We don’t want your money! We are a fiduciary

What is a fiduciary? And why should you make sure your advisor is one?

To us, a fiduciary means you, as the client, are put first and foremost. The advisor has an integral obligation to make financial decisions and recommendations that are in your best interest. According to dictionary.com, a fiduciary is “a person to whom property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another.” Typically, in terms of financial advisors and investors, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. But to Goodwin Investment Advisory, it goes beyond this – to act on your behalf, putting your interests ahead of ours, with a duty to preserve good faith and trust. We believe being a fiduciary thus requires us, as your advisor, to be legally and ethically bound to act in your best interest.

A fiduciary has integrity

To us at GIA, a fiduciary means someone with integrity, which is one of our promises to our clients. When you sign on to be a client here, we send you a promise letter that includes our values and our commitment to you as our beloved client.

Our Promise to You

We promise you that we are carefully committed to your financial goals, hopes, and dreams. We will invest your capital just as if it were our very own. We try our best to care more about you and your family and are deeply committed to creating opportunities where hope for financial freedom can thrive.

We promise to have integrity. We try our best not to tell you we can do something we can’t, nor tell you we’re going to do something and then not do it.

We promise to be honest. We commit to telling you the plan, the unvarnished truth, especially when you may not want to hear it. When you ask us a question to which we don’t know the answer, we promise always to say, “I don’t know”—and then to diligently get you the answer.

We promise to be trustworthy, and we believe you will find our team and advisors trustworthy. We want to work together in a spirit of mutual trust, and when we do that, there is so much we can accomplish together to help you reach your retirement goals.

We promise to be learners. We are committed to continuous learning, as the financial industry is constantly changing, to provide you with the best and most current options.

We promise to help you feel confident that your money is invested correctly and will be there when you need it.

We promise to be responsible. We clearly understand that you are entrusting your family’s financial future to us—not to a particular financial plan or investment portfolio—to us. We are honored to accept that responsibility.

What we ask from you?

Not to worry. We will insist that you create a plan and stick to the plan. We will encourage you to hope, because we know that in investing, optimism is the only long-term realism. Let us worry for you. Trust and know that we want the absolute best for you!

As a fiduciary our advisors are committed to:

Putting your best interests before their own, which means seeking the best prices and terms for you.
Not selling you any products.
Not putting their own finances first by purchasing securities for their own account before buying them for you. (This is called self-dealing, and it is illegal.)
Acting in good faith and providing you with all the relevant facts.
Avoiding conflicts of interest–if, for any reason, there is a conflict of interest, this must be disclosed to you before any decisions are finalized.
Doing their due diligence and trying their best to be accurate and thorough with the advice they give to you.

How do we earn our money?

At GIA we provide you services and we are paid by receiving an annual percentage of your assets under management, which we take directly from your invested accounts with us each quarter. To view our fee structure in our client advisory agreement click here.

Your effective annual rate is calculated quarterly based on our blended tier fee structure. One-fourth of that effective rate is used to calculate your quarterly fee, which is then deducted from your account(s). For example, if your effective annual fee was 1%, then a fee of 0.25% would be applied to your account to calculate the quarterly fee.

As your assets increase, your percentage fee decreases because we have a tiered fee structure. When you win with money, we win as well.

We act in our customers best interest and provide you with services such as investment management, risk management, financial planning, retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, as well as other specialized services for a fee.

How Goodwin Investment Advisory got started

Tim Goodwin, CEO and founder of Goodwin Investment Advisory, graduated from Berry College with a degree in Finance. Upon graduation, he went to work for a local financial firm but quickly learned that his personal values and the values of the firm did not line up. So he decided to start his own firm, originally because he saw people hiring brokers and paying high fees and really wanted to help people get better returns on their investments and to help create excess wealth so that they were able to be more generous with their money. He also wanted to create an unbiased approach that would help his clients by trying to provide people with a true fiduciary that could help them see better returns than doing it on their own or by hiring a broker. Then, it evolved because his clients kept asking him for advice. In 2010, Tim added financial planning and consulting as a service that, from then on, became part of the client experience. His mission changed over time from just investing and managing accounts to incorporating all the services we now have today. When asked, Tim stated that one of the reasons he started Goodwin Investment Advisory in Woodstock, Georgia, was because –

“I saw the need for a different kind of financial firm that upheld my values of integrity, honesty, and trust. A firm that operated in the best interest of its clients at all times and fulfilled my mission to lead all people to financial peace, independence, and generosity.”

He truly wanted to see others grow their wealth and enjoy it, as well as have the opportunity to be generous with their wealth and create a legacy they were proud of. He also wanted to set the tone of integrity in the financial industry by truly caring more about his clients than other advisors he had seen or worked for. All these factors led him to our vision, “to see your family empowered with confidence that your legacy will last for generations.” He realized that many people were scared to navigate financial decisions, especially when it came to planning for retirement years and doing it alone. Did you know that according to Dave Ramsey in his article titled, Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor, “More than half of investors who work with a financial advisor (55%) said they saved more for retirement as a result?” The National Study of Millionaires found that almost 7 out of 10 millionaires (68%) worked with an investment professional or financial advisor to grow their net worth. They didn’t do it by themselves!

So we encourage you not to do it alone! Find a fiduciary or someone you can trust to help advise you so that you can genuinely enjoy your hard-earned money. As a fiduciary, we don’t want your money – that is not our goal. Our goal is to help give you guidance and confidence in your financial plan and to help you know your money is invested correctly and will be there for you when you need it. We want to manage your money, but we want you to be the one to enjoy it. Here is a link to download our right-fit guide if you are looking for the right-fit advisor for you.

Disclosure:

Goodwin Investment Advisory strives to provide our clients with services as outlined above, but nothing here should be construed as a guarantee of investment performance. Our team strives to deliver on the promises and commitments outlined above, but in some cases we may not reach the level that you desire, and in such cases we invite you to contact us so that we can discuss your concerns.

The Money PIG podcast is hosted by Reid Trego. Goodwin Investment Advisory is a Registered Investment Advisory firm regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with securities laws and regulations. Goodwin Investment Advisory does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the Money PIG podcast. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice.

For personalized financial guidance, schedule an intro call with our team at Goodwin Investment Advisory in Woodstock, Georgia . Our CFP® professionals can provide advice and help you navigate how to invest your wealth and plan for your retirement. We’d love to help you live out your legacy! To learn more about the benefits and services we offer click here.

Goodwin Investment Advisory is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #131193), and this episode is produced by evanced.net. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any financial products, securities, digital assets, or other investments. It should not be used as the basis for any financial decisions. The host and/or guests may personally hold investments mentioned in this episode. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Please consult with a qualified financial adviser, tax professional, and attorney before taking action on any information shared.

By Tim GoodwinPublished On: June 3rd, 2022

We don’t want your money! We are a fiduciary.