Bermuda Run, North Carolina Fee-Only · Fiduciary Established 1985
(336) 998-7000
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Individual Services

Personalized management for individuals and families.

Discretionary investment management, financial planning, and tax-efficient strategy — built around your objectives, your circumstances, and the life you are actually planning for.

Joan Woodard, CFO, meeting with a client at Woodard & Company
The Approach

A relationship built on understanding.

No two clients are identical. Neither are their portfolios.

We value each individual relationship with our clients and endeavor to meet the needs of each. Whether a client requires active investment management or is seeking guidance on a specific financial question, our team is ready to assist.

We seek to learn each client’s objectives, risk tolerance, and circumstances, in order to tailor a well-considered investment strategy appropriate for their life. These factors form the foundation for the asset allocation of the portfolio, and the framework that guides our decision-making on their behalf.

We are committed to providing superior personal service. As a fee-onlyFee-OnlyA firm compensated exclusively by its clients through agreed-upon advisory fees. Fee-only advisors accept no commissions, revenue-sharing, or soft-dollar arrangements from product providers.Close × fiduciaryFiduciaryA person or firm legally required to place the interests of its clients above its own at all times. A fiduciary must disclose conflicts of interest and recommend only what is in the client’s best interest.Close ×, our only compensation comes from the clients we serve, which means our recommendations are never influenced by commissions, product incentives, or outside interests.

Many of our client relationships span multiple generations of the same family. Family wealth management services at Woodard & Company sit inside a single advisory relationship: the next generation inherits not only the portfolio, but the institutional memory, the planning history, and the continuity of the fiduciary investment advisors who have worked with the family over time.

What We Offer

A complete investment relationship.

i.

Discretionary Portfolio Management

Day-to-day management of your investment accounts by our Investment CommitteeInvestment CommitteeThe group of advisors at the firm responsible for collective investment decisions. Our committee meets twice weekly, and more often as market conditions warrant.Close ×, with ongoing review and adjustment as market and personal circumstances evolve.

ii.

Complimentary Financial Planning

Comprehensive planning offered to clients at no additional cost. Retirement, lifestyle goals, tax efficiency, and estate objectives addressed as integrated components of the portfolio. Learn more about financial planning →

iii.

Tax-Efficient Strategy

Deliberate attention to the tax consequences of every holding decision. Long holding periods, tax-loss harvesting, and asset location decisions that can meaningfully affect after-tax outcomes.

iv.

Committee-Based Decisions

Every strategic decision is made by our Investment Committee, not by any single advisor. The collective judgment of the team replaces the bias of any one individual.

v.

Custody of Client Assets

Client assets are held at Fidelity Institutional, an independent qualified custodianQualified CustodianAn independent, regulated financial institution that holds client assets separately from the advisory firm. Required for all Registered Investment Advisors under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.Close ×. You retain direct access to your accounts, and direct accountability from a third party.

vi.

Unhurried Counsel

We believe meaningful relationships are built over meaningful conversations. Our clients have direct access to the advisory team, without the friction of intermediaries or call centers. Each client typically has a preferred advisor, though any advisor at the firm can meet with any client, the entire team is available to you.

Fee-Only vs. Fee-Based

Two words, one critical difference.

The labels sound nearly identical, the structures are not. The difference determines whose interest the advisor is required to place first, and how the firm gets paid. We hold ourselves to one of those structures, and one of those structures alone.

Fee-Only.

A fee-only firm is compensated exclusively by the clients it serves, through an agreed-upon advisory fee. Nothing else. No commissions on funds, no commissions on insurance, no commissions on annuities, no revenue-sharing from product providers, no soft-dollar arrangements with brokers, no referral payments. The firm answers to its clients, and only to its clients. Conflicts of interest are minimized by design, not just disclosed by exception. Woodard & Company is a fee-only firm.

Fee-Based.

We are not “fee-based.” We are “fee-only.” A fee-based firm charges advisory fees to clients and may also accept commissions, sales loads, or other transaction-based compensation from the products it recommends. The presence of multiple revenue streams creates the potential for conflict of interest. The advisor benefits when the client buys certain products, regardless of whether those products are the most appropriate option available. The conflict is permitted under regulation, provided it is disclosed. The conflict, however, remains, and again, Woodard & Company is “fee-only.”

The two terms differ by a single word and are often used interchangeably in casual conversation. They should not be. Fee-based means commissioned products are on the table. Fee-only means they are not.

Why this matters to you.

When advice and product sales travel together, the line between recommendation and transaction blurs. We chose the fee-only model because we believe a true fiduciary cannot also be a salesperson. The clarity of that structure has served our clients well, and it is the structure under which we will continue to operate. If you have ever worked with an advisor whose compensation included commissions, you may have encountered the difference firsthand. If you have not, we would simply ask the question we ask every prospective client: How is your advisor paid, by whom, and for what?

See our fee schedule →

“Our methods evolve with the times, our tools, our data, and our technology adapt to what is available, but our principles do not change. Always buy quality and diversify. Hold the client’s interest first. Those are the fixed points.”
— John B. Woodard, Jr., Founder and President
Request an Introduction

Begin a conversation.

We work best with clients who value discipline over drama, judgment over noise, and relationships that extend across generations. If that describes you, we would be glad to make your acquaintance.

Request an Introduction
Office
117 Kinderton Blvd.
Bermuda Run, NC 27006
Telephone
(336) 998-7000
(800) 214-1144
Correspondence
woodard@wcamg.com
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 – 5:00  ·  Closed on Market Holidays