Cerity Partners is a financial advisor that doesn’t just provide advisory services; the firm also offers prospective and current clients free educational articles that focus on financial topics like retirement. The firm also holds a spot on our top financial advisors' lists for New York City and New York State.
Cerity Partners is a fee-only firm, so the firm only earns compensation from the services it provides, not on commisssions for products it sells. Cerity’s compensation arrangements consist of asset-based fees, hourly fees, fixed fees and performance-based fees.
Cerity Partners Background
Cerity is a registered investment advisor (RIA) that’s been in business since 2009. The firm is controlled by Cerity Partners Equity Holding LLC, a company that’s controlled by Cerity Partners EOE LLC. Cerity Partners EOE LLC is owned by Cerity Partners and Cerity Partners Holdings LLC, which is in turn a subsidiary of Lightyear Fund IV AIV-1, L.P.
Cerity has offices in New York, California, Illinois, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. Kurt Miscinski is the firm’s president and CEO.
Cerity Partners Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
Cerity advises individuals with and without a high net worth, trusts, business entities, corporate pension and profit-sharing plans, foundations, charitable institutions, government entities, insurance companies, investment funds and endowments.
The firm does haven't a minimum investment requirement.
Services Offered by Cerity Partners
Cerity clients can take advantage of of the following advisory services:
- Investment advisory
- Current portfolio evaluation
- Assessment of investment objectives and financial goals
- Investment policy development
- Strategic asset allocation planning
- Manager search and evaluation
- Investment program implementation and rebalancing
- Portfolio monitoring and risk management
- Performance measurement and attribution analysis
- Wealth planning
- Net worth analysis
- Trust Fiduciary and Family Office Services
- Liquidity and liability management
- Insurance planning and risk management
- Estate and wealth transfer planning
- Compensation and benefits analysis
- Retirement planning
- Education planning
- Philanthropy and charitable gift planning
- Bill payment service and client accounting
- Retirement plan services
- ERISA fiduciary and non-fiduciary services
- Plan design consulting
- Financial wellness coaching
- Administrative plan support
- Investment management services
- Executive financial counseling
- Company benefits coordination and planning
- Retirement, cash flow and budget planning
- Estate planning
- Tax planning and preparation
- Investment planning and consolidated reporting
- Insurance and risk management
- Tax
- Preparation of annual and multi-year tax projections
- Tax planning for investments and wealth transfer
- Preparation of individual, family, trust and corporate tax returns
- Preparation of estimated quarterly tax payments
- Tax planning for charitable gifting
Cerity Partners Investment Philosophy
Cerity says it uses asset allocation to reduce risk in each client’s investment portfolio. The firm utilizes the following six asset classes: cash and cash equivalents, global fixed income, global equity, real return, hedge funds and private equity. Cerity also uses 16 sub-asset classes when developing client-specific allocations.
The firm provides the following five investment risk profiles for tax-exempt and taxable portfolios:
- Conservative
- Moderate
- Balanced
- Growth
- Aggressive
Cerity Partners Fees
Cerity’s management fees for its wealth management and investment advisory services start at 1.50% of AUM per year. The firm says it calculates fees either quarterly in arrears or in advance depending on the client’s preferences. Certain programs at the firm may have slightly different fee schedules, though.
Cerity Partners Awards and Recognition
Cerity has been named one of the Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors by InvestmentNews from 2020 to 2022. It also ranked on the Financial Times’ Top 300 Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) for five consecutive years (2015 to 2020). In 2020 and 2021, Barron's also ranked the firm in its top 100 RIA firms in the U.S.
What to Watch Out For
Cerity doesn’t have any disclosures on its Form ADV, and it doesn’t receive third-party commissions for its advisory services.
Opening an Account with Cerity Partners
You’ll have several options for getting in touch with Cerity. You can visit any of the firm’s offices, or you can contact a financial advisor at (212) 850-4260.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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