What is Upleft?

Are you a fiduciary?

Yes. We are held to a fiduciary standard in all business activities. This is an important component of being a Registered Investments Advisor as well as a CFP Professional, both of which involve acting as a fiduciary (putting the client's best interests first) in all client interactions. This is an important distinction from broker/dealer affiliates who are held to a less stringent suitability standard or “hybrid” advisors who can switch back and forth between the two.

To quote investopedia.com

“Investment advisers and investment brokers, who work for broker-dealers, both tailor their investment advice to individuals and institutional clients. However, they are not governed by the same standards. Investment advisers work directly for clients and must place clients' interests ahead of their own, according to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.1

Brokers, however, serve the broker-dealers they work for and must only believe that recommendations are suitable for clients. This suitability standard is set by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).”

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What does it mean to be a CFP Professional?

Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) is a formal recognition of expertise in the areas of financial planning, taxes, insurance, estate planning, and retirement (such as with 401ks). Owned and awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., the designation is awarded to individuals who successfully complete the CFP Board's initial exams, then continue ongoing annual education programs to sustain their skills and certification. (investopedia.com)

You can learn more here...

What does it mean to be an RIA vs. a Broker/Dealer?

There are several differences between a Registered Investments Advisor (RIA) and a Broker/dealer firm. These exist in areas such as compensation, custody, advice, ethics, and transparency. We strongly recommend that you read THIS ARTICLE from kiplinger.com to learn more.

Where are you located?

Our home office is located on the Olympic Peninsula in downtown Port Angeles Washington.

Yeah sure, but where is headquarters?

We’re so glad you asked! Unlike many investment firms that call themselves local, but send their profits to out-of-state corporate owners, Upleft is 100% owned in Port Angeles. We don’t just work here. We live here. We shop, dine, and volunteer here. Our profits stay in the community.

What does Upleft do?

What services do you provide to your clients?

Our primary offerings fall into two categories: Financial Planning and Investment Advice/Management.

Our approach to financial planning involves crafting and implementing solutions for clients in all (comprehensive planning) or some (modular planning) of the following areas:

• Cash flow and budgeting.
• Investment management.
• Risk Management.
• Tax Planning.
• Retirement Planning.
• Social Security Planning.
• Estate Planning.

Our approach to investment management involves the following area:

• Discovery - Where we learn about you, your life, and your needs
• Analysis - Where we assess your resources against your goals
• Development - Where we customize and refine recommendations for you
• Implementation - Where we bring those recommendations to life
• Monitoring - Where we review your progress and make adjustments over time

What else? (What services are included in the fee?)

We take pride in going above and beyond for our clients. Ongoing services that we provide include:

• Review & guidance on employer retirement plans
• Tax reduction strategies
• Charitable giving strategies
• Income and distribution strategies
• Custom reporting for bookkeepers and tax professionals
• Complimentary consultation for client families
• Ongoing investor education

How does Upleft engage with clients?

How often will we communicate?

Our business is built around the principle of granting our clients virtually unlimited access to our resources. By being selective about who we serve, we can make sure that we are never “stretched too thin” and we can direct our energies where they are needed most without letting any single investor’s needs “slip through the cracks.”

We recommend that investors review their accounts at least once a year, but some choose to conduct reviews as often as quarterly. Clients have the option to also receive printed account statements on a monthly or quarterly basis. Beyond scheduled statements and reviews, we always welcome client meetings “as needed”. For those who just like to keep a bit more “up-to-speed” with our firm, we have our company website, e-mail newsletter, Upleft Logbook, and active social media presence.

Will you help me with a financial plan even If you don’t manage my investments?

Yes. For clients who do not wish to engage in an investment management relationship, we do engage in “Financial Planning Only” relationships where our engagement lasts for a set period of time while we work to develop plans for specific life goals. Upon presenting your plan, we may recommend that you consider Upleft for your investment management needs, but it is never an expectation or a requirement.

Will you meet with me outside of your offices?

Outside of our main office in Port Angeles, we also schedule meetings in a secondary location in downtown Port Townsend. For clients outside of the immediate area, we have been known to meet in homes or workplaces for special cases. These days, many long-distance clients prefer to meet either over the telephone or using video conference technology.

What does Upleft's name signify?

Did you come up with the name "Upleft"?

To answer a common question: Yes. We did create and trademark the term “Upleft”. It actually has several meanings that all apply to how we look at providing the highest level of service to our clients.

What does "Upleft" mean??

• The Missional Answer - “Upleft” is our own twist on “Uplift,” which means to improve the spiritual, social, or intellectual condition. In finance, many people lose sight of why we invest. In the end, we believe that our client resources exist to uplift their lives, as well as the lives of their families, and their communities.
• The Ethereal Answer - The term “Upleft” is a tribute to our home in the Pacific Northwest or the “Upper Left” corner of the continental United States. If you don’t know why this has a special meaning, you should pay us a visit. If you can’t make the trip, you can start by watching this video.
• The Nerdy Answer - This is for the people who paid attention to Freshman finance class. The top left corner of the “efficient frontier” is the theoretical “sweet spot” where someone would have the highest return at the lowest risk. For more on this concept, you can watch our video here.

Who does Upleft help?

What type of clients do you work with?

Today, Upleft invests for individuals/families, businesses, and non-profit organizations.

Do you have a minimum account size?

No. We do not have a firm minimum account size, but there are cases where we may not be the most economical choice for smaller accounts. There are also specific investment strategies that are less effective at smaller investment amounts. Do not let the size of your account dissuade you from contacting us. If Upleft is not the best solution for your investment needs, we may still be able to help you with financial planning. If neither of those is a good fit, it would be our genuine pleasure to refer you to someone who may be a better match for your needs.

Do you work with clients outside of your area?

Yes. A large percentage of our clients live outside the State of Washington. In fact, we have investors in all four corners of the Continental United States (Maine, Florida, Arizona and Washington). We visit our far flung investors as often as we can, but our robust technological platform gives us the ability to provide a high quality of service seamlessly to our remote clients.

Are you accepting new clients?

Yes. We have not yet hit our self-imposed limits on client households per advisor. Don’t hesitate to give us a call, if you think we may be able to help you, your family, or your organization.

How is Upleft compensated?

Are you fee-based?

Yes. We are exclusively compensated from either ongoing advisory fees or predetermined planning fees. These are completely transparent and payed directly from our clients. We do not receive any payments from product providers, mutual fund companies, or outside money managers.

Our compensation structure ensures that Upleft is not compensated any more or less for any solution that we recommend to our clients, eliminating potential conflicts of interest.

Do you collect commissions?

No. We do not receive commissions, mark-ups, 12-b-1 fees, sales bonuses, or any type of “ticket charges”. Our only compensation comes from the fees mentioned above.

How are you compensated?

Investment Advisory Fees are paid quarterly in arrears pursuant to the terms of the investment advisory agreement. They are based on the market value of assets under management at the end of the calendar quarter according to the following schedule:

(example a $400,000 account would have a fee of $3,840 annually. This would result in an amount of $960 distributed from the account as a quarterly advisory fee.)

The investment advisory fee in the first quarter of service is prorated from the inception date of the account[s] to the end of the first quarter.

Fees for Financial Planning are billed either on an hourly basis or a fixed engagement fee. Hourly engagements are offered at rate of up to $250 per hour. Fixed engagement fees range up to $6,000 based on the nature and complexity of the services to be provided.

For more information on compensation, please read the Fees & Compensation area of our form ADV that can be found here.

How does Upleft invest funds?

What is your investment philosophy?

A key compenent of our investment philosophy and process is the management of risk through the use of several tools and tactics. Perhaps the most foundational of these is our use of what we call “ultra-diversification” in portfolio construction. You can learn more about our diversification discipline by watching the short video that can be found on THIS PAGE.

Do you use mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks & bonds?

Yes. We use all of these tools across our client accounts. Certain factors, such as the need for tactical adjustment or tax management, help us to choose the best tool(s) for every client situation.

Where will my assets be held?

We work with a federally chartered limited-purpose savings association to hold clients’ investment assets. We believe that this organization, SEI Private Trust Company, gives our clients many advantages over using a traditional brokerage firm as custodian. Learn more about how this structure provides additional safety and security for your assets please visit THIS LINK

Will I have to sell everything I own, even if there is a tax impact?

Not necessarily. We take a great deal of care to minimize unnecessary tax consequences to our clients. We have many ways of doing this, including holding assets outside of our preferred strategy until such a time when a change can be made at minimal tax cost to our client. In some cases, we are able to incorporate someone’s existing holdings into their new strategy, thus avoiding having to sell legacy positions.

For more information about Upleft tax management, look HERE.

What else might I want to know?

Has your firm or anyone in your firm ever been subject to disciplinary or legal actions?

No. One way to research this question is to look at an investment professional’s background using online tools by either FINRA or the SEC. Registered persons must disclose customer complaints or arbitrations, regulatory actions, employment terminations, bankruptcy filings and certain civil or criminal proceedings that they were a part of.

Here are the background details for our founder with the SEC and with FINRA.

Where can I learn more about Upleft and its Founder?

• Our Website: www.upleftfinancial.com
• Matt’s Bio: https://www.upleftfinancial.com/about
• Media Mentions
  • U.S News & World Report
  • MSN Money
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • Forbes
• Articles
  • Upleft Logbook
  • Advisorpedia
• Social Media
  • Linkedin
    • Upleft
    • Matt Miller
  • Facebook
  • Twitter