Silvercrest Asset Management is a fee-only financial advisor firm headquartered in New York, New York. In turn, Silvercrest is on SmartAsset’s lists of the top financial advisors in New York and top financial advisors in New York State. The independently run firm also has branches in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Virginia.
Silvercrest is a sizable financial advisor firm with a large team of financial advisors on staff. The firm primarily serves high-net-worth individuals and families.
Silvercrest Asset Management Background
Silvercrest Asset Management has been in business since 2001. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Silvercrest L.P., a financial services company. Silvercrest’s managing directors and each of its senior portfolio managers own shares of the firm. The firm’s managing directors have spent an average of about 30 years in wealth and investment management.
Additionally, much of the staff at Silvercrest holds advisory certifications. The firm’s team includes chartered financial analysts (CFAs), certified public accountants (CPA) and certified financial planners (CFP).
Silvercrest Asset Management Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
Most of Silvercrest Asset Management’s more than clients are high-net-worth individuals and families. Though the firm specializes in serving affluent investors, it also works with estates, trusts, charitable organizations, businesses, not-for-profit entities, Taft-Hartley plans, government plans, pension plans, municipalities, registered investment companies and private investment funds.
To work with Silvercrest Asset Management, you'll typically need to have millions to invest, though the firm doesn't state a specific investment minimum on its Form ADV.
Services Offered by Silvercrest Asset Management
Silvercrest Asset Management primarily offers portfolio and investment management services, but it will also provide family office services under certain circumstances. Here’s a full list of what the firm can do:
- Portfolio management
- General financial planning
- Estate planning
- Philanthropic planning
- Tax-efficient wealth transfers
- Facilitation of relationships with clients’ accountants and attorneys
- Full portfolio customization
- Regular rebalances and strategy alterations
- Investment management
- Equity management
- U.S. small-cap, large-cap and multi-cap
- Equity income
- Non-U.S. developed market equity
- Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Master limited partnerships (MLPs)
- Fixed-income management
- Municipal bonds
- Government/corporate bonds
- Outsourced investments
- Proprietary portfolio diversification
- Equity management
- Family office services
- Consolidated reporting
- Aggregate data reports of your various investments
- Insights into performance, liquidity, risk, asset allocation and more
- Wealth planning
- Retirement planning
- Cash flow planning
- Gift planning
- Tax planning
- Income taxes
- Estate taxes
- Gift taxes
- Institutional taxes
- Personal accounting
- General accounting
- Budgeting and cash forecasts
- Bill pay
- Medical insurance administration
- Domestic employee payroll management
- Consolidated reporting
Silvercrest Asset Management Investment Philosophy
Equity management and fixed income strategies dominate Silvercrest Asset Management’s investment approach. If you and your advisor decide on equity management, your assets will be invested in more conservative, long-term investments in an effort to reduce turnover. Within this management style alone, Silvercrest offers 11 different portfolio strategies that include the following investment types:
- Large-cap: equities of companies worth $2 billion or more
- Small-cap: equities of companies worth between $200 million and the upper end of companies in the Russell 2000 Index
- Equity income: equities of companies with a target yield of 150% of the S&P 500
- Multi-cap: equities of large-cap and small-cap companies
- SMID-cap: equities of companies with market capitalizations between $200 million and $15 billion
- Focused value: equities of large-cap and small-cap companies that the firm’s research shows are “high conviction investments”
- Small-cap concentrated: equities of only small-cap companies that the firm’s research shows are “high conviction investments”
- Core international: equities of 25-35 international companies with “sustainable competitive advantages”
- Liquid hedge portfolio advisory: mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
- Real estate investment trust: publicly traded REITs
- Master limited partnership: traded master limited partnerships with market capitalizations of $1 billion or more
On the other hand, fixed-income management has just three separate strategies to choose from. Although fixed income investments tend to be long-term, Silvercrest sometimes chooses to diversify these portfolios with a short to intermediate duration in mind. These strategies include investments like:
- Municipal value: municipal bonds with capital preservation, plenty of federal tax-exempt income and short to intermediate duration characteristics
- Investment grade municipal bond: high-grade fixed-income securities
- Taxable bond/credit fixed-income: high-grade fixed-income securities that are “positioned to generate total returns in excess of the Barclays Capital Government/Credit index”
Fees Under Silvercrest Asset Management
Silvercrest Asset Management charges clients based on a percentage of assets under management. The firm charges different rates depending on the portfolio type, and in some instances, it reduces rates as the amount of assets under management increases. Silvercrest Asset Management charges clients quarterly. In contrast to most firms that charge clients in arrears, payments are due in advance of the upcoming quarter.
The firm states that the below fee rates may be negotiable to a certain extent. However, it also stipulates that this policy usually only applies to clients who have extremely large amounts of assets under management.
| Fees for Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) | |
| Portfolio Type | Annual Fees |
| Managed equity and balanced |
|
| Managed fixed-income only |
|
| Managed cash only |
|
| Silvercrest municipal value strategy |
|
What to Watch Out For
There are no disclosures listed on Silvercrest Asset Management’s SEC-filed Form ADV.
Opening an Account With Silvercrest Asset Management
New York City is home to Silvercrest Asset Management’s principal office, but the firm also has five other branches, including two in New Jersey, two in Virginia and one in Massachusetts. If you live anywhere near these locations, feel free to stop by and talk to an advisor in person. Prospective clients can also reach Silvercrest over the phone at (212) 649-0600 or via email.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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