Standards

Fiduciary Standards

As a registered investment adviser, Muntz Financial and our personnel must comply with the unequivocal fiduciary provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the well-developed body of fiduciary law evolving from the Act and other laws and regulations.

The responsibility of a fiduciary relationship is significantly different from the obligations of a traditional broker – who is specifically exempted from these provisions of the Advisers Act.

Nowhere is this distinction made any clearer than in the disclosure agreement that the SEC requires broker-dealers (as opposed to Registered Investment Advisors) to provide to their prospective customers:

“Your account is a brokerage account and not an advisory account. Our interests may not always be the same as yours. Please ask us questions to make sure you understand your rights and our obligations to you, including the extent of our obligations to disclose conflicts of interest and to act in your best interest. We are paid both by you and, sometimes, by people who compensate us based on what you buy. Therefore, our profits, and our salespersons’ compensation, may vary by product and over time.”

Muntz has no conflicts of interests – we are not a brokerage and we are never compensated for our services based on commissions.

As a fiduciary, Muntz is obligated by an affirmative duty to act in the best interests of our clients and to make full and fair disclosure of all material facts, particularly if the adviser's interests ever conflict with the clients' interests.

As an investment adviser firm, we have an overarching fiduciary duty to our clients. We hold our directors, officers, and employees accountable for adhering to and advocating the following general standards to the best of their knowledge and ability:

  • Always place the interest of the client first and never benefit at the expense of andvisory client.
  • Always act in an honest and ethical manner, including in connection with, and the handling and avoidance of, actual or potential conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships.
  • Always maintain the confidentiality of information concerning the identity of security holdings and financial circumstances of clients.
  • Fully comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations of federal, state and local governments and other applicable regulatory agencies.