WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FIDUCIARY AND A NON-FIDUCIARY ADVISOR?

Only a Registered Investment Advisor or RIA (such as Jose Silva) are required to act as fiduciaries at all times with their clients and are held to the fiduciary standard. This means these advisors must put their clients’ best interest first and above any personal interest. Fiduciary advisors are fee-only and receive compensation solely from clients. They do not receive commissions from investments, products, or services that they may recommend in the course of providing advice. What’s more, a fiduciary advisor must disclose any conflicts of interest that arise or could arise in the client-advisor relationship.

Non-fiduciaries are held to a “suitability” standard when making recommendations to a client. This standard gives advisors much more flexibility and latitude when giving advice to a client. As long as the investment is “suitable” for the investor’s risk tolerance, age, and goals, the non-fiduciary may recommend a product regardless of better, more effective, and less costly alternatives. This creates a problem and a conflict of interest since the non-fiduciary is faced with the incentive of selecting products and services that pay them favorably while ignoring products that may be better for the client but do not compensate them as well.

The problem is not with the people; most non-fiduciaries are honestly trying to do their job as best they can. The problem is the business model that these broker-dealer corporations use. This model places the interest of the corporation first, then the advisor’s, and finally, the client’s.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU MEET WITH CLIENTS?

It depends on each client’s preferences and on the objectives of the meeting. In general, I meet with all clients in person or via Zoom once or twice a year for a complete review of their accounts, check up on their progress with their financial plan, and discuss any relevant changes in their personal finances or life. Apart from the reviews, ongoing communication is actively maintained throughout the year through telephone calls, email, and informal meetings whenever the client desires. We also reach out to clients periodically to discuss significant events that could impact their finances, provide perspective in times of market turbulence, or congratulate them for any milestones achieved.

WHERE ARE MY MONEY AND INVESTMENTS HELD?

We count on one of the largest, most secure and respected custodians in the country, TD Ameritrade Institutional, to safeguard all our clients’ assets and accounts held with Silva Fiduciary. TDAI’s comprehensive experience, powerful resources, and account security are some of the most important reasons that we chose them as our custodian.

DOES SILVA FIDUCIARY HAVE A MINIMUM INVESTMENT AMOUNT FOR NEW CLIENTS?

No, there are no specific, minimum assets required to become our client. What’s most important, is that we see the opportunity to make a significant difference in their financial situation and that the advisor-client relationship be a good fit.

All our clients are a pleasure to work with, they are coachable, and they value and appreciate professional guidance. They seek us as advisors because they understand that they do not have the expertise, or the time or the desire to create their own financial plans, select and manage investments, and navigate through the myriad details involved in keeping their financial picture in clear focus.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST ME FOR YOUR SERVICES AS A FIDUCIARY ADVISOR?

All of our services and advice – investments, financial planning, tax planning, retirement planning, estate planning, risk management, cash management, private equity real estate – are covered by one single fee. The single fee is a percentage amount of the assets under our care, what’s in the investment account, and the percentage declines as the amount of assets under care increases. There are no commissions and no nuisance fees such as annual IRA account fees, wire fees, or any other fine print expenses. We exclude any commissions to avoid conflicts of interest. This way we can safeguard and put your interests first.

WHAT IS A SELF-DIRECTED IRA?

A self-directed IRA or SDIRA, is a type of traditional or Roth IRA with the same tax-advantaged savings but which offers many more investment options. With a SDIRA you can invest in real estate, undeveloped or raw land, private equity, gold, silver and other precious metals, cryptocurrency, and many other types of investments prohibited in regular IRA’s. The SDIRA is available as either a traditional IRA to which you make tax deductible contributions or a Roth IRA from which you take tax-free distributions.