An investment fiduciary acts in a professional capacity of trust and manages property for the benefit of another. The obligations of investment fiduciaries are precisely specified by law, such as the Uniform Prudent Investor Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The role of an investment fiduciary is fulfilled by recommending financial planning and investment strategies that are in the best interests of the client.

Bleeck Financial Management (Bleeck Financial) is a Department of Business Oversight licensed Registered Investment Advisor and provides financial planning and investment advisory services on a fee-only basis. As such, we serve clients as investment fiduciaries. 

Bleeck Financial is not a stockbroker. (Stock brokers are technically known as “broker-dealers” and/or “registered representatives”.) The essential role of stockbrokers is the sale of products of a brokerage firm. By law, the provision of investment advice by a stockbroker may be no more than “solely incidental” to the sales process. Their legal responsibility to customers is met by adherence to the standards of honest dealing and, when recommending products, having “reasonable grounds for believing that the recommendation is suitable”. Stockbrokers use many titles, such as “financial planner”, “investment counselor”, “financial advisor”, “financial professional” and “financial consultant”. However, none of those titles has legal meaning.

As investment fiduciaries, Bleeck Financial recommends investments that we believe are in our clients’ best interests. Therefore, we do not recommend investments that:

  • pay any sales commissions
  • have high internal expenses
  • discourage investors from changing strategy by penalizing the sale of investments
  • are inappropriate, such as annuities within IRA accounts
  • have unreasonable performance projections
  • have undisclosed trading costs
  • confer trading advantages to select clients at the expense of others
  • pay us to be on our recommended list of investments
  • are from an affiliated company or “in-house” fund family
  • compensate us with gifts or “free” services
  • compensate us in any manner 

Our compensation comes exclusively, directly and in a fully-disclosed manner from our clients’ fees.

At Bleeck Financial, the financial planning process follows the standards of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, the national licensing body for Certified Financial Planners. Our investment process adheres to the investment fiduciary standards promulgated by the Foundation for Fiduciary Studies. 

Bleeck Financial's investment process involves these key steps, consistent with investment fiduciary practice:

  • Knowing the client’s unique financial situation and goals
  • Appropriately diversifying assets to the specific risk/return profile of each client*    Preparing a specific investment policy statement
  • Using “prudent experts” (money managers) to invest funds pursuant to the client’s investment policy statement
  • Accounting for and controlling investment expenses
  • Continuously monitoring and measuring performance relative to objective standards     and the investment policy statement, as well as taking corrective action as needed
  • Avoiding conflicts of interest and prohibited transactions

By adhering to prudent planning and investment processes, while avoiding questionable business practices, Bleeck Financial improves the likelihood of providing our clients with successful financial advice. This is our commitment to our clients.