How we’ll work together
Understand your account and service fees.
When it comes to investing your money, it’s important we work together to determine your financial strategy. After all, what you are seeking from your portfolio (growth, income, or growth and income) in conjunction with other factors like risk tolerance, time horizon and liquidity needs will create the roadmap for your investment strategy. Once that has been determined, how you choose to spend and invest your assets can have a great effect on all aspects of your life, not just your portfolio.
You can expect your financial advisor to be a trusted, qualified professional who is committed to working with you and your chosen legal and tax professionals.
Our financial advisors are dedicated to providing you choice and flexibility by offering established products, services, and technology. You can expect your financial advisor to work with you in the following ways:
- Planning – To build an investment plan to help you stay on track toward your financial goals.
- Investing – To help you tailor an investment strategy consistent with your plan, meet to review your portfolio, and giving you scheduled updates.
Full service Financial Advisors
Our financial advisors’ compensation may be based on a combination of commissions and fees (cost) generated from a variety of products. These include stocks, bonds, derivatives, investment-company products, and insurance products (if they hold the appropriate state insurance licenses).
Many of them also have additional registrations and/or licensing that permits them to offer investment advisory services. Keep in mind a financial advisor’s use of any title or designation does not necessarily imply he or she is providing you with any specific service related to the designation.
Whether you are a brokerage or investment advisory client is dictated solely by the actual services agreed upon and provided.
To connect with an advisor and learn more, call 1-866-522-0459 or get a free consultation.
How you’ll pay for our services
Once you find a financial advisor who is the right fit for you, they will identify the fee structures for our products and services. After you determine your preference for how you want to work with your financial advisor, you will learn about products and services that are available to you.
How you pay is broadly based on the types of services we provide: investment advisory (percentage of assets held in your account), brokerage (sales charge on each transaction), and fee-based planning services.
That’s why it’s important to know the key differences between our investment advisory and brokerage services so you can make the right choice for your investments.
Investment advisory relationship
The primary service is our investment advice and/or our management of your money. Your costs under an investment advisory account are typically an agreed-upon percentage of the assets held in your account.
Brokerage services
The primary service is our trading capabilities for your account. However, we may also provide other incidental services such as custody of your assets, research reports, and recommendations to buy, sell, or hold assets in your account. Your costs under a brokerage account are based on a commission or sales charge on each transaction.
Fee-based services
The primary service is our fee-based planning services for your complex planning needs. However, fee-based planning services are optional, offered separately, and priced according to the complexity of your financial situation. This is a structured, focused engagement over a specified time period in which your advisor will act in a fiduciary capacity to deliver advice specific to the needs you’ve identified.
Next steps
- Decide what types of services would be appropriate for your financial situation and investment goals.
- Read the background materials mentioned in the article.
- Make an appointment with a financial advisor and request your free initial consultation.
Wells Fargo Advisors can offer brokerage and investment-advisory account services because we are registered as both a broker-dealer and an investment advisor. It’s important to understand that our brokerage accounts and services are governed by different sets of laws and regulations than our investment advisory accounts and services.
Therefore, our obligations and duties to you are different for each type. When you have multiple relationships with us, each account or service will be governed by specific applicable laws. So fees may be different from account to account or service to service.
Advisory programs are not intended for excessively traded or inactive accounts and may not be appropriate for all investors.