Founded in 2016, Facet is one of the fastest-growing financial services companies in the United States. It is on SmartAsset's list of the top financial advisors in Baltimore and the state of Maryland. The financial advisor team provides a wide range of financial planning and investment management services to its client base which consists entirely of individuals.
Facet Background
Patrick McKenna, Anders Jones and Brent Weiss founded the fee-only firm and are the principal owners of the firm. McKenna serves as executive chairman, Jones acts as CEO and Weiss is the firm's chief evangelist, guiding the "vision of Facet’s financial life planning experience," according to the firm's website. Warburg Pincus Private Equity XII, LP and Warburg Pincus Financial Sector, LP have minority stakes, and six employees have very small stakes.
The financial advisor team, holds multiple certifications including certified financial planner (CFP).
Facet Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
Facet works exclusively with individual clients. It has more than 7,000 such clients, of whom just over 500 have a high net worth. It has more than $1 billion in assets under management. The firm does also offer its services to pension and profit-sharing plans, business entities, trusts, estates and charitable organizations.
Facet does not impose a traditional minimum investment requirement for new clients, but rather a $2,000 minimum annual fee. However, for clients for whom it manages assets, the firm has discretionary management without any material limitations, although it works with clients on establishing low-cost, diversified portfolios aligned with the client's long-term goals. Facet does have a $500 minimum for any investment account.
Services Offered by Facet
Facet provides a variety of investment management and financial planning services to clients. These services typically relate to one or more of the following topics:
- Investment portfolio design
- Asset management
- Cash flow and income planning
- Debt management
- Online data aggregation
- Retirement planning focused on accumulation and income
- Estate planning
- Financial education and literacy
- Risk management
- Insurance planning
- Income tax planning
- Education funding planning
- Employee benefits planning
- Charitable gift planning
Typically, the firm does not provide stand-alone investment management services, instead combining these offerings with financial planning services to build a holistic financial strategy.
Facet Investment Philosophy
Facet looks to cultivate individual relationships with all of its clients to ensure that it's providing an investment and financial planning experience that meets the client's exact needs. As a result, each client relationship begins with an information-gathering session where advisors learn about the client's investment history, financial goals, risk tolerance and more. Based on these insights, advisors take a wide-angle approach to helping clients along with their investment objectives.
The firm typically allocates client assets in mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks and bonds. Advisors may use cyclical, technical and fundamental methods of analysis to help inform their investment decisions. The firm looks to purchase securities on both a long- and short-term horizon, with the quantity of each depending upon the specifics of your situation.
Fees Under Facet
The firm's fees depend on the service received. For example, Facet charges a flat fee that generally ranges between $2,000 and $8,000 per year. This variance depends on the scope and length of the services you need and can be negotiable. Fees are typically calculated and billed on a quarterly or monthly basis. Fees also may be paid annually.
More commonly, firms charge a fee based on a percentage of assets under management for investment management services. The industry average is 0.95%, according to a 2018 study of 1,500 firms by RIA in a Box. Learn more about advisors' typical costs here.
What to Watch Out For
Facet has no disclosures of legal or disciplinary action in the Form ADV it recently filed with the SEC.
As a fee-only firm, it does not collect commissions on trades or the sale of certain products. All of its compensation comes from client fees.
Opening an Account With Facet
If you're interested in opening an account with Facet, visit the firm's website and submit a contact form or schedule an introductory meeting. Alternately, you can call the firm at (443) 376-6222 or send them an email at info@facet.com.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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