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History

SIMI was born on a notepad in a Marriott hotel as an investment advisory firm to serve a small number of family members and friends. The guiding notion behind SIMI is that “Our friends are our clients and our clients are our friends.” With this principle in mind, SIMI was founded in 1993 as an investment firm that put its clients' needs first. Over time we have grown from that single-advisor firm into a thriving business with four principals and offices on both coasts.

SIMI’s original mission to provide sound investment advice to our clients remains thoroughly intact. As we grow with our clients, we examine every decision we make to ensure SIMI continues to offer clients the highest level of service, and that we invest your money as if it were our own. Below are examples of the practices that make SIMI unique among its peers.

What's Unique About SIMI

Non-Discretionary Relationships – Prior to executing any changes in a client’s portfolio, we first contact them to explain the rationale for the change and secure the client’s approval. Yes, this requires additional work on SIMI’s part, but this is a partnership … and at SIMI you have a say in how your money is invested. This engagement enhances our clients' knowledge of investments and significantly strengthens our client-advisor relationship.

Independence – SIMI is an independent investment advisory firm. As such we are free from the pressures of having to sell a parent company’s financial or insurance products, services or funds. This gives SIMI the flexibility to use what we believe are the very best investments for our clients.

Fee Scale – SIMI is a Fee-Only investment advisor. We offer a declining fee schedule that is non-incremental so that as your assets grow, your fees are reduced down to the VERY FIRST DOLLAR managed at SIMI. This is an unusual fee structure that is designed to be very beneficial for our clients and is seldom found at other firms.

Removing Conflicts of Interest – SIMI eliminates conflicts of interest by refusing to accept commissions, fee-sharing agreements, promotions or gifts from any third-party and by not selling any financial or insurance products. We are obligated to only recommend investments that are in the client’s best interest.

Unique Investment Portfolios for Each Client - Every SIMI investment portfolio is uniquely tailored to incorporate the appropriate risk level and financial goals for each individual client. As clients experience life events such as preparing for a growing family, planning for retirement and establishing an estate strategy, their SIMI portfolio will be modified to meet their changing circumstances and financial goals.

Performance Reports – SIMI clients receive detailed performance reports every quarter. These are not generic account statements simply showing beginning and ending balances. Instead, SIMI provides clients with a detailed and clear picture of their bottom-line portfolio performance.

Client Education – We believe the more a client understands about their investments, the stronger our working relationship becomes. Our clients are intelligent professionals that generally don’t have free time to commit to managing their investments on their own. SIMI’s client relationships continually mature and deepen as we offer guidance in every aspect of a client’s financial life.

Third-Party Custodian – To maximize security for clients, SIMI custodies all client assets with an independent, third-party financial institution. Clients have secure online access to their accounts anytime. Clients receive monthly statements from the custodian in addition to SIMI’s quarterly performance reports.

RIA vs Broker… What Investors Need to Know!

Broker:
A broker’s obligation to their client is to present investments that are “suitable”. This is the lowest standard allowed in the industry. As a common example: There are two versions of the same mutual fund, but one pays a commission to the broker and the other pays no commission. A broker can recommend the version that pays the highest commission and the client is unaware that this has taken place. The client is investing in the same mutual fund that is “suitable” to their needs, but because their investment is reduced by the commission that was paid to the broker, they unknowingly have fewer dollars invested in the mutual fund. To make matters more confusing for investors, brokers refer to themselves by many names including Wealth Managers, Investment Advisors, Financial Advisors, Financial Planners, etc. Investors must ask the right questions to know who they are working with and the level of responsibility that the financial professional has to them as a client.

RIA:
The Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) designation was created as part of the U.S. Investment Advisors Act of 1940. The RIA designation was specifically designed to provide a higher level of protection for the investing public and ensure the best interests of retail investors. The main difference between an RIA and a Broker is that an RIA is required by law to act and serve in a client's “best interests”. This is the highest standard in the industry and means that SIMI puts our clients’ interests above the personal and professional interests of our advisors and our firm. To further the example above, an RIA cannot legally recommend the version of the mutual fund that includes a commission to the advisor as that would not have been in the client’s “best interest”.

Click Here for 5 Key Benefits of Independent RIAs.

Click Here to read from Worth Magazine “Have You Outgrown Your Financial Advisor”.