One source of compensation. No commissions. No product incentives. No hidden economics. The fee schedule appears below.
Our fee schedule is based solely on the value of the assets we manage for you. No hidden compensation exists, because there is no hidden compensation to hide.
Woodard & Company is a fee-only Registered Investment AdvisorRegistered Investment AdvisorAn investment firm registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and held to a fiduciary standard. Registered Investment Advisors file a disclosure document called Form ADV that describes services, fees, and any conflicts of interest.Close ×. This means our firm and its representatives accept no commissions, no trailing fees, no sales loads, and no payments of any kind from mutual fund companies, insurance companies, or any other third party. Our only compensation is the advisory fee we charge our clients, which is calculated as a percentage of the assets under our management on a quarterly basis.
This is a structural choice, not a marketing claim. The alignment of our interests with yours is not implied, it is the only compensation we will accept.
Investment firms are commonly described as either fee-only or fee-based. The terms differ by a single word and are routinely confused. The economics behind them are not similar.
A fee-only firm is compensated by its clients, and by no one else. The advisory fee is the entire revenue line. There are no commissions on the products recommended, no payments from mutual fund companies in exchange for placement on the firm’s shelf, no insurance company override on annuities sold, no soft-dollar arrangements with brokers, no referral fees from outside professionals. When the math is finished, the firm has been compensated only by its clients, in proportion to the assets it manages, consequently we do better when the client does better.
A fee-based firm (which we are not) charges an advisory fee and earns transaction-based compensation from the products it places. Both revenue lines are legal, if both are disclosed. They are also, structurally, in tension. When a portion of the firm’s revenue depends on which products the client purchases, the recommendation and the sale are no longer independent acts. The conflict is permitted. It is also, regardless of disclosure, real.
Our firm operates under the fee-only structure exclusively. We chose it because a fiduciary cannot also be a salesperson. The two roles ask the advisor to optimize for different things, and a client who is paying for the first should not have to wonder whether they are receiving the second.
If you are evaluating advisors, the most useful question to ask any of them is the same question we welcome: How is the firm paid, by whom, and for what? A fee-only firm’s answer fits in one sentence.
Our management fee is calculated and paid each calendar quarter, in advance, based on the value of the assets in your account on the last business day of the prior quarter.
| Account Size | Quarterly Fee | Annual Total |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 – $1,000,000 | 0.2500% | 1.00% |
| $1,000,001 – $2,000,000 | 0.2250% | 0.90% |
| $2,000,001 – $4,000,000 | 0.2000% | 0.80% |
| Over $4,000,000 | 0.1750% | 0.70% |
Fees are debited directly from the account unless other acceptable arrangements are requested.
There is no minimum for additional or family accounts within an existing household. New or additional accounts within the same family are billed at the same tiered rate. Household assets managed by the firm may, at our discretion, be aggregated for the purpose of the fee calculation.
The advisory fee does not include the internal expense ratios of any mutual funds or exchange-traded funds held within your portfolio, those are fees charged by the fund managers themselves, not by us. All funds used in our portfolios are no-load funds, meaning no commission is charged at the point of purchase or sale. We seek the lowest cost funds, typically institutional class shares or exchange traded funds.
Our advisory relationship is not binding on the client. A client may discontinue our services at any time, for any reason, by written notice. Upon termination, we will promptly cease the advisory relationship, and any portion of the quarterly fee corresponding to the period after termination will be refunded on a pro-rata basis. The client’s ability to leave on short notice is itself a discipline on us: if we are not worth the fee, we do not collect it. There are no penalties or termination charges.
Our complete fee schedule, along with detailed information about the services we provide and the conflicts (or lack thereof) inherent in our business model, is disclosed in our Form ADVForm ADVThe regulatory disclosure document a Registered Investment Advisor files with the SEC and provides to clients. Part 2A describes the firm’s services, fee structure, and potential conflicts of interest.Close × Part 2A brochure. We encourage every prospective client to review this document before engaging our firm.
“A firm’s compensation structure is its character. Ours is on the table.”
We are happy to walk you through our complete fee schedule and explain exactly how our economics align with yours. Request an introduction to start the conversation.
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