you to determine if we are the appropriate advisors for you and also allows us to determine if you are the right client for us. Once the essential data is gathered the process to open an account and or move assets is relatively easy. We require traditional account forms, similar to opening a bank account and with the help of technology account openings and transfers occur seamlessly.
6. Q: What can I expect from RAM?
- A: Our goal is to provide you with a local, home town, family office fee with all the services of a large firm. Our doors are always opened, an individual always answers the phone, and you are a person with RAM not a number. We like to meet with our clients several times a year and talk to them regularly. In an ever changing financial environment it is extremely important to be engaged with clients and we feel that the engagement should be with a person, not an email or call center.