Overview
- Total Firm Assets
- $161 million
- Average High-Net-Worth Client Portfolio Size
- $2.3 million
Fee Structure
Primary Fee Schedule (PART 2A OF FORM ADV: FIRM BROCHURE)
| Min | Max | Marginal Fee Rate |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $500,000 | 1.50% |
| $500,001 | $1,000,000 | 1.25% |
| $1,000,001 | $3,000,000 | 0.90% |
| $3,000,001 | and above | 0.65% |
Illustrative Fee Rates
| Total Assets | Annual Fees | Average Fee Rate |
|---|---|---|
| $1 million | $13,750 | 1.38% |
| $5 million | $44,750 | 0.90% |
| $10 million | $77,250 | 0.77% |
| $50 million | $337,250 | 0.67% |
| $100 million | $662,250 | 0.66% |
Clients
- High-Net-Worth Share of Firm Assets
- 65.60%
- Number of High-Net-Worth Clients
- 46
- Total Client Accounts
- 685
- Discretionary Accounts
- 655
- Non-Discretionary Accounts
- 30
Services Offered
Services: Financial Planning, Portfolio Management for Individuals, Portfolio Management for Institutional Clients, Pension Consulting
Regulatory Filings
- SEC CRD Number
- 167847
Primary Brochure: PART 2A OF FORM ADV: FIRM BROCHURE (2026-07-16)
View Document Text
Telephone: (949) 464-4466
www.LagunaWealth.com
June 2026
FORM ADV PART 2A:
FIRM BROCHURE
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Laguna Wealth
Advisors, LLC (“LWA”). If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, contact us at (949)
464-4466. T The information in this brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission or by any State Securities Authority. Additional information about
our firm is also available on the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov by searching CRD # 167847.
Additional information about LWA is available on the SEC's website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC is a registered investment adviser. Registration with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities authority does not imply a certain level of
skill or training.
Item 2 Summary of Material Changes
Form ADV Part 2 requires registered investment advisers to amend their brochure when information
becomes materially inaccurate. If there are any material changes to an adviser's disclosure brochure,
the adviser is required to notify you and provide you with a description of the material changes.
Form ADV Part 2 requires registered investment advisers to amend their brochure when information
becomes materially inaccurate. If there are any material changes to an adviser's disclosure brochure,
the adviser is required to notify you and provide you with a description of the material changes.
Since the last annual amendment filing dated March 5th, 2026, our firm has the following material
changes to disclose:
The maximum annual fee charged to clients utilizing SMA’s will not exceed 1.95%.
Our firm now offers estate planning services through Wealth.com. please see Item 4 and Item 5 for more
information.
Item 3 Table of Contents
Item 2 Summary of Material Changes ................................................................................. 2
Item 3 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... 3
Item 4 Advisory Business .................................................................................................... 4
Item 5 Fees and Compensation .......................................................................................... 6
Item 6 Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management ...................................... 9
Item 7 Types of Clients ....................................................................................................... 9
Item 8 Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss ................................ 10
Item 9 Disciplinary Information .......................................................................................... 17
Item 10 Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations ................................................ 17
Item 11 Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and Personal Trad17
Item 12 Brokerage Practices ............................................................................................. 17
Item 13 Review of Accounts .............................................................................................. 20
Item 14 Client Referrals and Other Compensation ............................................................ 21
Item 15 Custody ................................................................................................................ 22
Item 16 Investment Discretion ........................................................................................... 22
Item 17 Voting Client Securities ........................................................................................ 23
Item 18 Financial Information ............................................................................................ 23
Item 4 Advisory Business
Description of Firm
Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC (“LWA”) is a registered investment adviser primarily based in Dana Point,
California. We are organized as a Limited Liability Company under the laws of the State of California.
We have been providing investment advisory services since 2013. We are solely owned by John Robert
LaBriola.
The following paragraphs describe our services and fees. Refer to the description of each investment
advisory service listed below for information on how we tailor our advisory services to your individual
needs. As used in this brochure, the words "we," "our," and "us" refer to Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC
(“LWA”) and the words "you," "your," and "client" refer to you as either a client or prospective client of
our firm.
Comprehensive Portfolio Management Services
As part of our Comprehensive Portfolio Management service clients will be provided asset management
and financial planning or consulting services. This service is designed to assist clients in meeting their
financial goals through the use of a financial plan or consultation. Our firm conducts client meetings to
understand their current financial situation, existing resources, financial goals, and tolerance for risk.
Based on what is learned, an investment approach is presented to the client, consisting of individual
stocks, bonds, ETFs, options, mutual funds and other public and private securities or investments. Once
the appropriate portfolio has been determined, portfolios are continuously and regularly monitored, and
if necessary, rebalanced based upon the client’s individual needs, stated goals and objectives. Upon
client request, our firm provides a summary of observations and recommendations for the planning or
consulting aspects of this service.
Our firm utilizes the sub-advisory services of a third party investment advisory firm or individual advisor
to aid in the implementation of an investment portfolio designed by our firm. Before selecting a firm or
individual, our firm will ensure that the chosen party is properly licensed or registered. Our firm will not
offer advice on any specific securities or other investments in connection with this service. We will
provide initial due diligence on third party money managers and ongoing reviews of their management
of client accounts. In order to assist in the selection of a third party money manager/SMA, our firm will
gather client information pertaining to financial situation, investment objectives, and reasonable
restrictions to be imposed upon the management of the account.
Our firm will periodically review third party money manager/SMA reports provided to the client at least
annually. Our firm will contact clients from time to time in order to review their financial situation and
objectives; communicate information to third party money manager/SMA as warranted; and, assist the
client in understanding and evaluating the services provided by the third party money manager/SMA.
Clients will be expected to notify our firm of any changes in their financial situation, investment
objectives, or account restrictions that could affect their financial standing.
Retirement Plan Consulting:
Our firm provides retirement plan consulting services to employer plan sponsors on an ongoing basis.
Generally, such consulting services consist of assisting employer plan sponsors in establishing,
monitoring, and reviewing their company's participant-directed retirement plan. As the needs of the plan
sponsor dictate, areas of advising may include:
•
• Establishing an Investment Policy Statement – Our firm will assist in the development of a
statement that summarizes the investment goals and objectives along with the broad strategies
to be employed to meet the objectives.
Investment Options – Our firm will work with the Plan Sponsor to evaluate existing investment
options and make recommendations for appropriate changes.
•
• Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction – Our firm will develop strategic asset allocation
models to aid Participants in developing strategies to meet their investment objectives, time
horizon, financial situation, and tolerance for risk.
Investment Monitoring – Our firm will monitor the performance of the investments and notify the
client in the event of over/underperformance and in times of market volatility.
• Participant Education – Our firm will provide opportunities to educate plan participants about their
retirement plan offerings, different investment options, and general guidance on allocation
strategies.
In providing services for retirement plan consulting, our firm does not provide any advisory services with
respect to the following types of assets: employer securities, real estate (excluding real estate funds and
publicly traded REITS), participant loans, non-publicly traded securities or assets, other illiquid
investments, or brokerage window programs (collectively, “Excluded Assets”). All retirement plan
consulting services shall be in compliance with the applicable state laws regulating retirement consulting
services. This applies to client accounts that are retirement or other employee benefit plans (“Plan”)
governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). If the client
accounts are part of a Plan, and our firm accepts appointment to provide services to such accounts, our
firm acknowledges its fiduciary standard within the meaning of Section 3(21) or 3(38) of ERISA as
designated by the Retirement Plan Consulting Agreement with respect to the provision of services
described therein.
Wrap Fee Programs
We do not participate in any wrap fee program.
Types of Investments
We offer advice on Exchange-listed securities, Corporate debt securities, Certificates of deposit, United
States governmental securities, Municipal securities, Mutual fund shares, Options contracts on
securities, Alternative Investments, including but not limited to: private real estate funds, managed
futures funds, hedge funds, private credit funds, and private equity funds. Refer to the Methods of
Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss below for additional disclosures on this topic.
Additionally, we may advise you on various types of investments based on your stated goals and
objectives. We may also provide advice on any type of investment held in your portfolio at the inception
of our advisory relationship.
Since our investment strategies and advice are based on each client’s specific financial situation, the
investment advice we provide to you may be different or conflict with the advice we give to other clients
regarding the same security or investment.
You may request that we refrain from investing in particular securities or certain types of securities. You
must provide these restrictions to our firm in writing.
IRA Rollover Recommendations
Effective December 20, 2021 (or such later date as the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) Field Assistance
Bulletin 2018-02 ceases to be in effect), for purposes of complying with the DOL’s Prohibited Transaction
Exemption 2020-02 (“PTE 2020-02”) where applicable, we are providing the following acknowledgment
to you. When we provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual
retirement account, we are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws governing retirement
accounts. The way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a
special rule that requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. Under
this special rule’s provisions, we must:
• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give prudent
advice);
• Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations (give loyal
advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your best
interest;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
• Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
We benefit financially from the rollover of your assets from a retirement account to an account that we
manage or provide investment advice, because the assets increase our assets under management and,
in turn, our advisory fees. As a fiduciary, we only recommend a rollover when we believe it is in your best
interest.
Estate Planning Services
Our firm provides standalone Estate Planning services to clients Through our partnership with an
independent third-party technology company, Wealth.com ("Wealth”), we can facilitate the preparation
of various estate planning documents for clients. Such services are generally separate from any
investment management and/or financial planning services that we may render to a client, and the exact
scope of such estate planning services will depend on the nature of a client’s specific estate planning
needs.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31st, 2025, we provide continuous management services for $161,045,309 in client
assets on a discretionary basis, and $193,116 in client assets on a non-discretionary basis, totaling
$161,238,425 in aggregate Assets Under Management.
Item 5 Fees and Compensation
Comprehensive Portfolio Management Services
Our fee for portfolio management services is based on a percentage of the assets in your account and
is set forth in the following annual fee schedule:
Assets Under Management
Maximum Annual Percentage of Assets Charged
First $500,000
Next $500,000
Next $2,000,000
1.50%
1.25%
0.90%
$3,000,000 and Up
0.65%
* Please note that the above fee schedule is a tiered fee schedule. For example, if a client has $3,500,000
in assets under management, assuming the maximum annual percentage of assets is charged, the
annualized advisory fee will be $35,000. The calculation will be as follows:
($500,000 x 1.50%) + ($500,000 x 1.25%) + ($2,000,000 x 0.90%) + ($500,000 x 0.65%) = $7,500 +
$6,250 + $18,000 + $3,250 = $35,000 annualized fee.
Fees to be assessed will be outlined in the advisory agreement to be signed by the client. Our firm bills
on cash unless indicated otherwise in writing. Annualized fees are billed on a pro-rata basis quarterly in
arrears based on the value of the account(s) on the balance of the last day of the previous quarter. If the
portfolio management agreement is executed at any time other than the first day of a calendar quarter,
our fees will apply on a pro rata basis, which means that the advisory fee is payable in proportion to the
number of days in the quarter for which you are a client. Fees are negotiable, and tiers may be
customized per the scope and complexity of the agreement; however no client fees will ever exceed
1.50%, moreover fees will be deducted from client account(s). Adjustments will be made for deposits
and withdrawals during the quarter. In rare cases, our firm will agree to directly invoice. As part of this
process, Clients understand the following:
a) The client’s independent custodian sends statements at least quarterly showing the market
values for each security included in the Assets and all account disbursements, including the
amount of the advisory fees paid to our firm;
b) Clients will provide authorization permitting our firm to be directly paid by these terms. Our firm
will send an invoice directly to the custodian; and
c) If our firm sends a copy of our invoice to the client, a legend urging the comparison of information
provided in our statement with those from the qualified custodian will be included.
At our discretion, we may combine the account values of family members living in the same household
to determine the applicable advisory fee. For example, we may combine account values for you and your
minor children, joint accounts with your spouse, and other types of related accounts. Combining account
values may increase the asset total, which may result in your paying a reduced advisory fee based on
the available breakpoints in our fee schedule stated above.
We will send you an invoice for the payment of our advisory fee, or we will deduct our fee directly from
your account through the qualified custodian holding your funds and securities. We will deduct our
advisory fee only when you have given our firm written authorization permitting the fees to be paid directly
from your account. Further, the qualified custodian will deliver an account statement to you at least
quarterly. These account statements will show all disbursements from your account. You should review
all statements for accuracy.
The maximum annual fee charged to clients utilizing SMA’s will not exceed 1.95%. Our firm will debit
fees for this service as disclosed in the executed advisory agreement between the client and our firm.
This fee shall be in addition to any fees assessed by the chosen SMA’s. The SMA’s we recommend
will not directly charge you a higher fee than they would have charged without us introducing you to
them. SMA’s establish and maintain their own separate billing processes over which we have no
control. They will directly bill you and describe how this works in their separate written disclosure
documents.
We encourage you to reconcile our invoices with the statement(s) you receive from the qualified
custodian. If you find any inconsistent information between our invoice and the statement(s) you receive
from the qualified custodian, call our main office number located on the cover page of this brochure.
Retirement Plan Consulting:
Our Retirement Plan Consulting services are billed on an a fee based on the percentage of Plan assets
under management. The total estimated fee, as well as the ultimate fee charged, is based on the scope
and complexity of our engagement with the client. Fees based on a percentage of managed Plan assets
will not exceed 1.50%. The fee-paying arrangements will be determined on a case-by-case basis and
will be detailed in the signed consulting agreement.
Additional Expenses Not Included in the Asset-Based Advisory Fee
You should also understand that the shares of certain mutual funds offered in the program may impose
short-term trading charges (typically 1%-2% of the amount originally invested) for redemptions generally
made within short periods of time. These short-term charges are imposed by the funds to deter “market
timers” who trade actively in fund shares. You should consider these short-term trading charges when
selecting the program and/or mutual funds in which they invest. These charges, as well as operating
expenses and management fees, may increase the overall cost to you by 1%-2% (or more). More
information is available in each fund’s prospectus.
You should be aware that exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) incur a separate management fee, typically
0.20%-0.40% of the fund’s assets annually (although individual ETFs may have higher or lower expense
ratios), which is assessed by the fund directly. This management fee is in addition to the ongoing advisory
fee assessed us and will generally result in clients which utilize an or Investment Strategy that invests in
ETFs paying more than clients utilizing one that does not invest in ETFs, without taking into effect
negotiated asset-based fee discounts, if any.
Estate Planning Services
Our firm charges on an flat fee basis for Estate Planning services. The total estimated fee, as well as the
ultimate fee charged, is based on the scope and complexity of our engagement with the client. Flat fees
will not exceed $4,000. The fee-paying arrangements will be determined on a case-by-case basis and
will be detailed in the signed consulting agreement. Our firm will not require a retainer exceeding $1,200
when services cannot be rendered within 6 months.
OTHER COMPENSATION CONSIDERATIONS
Additional Fees and Expenses
As part of our investment advisory services to you, we may invest, or recommend that you invest, in
mutual funds and exchange traded funds. The fees that you pay to our firm for investment advisory
services are separate and distinct from the fees and expenses charged by mutual funds or exchange
traded funds (described in each fund's prospectus) to their shareholders. These fees will generally
include a management fee and other fund expenses. You will also incur transaction charges and/or
brokerage fees when purchasing or selling securities. These charges and fees are typically imposed by
the broker-dealer or custodian through whom your account transactions are executed. We do not share
in any portion of the brokerage fees/transaction charges imposed by the broker-dealer or custodian. To
fully understand the total cost you will incur, you should review all the fees charged by mutual funds,
exchange traded funds, our firm, and others. For information on our brokerage practices, refer to the
Brokerage Practices section of this brochure.
We have a fiduciary duty to act in our client’s best interest including the duty to seek best execution.
Therefore, our mutual fund selection and recommendation process takes into consideration several
factors in order to meet this requirement. See the Brokerage Practices section for additional information
on our mutual fund share class selection process.
Persons providing investment advice on behalf of our firm are licensed as independent insurance agents.
These persons will earn commission-based compensation for selling insurance products, including
insurance products they sell to you. Insurance commissions earned by these persons are separate and
in addition to our advisory fees. This practice presents a conflict of interest because persons providing
investment advice on behalf of our firm who are insurance agents have an incentive to recommend
insurance products to you for the purpose of generating commissions rather than solely based on your
needs. You are under no obligation, contractual or otherwise, to purchase insurance products through
any person affiliated with our firm.
Termination & Refunds
Either party may terminate the advisory agreement signed with our firm for Comprehensive Portfolio
Management services in writing at any time. Upon notice of termination pro-rata advisory fees for
services rendered to the point of termination will be charged. If advisory fees cannot be deducted, our
firm will send an invoice for due advisory fees to the client.
Either party to a Retirement Plan Consulting Agreement may terminate at any time by providing written
notice to the other party. Full refunds will only be made in cases where cancellation occurs within 5
business days of signing an agreement. After 5 business days from initial signing, either party must
provide the other party 30 days written notice to terminate billing. Billing will terminate 30 days after
receipt of termination notice. Clients will be charged on a pro-rata basis, which takes into account work
completed by our firm on behalf of the client. Clients will incur charges for bona fide advisory services
rendered up to the point of termination (determined as 30 days from receipt of said written notice) and
such fees will be due and payable.
Commissionable Securities Sales
Representatives of our firm are licensed insurance agents. As such they are able to accept compensation
for the sale of securities or other investment products, including distribution or service (“trail”) fees.
Clients should be aware that the practice of accepting commissions for the sale of securities presents a
conflict of interest and gives our firm and/or our representatives an incentive to recommend investment
products based on the compensation received. Our firm generally addresses commissionable sales
conflicts that arise when explaining to clients these sales create an incentive to recommend based on
the compensation to be earned. Our firm does not prohibit clients from purchasing recommended
investment products through other unaffiliated brokers or agents.
Item 6 Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management
We do not accept performance-based fees or participate in side-by-side management. Performance-
based fees are fees that are based on a share of capital gains or capital appreciation of a client's account.
Side-by-side management refers to the practice of managing accounts that are charged performance-
based fees while at the same time managing accounts that are not charged performance-based fees.
Our fees are calculated as described in the Fees and Compensation section above and are not charged
on the basis of a share of capital gains upon, or capital appreciation of, the funds in your advisory
account.
Item 7 Types of Clients
We offer investment advisory services to high-net-worth individuals, high income professionals, qualified
retirement plans, business entities (such as corporations, LLC’s, LLP’s), trusts and estates, and
individuals anticipating or in retirement.
Our firm does not impose requirements for opening and maintaining accounts or otherwise engaging
us.
Item 8 Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss
Our Methods of Analysis and Investment Strategies
We use one or more of the following methods of analysis or investment strategies when providing
investment advice to you:
Charting Analysis - involves the gathering and processing of price and volume pattern information for
a particular security, sector, broad index, or commodity. This price and volume pattern information is
analyzed. The resulting pattern and correlation data is used to detect departures from expected
performance and diversification and predict future price movements and trends.
Risk: Our charting analysis may not accurately detect anomalies or predict future price movements.
Current prices of securities may reflect all information known about the security and day-to-day changes
in market prices of securities may follow random patterns and may not be predictable with any reliable
degree of accuracy.
Technical Analysis - involves studying past price patterns, trends, and interrelationships in the financial
markets to assess risk-adjusted performance and predict the direction of both the overall market and
specific securities.
Risk: The risk of market timing based on technical analysis is that our analysis may not accurately detect
anomalies or predict future price movements. Current prices of securities may reflect all information
known about the security and day-to-day changes in market prices of securities may follow random
patterns and may not be predictable with any reliable degree of accuracy.
Fundamental Analysis - involves analyzing individual companies and their industry groups, such as a
company's financial statements, details regarding the company's product line, the experience and
expertise of the company's management, and the outlook for the company and its industry. The resulting
data is used to measure the true value of the company's stock compared to the current market value.
Risk: The risk of fundamental analysis is that information obtained may be incorrect and the analysis
may not provide an accurate estimate of earnings, which may be the basis for a stock's value. If securities
prices adjust rapidly to new information, utilizing fundamental analysis may not result in favorable
performance.
Cyclical Analysis - a type of technical analysis that involves evaluating recurring price patterns and
trends. Economic/business cycles may not be predictable and may have many fluctuations between
long-term expansions and contractions.
Risk: The lengths of economic cycles may be difficult to predict with accuracy and therefore the risk of
cyclical analysis is the difficulty in predicting economic trends and consequently the changing value of
securities that would be affected by these changing trends.
Long-Term Purchases - securities purchased with the expectation that the value of those securities will
grow over a relatively long period of time, generally greater than one year.
Risk: Using a long-term purchase strategy generally assumes the financial markets will go up in the long
term which may not be the case. There is also the risk that the segment of the market that you are
invested in or perhaps just your particular investment will go down over time even if the overall financial
markets advance. Purchasing investments long-term may create an opportunity cost - "locking-up"
assets that may be better utilized in the short-term in other investments.
Short-Term Purchases - securities purchased with the expectation that they will be sold within a
relatively short period of time, generally less than one year, to take advantage of the securities' short-
term price fluctuations.
Risk: Using a short-term purchase strategy generally assumes that we can predict how financial markets
will perform in the short-term which may be very difficult and will incur a disproportionately higher amount
of transaction costs compared to long-term trading. There are many factors that can affect financial
market performance in the short term (such as short-term interest rate changes, cyclical earnings
announcements, etc.) but may have a smaller impact over longer periods of times.
Option Writing - a securities transaction that involves selling an option. An option is a contract that gives
the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a particular security at a specified price on or
before the expiration date of the option. When an investor sells a call option, he or she must deliver to
the buyer a specified number of shares if the buyer exercises the option. When an investor sells a put
option, he or she must pay the strike price per share if the buyer exercises the option and will receive
the specified number of shares. The option writer/seller receives a premium (the market price of the
option at a particular time) in exchange for writing the option. Please note that currently, option writing
strategies are client initiated. LWA does not explicitly recommend option writing strategies for clients.
Risk: Options are complex investments and can be very risky, especially if the investor does not own
the underlying stock. In certain situations, an investor's risk can be unlimited.
Trading - We may use frequent trading (in general, selling securities within 30 days of purchasing the
same securities) as an investment strategy when managing your account(s). Frequent trading is not a
fundamental part of our overall investment strategy, but we may use this strategy occasionally when we
determine that it is suitable given your stated investment objectives and tolerance for risk. This may
include buying and selling securities frequently in an effort to capture significant market gains and avoid
significant losses.
Risk: When a frequent trading policy is in effect, there is a risk that investment performance within your
account may be negatively affected, particularly through increased brokerage and other transactional
costs and taxes.
Our investment strategies and advice may vary depending upon each client's specific financial situation.
As such, we determine investments and allocations based upon your predefined objectives, risk
tolerance, time horizon, financial information, liquidity needs and other various suitability factors. Your
restrictions and guidelines may affect the composition of your portfolio. It is important that you notify
us immediately with respect to any material changes to your financial circumstances, including
for example, a change in your current or expected income level, tax circumstances, or
employment status.
Cash Management- We manage cash balances in your account based on the yield, and the financial
soundness of the money markets and other short-term instruments.
Tax Considerations
Our strategies and investments may have unique and significant tax implications. However, unless we
specifically agree otherwise, and in writing, tax efficiency is not our primary consideration in the
management of your assets. Regardless of your account size or any other factors, we strongly
recommend that you consult with a tax professional regarding the investing of your assets.
Custodians and broker-dealers must report the cost basis of equities acquired in client accounts. Our
firm will default to the Tax Lot OptimizerTM accounting method for calculating the cost basis of your
investments. You are responsible for contacting your tax advisor to determine if this accounting method
is the right choice for you. If your tax advisor believes another accounting method is more advantageous,
provide written notice to our firm immediately and we will alert your account custodian of your individually
selected accounting method. Decisions about cost basis accounting methods will need to be made
before trades settle, as the cost basis method cannot be changed after settlement.
Risk of Loss
Investing in securities involves risk of loss that you should be prepared to bear. We do not represent or
guarantee that our services or methods of analysis can or will predict future results, successfully identify
market tops or bottoms, or insulate clients from losses due to market corrections or declines. We cannot
offer any guarantees or promises that your financial goals and objectives will be met. Past performance
is in no way an indication of future performance.
Other Risk Considerations
When evaluating risk, financial loss may be viewed differently by each client and may depend on many
different risks, each of which may affect the probability and magnitude of any potential losses. The
following risks may not be all-inclusive but should be considered carefully by a prospective client before
retaining our services.
Liquidity Risk: The risk of being unable to sell your investment at a fair price at a given time due to high
volatility or lack of active liquid markets. You may receive a lower price, or it may not be possible to sell
the investment at all.
Interval Funds: Interval funds can expose investors to liquidity risk, and that risk is greater in funds that
invest in securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations, derivatives or securities with
substantial market and/or credit risk. Even though interval funds make periodic offers to repurchase a
portion of outstanding shares, investors should consider interval fund shares to be an illiquid investment.
There is no guarantee that investors will be able to sell interval fund shares at any given time or in the
quantity that they desire. The price that shareholders will receive on a repurchase will be based on the
per share NAV determined as of a specified date. This date will occur sometime after the close of
business on the date that shareholders must submit their acceptances of the repurchase offer so investor
may not know the exact price they will receive for their redemption when effecting the transaction.
Additionally, this price may be subject to a redemption fee that further erodes the value of the position
upon redemption.
Credit Risk: Credit risk typically applies to debt investments such as corporate, municipal, and sovereign
fixed income or bonds. A bond issuing entity can experience a credit event that could impair or erase the
value of an issuer’s securities held by a client.
Inflation and Interest Rate Risk: Security prices and portfolio returns will likely vary in response to
changes in inflation and interest rates. Inflation causes the value of future dollars to be worth less and
may reduce the purchasing power of a client’s future interest payments and principal. Inflation also
generally leads to higher interest rates which may cause the value of many types of fixed income
investments to decline.
Horizon and Longevity Risk: The risk that your investment horizon is shortened because of an
unforeseen event, for example, the loss of your job. This may force you to sell investments that you were
expecting to hold for the long term. If you must sell at a time that the markets are down, you may lose
money. Longevity Risk is the risk of outliving your savings. This risk is particularly relevant for people
who are retired or are nearing retirement.
Recommendation of Particular Types of Securities
Money Market Funds: A money market fund is technically a security. The fund managers attempt to
keep the share price constant at $1/share. However, there is no guarantee that the share price will stay
at $1/share. If the share price goes down, you can lose some or all of your principal. The U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission ("SEC") notes that "While investor losses in money market funds have been
rare, they are possible." In return for this risk, you should earn a greater return on your cash than you
would expect from a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") insured savings account (money
market funds are not FDIC insured). Next, money market fund rates are variable. In other words, you do
not know how much you will earn on your investment next month. The rate could go up or go down. If it
goes up, that may result in a positive outcome. However, if it goes down and you earn less than you
expected to earn, you may end up needing more cash. A final risk you are taking with money market
funds has to do with inflation. Because money market funds are considered to be safer than other
investments like stocks, long-term average returns on money market funds tend to be less than long
term average returns on riskier investments. Over long periods of time, inflation can eat away at your
returns.
Cryptocurrency Products: We may recommend investment in digital (crypto) currency products. These
products may be an illiquid private placement or structured as a trust or exchange traded fund which
pool capital together to purchase holdings of digital currencies or derivatives based on their value. Such
products are extremely volatile and are suitable only as a means of diversification for investors with high-
risk tolerances. Furthermore, these securities carry very high internal expense ratios, and may use
derivatives to achieve leverage or exposure in lieu of direct cryptocurrency holdings. This can result in
tracking error and may sell at a premium or discount to the market value of their underlying holdings.
Security is also a concern for digital currency investments which make them subject to the additional risk
of theft, as they are typically held with a non-traditional custodial platform.
Certificates of Deposit: Certificates of deposit (“CD”) are generally a safe type of investment since they
are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (“FDIC”) up to a certain amount. However,
because the returns are generally low, there is risk that inflation outpaces the return of the CD. Certain
CDs are traded in the marketplace and not purchased directly from a banking institution. In addition to
trading risk, when CDs are purchased at a premium, the premium is not covered by the FDIC.
Municipal Securities: Municipal securities, while generally thought of as safe, can have significant risks
associated with them including, but not limited to: the credit worthiness of the governmental entity that
issues the bond; the stability of the revenue stream that is used to pay the interest to the bondholders;
when the bond is due to mature; and, whether or not the bond can be "called" prior to maturity. When a
bond is called, it may not be possible to replace it with a bond of equal character paying the same amount
of interest or yield to maturity.
Bonds: Corporate debt securities (or "bonds") are typically safer investments than equity securities, but
their risk can also vary widely based on: the financial health of the issuer; the risk that the issuer might
default; when the bond is set to mature; and, whether or not the bond can be "called" prior to maturity.
When a bond is called, it may not be possible to replace it with a bond of equal character paying the
same rate of return.
Stocks: There are numerous ways of measuring the risk of equity securities (also known simply as
"equities" or "stock"). In very broad terms, the value of a stock depends on the financial health of the
company issuing it. However, stock prices can be affected by many other factors including, but not limited
to the class of stock (for example, preferred or common); the health of the market sector of the issuing
company; and, the overall health of the economy. In general, larger, better-established companies
("large cap") tend to be safer than smaller start-up companies ("small cap") are but the mere size of an
issuer is not, by itself, an indicator of the safety of the investment.
Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds: Mutual funds and exchange traded funds ("ETF") are
professionally managed collective investment systems that pool money from many investors and invest
in stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, other mutual funds, other securities, or any
combination thereof. The fund will have a manager that trades the fund's investments in accordance with
the fund's investment objective. While mutual funds and ETFs generally provide diversification, risks can
be significantly increased if the fund is concentrated in a particular sector of the market, primarily invests
in small cap or speculative companies, uses leverage (i.e., borrows money) to a significant degree, or
concentrates in a particular type of security (i.e., equities) rather than balancing the fund with different
types of securities. ETFs differ from mutual funds since they can be bought and sold throughout the day
like stock and their price can fluctuate throughout the day. The returns on mutual funds and ETFs can
be reduced by the costs to manage the funds. Also, while some mutual funds are "no load" and charge
no fee to buy into, or sell out of, the fund, other types of mutual funds do charge such fees which can
also reduce returns. Mutual funds can also be "closed end" or "open end". So-called "open end" mutual
funds continue to allow in new investors indefinitely whereas "closed end" funds have a fixed number of
shares to sell which can limit their availability to new investors.
ETFs may have tracking error risks. For example, the ETF investment adviser may not be able to cause
the ETF’s performance to match that of its Underlying Index or other benchmark, which may negatively
affect the ETF's performance. In addition, for leveraged and inverse ETFs that seek to track the
performance of their Underlying Indices or benchmarks on a daily basis, mathematical compounding
may prevent the ETF from correlating with performance of its benchmark. In addition, an ETF may not
have investment exposure to all of the securities included in its Underlying Index, or its weighting of
investment exposure to such securities may vary from that of the Underlying Index. Some ETFs may
invest in securities or financial instruments that are not included in the Underlying Index, but which are
expected to yield similar performance.
Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds: Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds (“Leveraged ETFs” or “L-
ETF”) seeks investment results for a single day only, not for longer periods. A “single day” is measured
from the time the L-ETF calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to the time of the L-ETF’s next NAV
calculation. The return of the L-ETF for periods longer than a single day will be the result of each day’s
returns compounded over the period, which will very likely differ from multiplying the return by the stated
leverage for that period. For periods longer than a single day, the L-ETF will lose money when the level
of the Index is flat, and it is possible that the L-ETF will lose money even if the level of the Index rises.
Longer holding periods, higher index volatility and greater leverage both exacerbate the impact of
compounding on an investor’s returns. During periods of higher Index volatility, the volatility of the Index
may affect the L-ETF’s return as much as or more than the return of the Index. Leveraged ETFs are
different from most exchange-traded funds in that they seek leveraged returns relative to the applicable
index and only on a daily basis. The L-ETF also is riskier than similarly benchmarked exchange-traded
funds that do not use leverage. Accordingly, the L-ETF may not be suitable for all investors and should
be used only by knowledgeable investors who understand the potential consequences of seeking daily
leveraged investment results.
Real Estate Funds: Real estate is increasingly being used as part of a long-term core strategy due to
increased market efficiency and increasing concerns about the future long-term variability of stock and
bond returns. In fact, real estate is known for its ability to serve as a portfolio diversifier and inflation
hedge. However, the asset class still bears a considerable amount of market risk. Real estate has shown
itself to be very cyclical, somewhat mirroring the ups and downs of the overall economy. In addition to
employment and demographic changes, real estate is also influenced by changes in interest rates and
the credit markets, which affect the demand and supply of capital and thus real estate values. Along with
changes in market fundamentals, investors wishing to add real estate as part of their core investment
portfolios need to look for property concentrations by area or by property type. Because property returns
are directly affected by local market basics, real estate portfolios that are too heavily concentrated in one
area or property type can lose their risk mitigation attributes and bear additional risk by being too
influenced by local or sector market changes.
Real Estate Investment Trust: A real estate investment trust ("REIT") is a corporate entity which invests
in real estate and/or engages in real estate financing. A REIT reduces or eliminates corporate income
taxes. REITs can be publicly or privately held. Public REITs may be listed on public stock exchanges.
REITs are required to declare 90% of their taxable income as dividends, but they actually pay dividends
out of funds from operations, so cash flow has to be strong or the REIT must either dip into reserves,
borrow to pay dividends, or distribute them in stock (which causes dilution). After 2012, the IRS stopped
permitting stock dividends. Most REITs must refinance or erase large balloon debts periodically. The
credit markets are no longer frozen, but banks are demanding, and getting, harsher terms to re-extend
REIT debt. Some REITs may be forced to make secondary stock offerings to repay debt, which will lead
to additional dilution of the stockholders. Fluctuations in the real estate market can affect the REIT's
value and dividends.
Options Contracts: Options are complex securities that involve risks and are not suitable for everyone.
Option trading can be speculative in nature and carry substantial risk of loss. It is generally recommended
that you only invest in options with risk capital. An option is a contract that gives the buyer the right, but
not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price on or before a certain date (the
"expiration date"). The two types of options are calls and puts:
A call gives the holder the right to buy an asset at a certain price within a specific period of time. Calls
are similar to having a long position on a stock. Buyers of calls hope that the stock will increase
substantially before the option expires.
A put gives the holder the right to sell an asset at a certain price within a specific period of time. Puts are
very similar to having a short position on a stock. Buyers of puts hope that the price of the stock will fall
before the option expires. Selling options is more complicated and can be even riskier.
The option trading risks pertaining to options buyers are:
• Risk of losing your entire investment in a relatively short period of time.
• The risk of losing your entire investment increases if, as expiration nears, the stock is below the
strike price of the call (for a call option) or if the stock is higher than the strike price of the put (for
a put option).
• European style options which do not have secondary markets on which to sell the options prior
to expiration can only realize its value upon expiration.
• Specific exercise provisions of a specific option contract may create risks.
• Regulatory agencies may impose exercise restrictions, which stops you from realizing value.
The option trading risks pertaining to options sellers are:
• Options sold may be exercised at any time before expiration.
• Covered Call traders forgo the right to profit when the underlying stock rises above the strike
price of the call options sold and continues to risk a loss due to a decline in the underlying stock.
• Writers of Naked Calls risk unlimited losses if the underlying stock rises.
• Writers of Naked Puts risk substantial losses if the underlying stock drops.
• Writers of naked positions run margin risks if the position goes into significant losses. Such risks
may include liquidation by the broker.
• Writers of call options could lose more money than a short seller of that stock could on the same
rise on that underlying stock. This is an example of how the leverage in options can work against
the option trader.
• Writers of Naked Calls are obligated to deliver shares of the underlying stock if those call options
are exercised.
• Call options can be exercised outside of market hours such that effective remedy actions cannot
be performed by the writer of those options.
• Writers of stock options are obligated under the options that they sold even if a trading market is
not available or that they are unable to perform a closing transaction.
• The value of the underlying stock may surge or decline unexpectedly, leading to automatic
exercises.
Other option trading risks are:
• The complexity of some option strategies is a significant risk on its own.
• Option trading exchanges or markets and option contracts themselves are open to changes at all
times.
• Options markets have the right to halt the trading of any options, thus preventing investors from
realizing value.
• Risk of erroneous reporting of exercise value.
• If an options brokerage firm goes insolvent, investors trading through that firm may be affected.
• Internationally traded options have special risks due to timing across borders.
Risks that are not specific to options trading include market risk, sector risk and individual stock risk.
Option trading risks are closely related to stock risks, as stock options are a derivative of stocks. Please
note that currently, option strategies are client initiated. LWA does not explicitly recommend option
strategies for clients.
Margin Transactions: Our firm may purchase securities for your portfolio with money borrowed from
your brokerage account. This allows you to purchase more stock than you would be able to with your
available cash and allows us to purchase securities without selling other holdings. Margin accounts and
transactions are risky and not necessarily appropriate for every client.
The potential risks associated with these transactions are (1) You can lose more funds than are
deposited into the margin account; (2) the forced sale of securities or other assets in your account; (3)
the sale of securities or other assets without contacting you; (4) you may not be entitled to choose which
securities or other assets in your account(s) are liquidated or sold to meet a margin call; and (5)
custodians charge interest on margin balances which will reduce your returns over time. Please note
that currently, margin strategies are client initiated. LWA does not explicitly recommend margin strategies
for clients.
Item 9 Disciplinary Information
We are required to disclose the facts of any legal or disciplinary events that are material to a client's
evaluation of our advisory business or the integrity of our management. We do not have any required
disclosures under this item.
Item 10 Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations
Other Financial Product Salesperson
Outside of Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC Investment Advisor Representatives write Non-Registered
insurance and annuity business with PKS Financial Services Inc. and their affiliates and receive
compensation. They also act as a ‘referring agent’ for Structured Settlements and may receive
compensation for these referrals.
Item 11 Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and
Personal Trading
Description of Our Code of Ethics
We strive to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing our practices. Therefore, our Code
of Ethics includes guidelines for professional standards of conduct for persons associated with our firm.
Our goal is to protect your interests at all times and to demonstrate our commitment to our fiduciary
duties of honesty, good faith, and fair dealing with you. All persons associated with our firm are expected
to adhere strictly to these guidelines. Persons associated with our firm are also required to report any
violations of our Code of Ethics. Additionally, we maintain and enforce written policies reasonably
designed to prevent the misuse or dissemination of material, nonpublic information about you or your
account holdings by persons associated with our firm.
Clients or prospective clients may obtain a copy of our Code of Ethics by contacting us at the telephone
number on the cover page of this brochure.
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions
Neither our firm nor any persons associated with our firm has any material financial interest in client
transactions beyond the provision of investment advisory services as disclosed in this brochure.
Personal Trading Practices
Our firm or persons associated with our firm may buy or sell the same securities that we recommend to
you or securities in which you are already invested. A conflict of interest exists in such cases because
we have the ability to trade ahead of you and potentially receive more favorable prices than you will
receive. To mitigate this conflict of interest, it is our policy that neither our firm nor persons associated
with our firm shall have priority over your account in the purchase or sale of securities.
Item 12 Brokerage Practices
The custodian and brokers we use
We do not maintain custody of your assets that we manage, although we may be deemed to have
custody of your assets if you give us authority to withdraw assets from your account (see Item 15—
Custody, below). Your assets must be maintained in an account at a “qualified custodian,” generally a
broker-dealer or bank. We recommend that our clients use Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab), a
registered broker-dealer, member SIPC, as the qualified custodian.
We are independently owned and operated and are not affiliated with Schwab. Schwab will hold your
assets in a brokerage account and buy and sell securities when we instruct them to. While we
recommend that you use Schwab as custodian/broker, you will decide whether to do so and will open
your account with Schwab by entering into an account agreement directly with them. Conflicts of interest
associated with this arrangement are described below as well as in Item 14 (Client referrals and other
compensation). You should consider these conflicts of interest when selecting your custodian.
We do not open the account for you, although we may assist you in doing so. Even though your account
is maintained at Schwab, and we anticipate that most trades will be executed through Schwab, we can
still use other brokers to execute trades for your account as described below (see “Your brokerage and
custody costs”).
How we select brokers/custodians
We seek to use Schwab, a custodian/broker that will hold your assets and execute transactions. When
considering whether the terms that Schwab provides are, overall, most advantageous to you when
compared with other available providers and their services, we take into account a wide range of factors,
including:
• Combination of transaction execution services and asset custody services (generally without a
separate fee for custody)
• Capability to execute, clear, and settle trades (buy and sell securities for your account)
• Capability to facilitate transfers and payments to and from accounts (wire transfers, check
requests, bill payment, etc.)
• Breadth of available investment products (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds
[ETFs], etc.)
• Availability of investment research and tools that assist us in making investment decisions
• Quality of services
• Competitiveness of the price of those services (commission rates, margin interest rates, other
fees, etc.) and willingness to negotiate the prices
• Reputation, financial strength, security and stability
• Prior service to us and our clients
• Services delivered or paid for by Schwab
• Availability of other products and services that benefit us, as discussed below (see “Products and
services available to us from Schwab”)
Your brokerage and custody costs
For our clients’ accounts that Schwab maintains, Schwab generally does not charge you separately for
custody services but is compensated by charging you commissions or other fees on trades that it
executes or that settle into your Schwab account. Certain trades (for example, many mutual funds and
ETFs) may not incur Schwab commissions or transaction fees. Schwab is also compensated by earning
interest on the uninvested cash in your account in Schwab’s Cash Features Program. Schwab’s
commission rates applicable to our client accounts were negotiated based on the condition that our
clients collectively maintain a total of at least $10 million of their assets in accounts at Schwab. In addition
to commissions, Schwab charges you a flat dollar amount as a “prime broker” or “trade away” fee for
each trade that we have executed by a different brokerdealer but where the securities bought or the
funds from the securities sold are deposited (settled) into your Schwab account. These fees are in
addition to the commissions or other compensation you pay the executing broker-dealer. Because of
this, in order to minimize your trading costs, we have Schwab execute most trades for your account. We
are not required to select the broker or dealer that charges the lowest transaction cost, even if that broker
provides execution quality comparable to other brokers or dealers. Although we are not required to
execute all trades through Schwab, we have determined that having Schwab execute most trades is
consistent with our duty to seek “best execution” of your trades. Best execution means the most favorable
terms for a transaction based on all relevant factors, including those listed above (see “How we select
brokers/custodians”). By using another broker or dealer you may pay lower transaction costs.
Products and services available to us from Schwab
Schwab Advisor Services™ is Schwab’s business serving independent investment advisory firms like
us. They provide us and our clients with access to their institutional brokerage services (trading, custody,
reporting, and related services), many of which are not typically available to Schwab retail customers.
However, certain retail investors may be able to get institutional brokerage services from Schwab without
going through us.
Schwab also makes available various support services. Some of those services help us manage or
administer our clients’ accounts, while others help us manage and grow our business. Schwab’s support
services are generally available on an unsolicited basis (we don’t have to request them) and at no charge
to us. Following is a more detailed description of Schwab’s support services:
Services that benefit you
Schwab’s institutional brokerage services include access to a broad range of investment products,
execution of securities transactions, and custody of client assets.
The investment products available through Schwab include some to which we might not otherwise have
access or that would require a significantly higher minimum initial investment by our clients. Schwab’s
services described in this paragraph generally benefit you and your account.
Services that do not directly benefit you
Schwab also makes available to us other products and services that benefit us but do not directly benefit
you or your account. These products and services assist us in managing and administering our clients’
accounts and operating our firm. They include investment research, both Schwab’s own and that of third
parties. We use this research to service all or a substantial number of our clients’ accounts, including
accounts not maintained at Schwab. In addition to investment research, Schwab also makes available
software and other technology that:
• Provide access to client account data (such as duplicate trade confirmations and account
statements)
• Facilitate trade execution and allocate aggregated trade orders for multiple client accounts
• Provide pricing and other market data
• Facilitate payment of our fees from our clients’ accounts
• Assist with back-office functions, recordkeeping, and client reporting
Services that generally benefit only us. Schwab also offers other services intended to help us manage
and further develop our business enterprise. These services include:
• Educational conferences and events
• Consulting on technology and business needs
• Consulting on legal and related compliance needs
• Publications and conferences on practice management and business succession
• Access to employee benefits providers, human capital consultants, and insurance providers
• Marketing consulting and support
Schwab provides some of these services itself. In other cases, it will arrange for third-party vendors to
provide the services to us. Schwab also discounts or waives its fees for some of these services or pays
all or a part of a third party’s fees. Schwab also provides us with other benefits, such as occasional
business entertainment of our personnel. If you did not maintain your account with Schwab, we would
be required to pay for these services from our own resources.
Our Interest in Schwab’s Services
The availability of these services from Schwab benefits us because we do not have to produce or
purchase them. We don’t have to pay for Schwab’s services. These services are not contingent upon us
committing any specific amount of business to Schwab in trading commissions or assets in custody. The
fact that we receive these benefits from Schwab is an incentive for us to recommend the use of Schwab
rather than making such a decision based exclusively on your interest in receiving the best value in
custody services and the most favorable execution of your transactions. This is a conflict of interest. We
believe, however, that taken in the aggregate, our selection of Schwab as custodian and broker is in the
best interests of our clients. Our selection is primarily supported by the scope, quality, and price of
Schwab’s services (see “How we select brokers/ custodians”) and not Schwab’s services that benefit
only us.
Mutual Fund Share Classes
Mutual funds are sold with different share classes, which carry different cost structures. Each available
share class is described in the mutual fund's prospectus. When we purchase, or recommend the
purchase of, mutual funds for a client, we select the share class that is deemed to be in the client’s best
interest, taking into consideration the availability of advisory, institutional or retirement plan share
classes, initial and ongoing share class costs, transaction costs (if any), tax implications, cost basis and
other factors. We also review the mutual funds held in accounts that come under our management to
determine whether a more beneficial share class is available, considering cost, tax implications, and the
impact of contingent or deferred sales charges.
Item 13 Review of Accounts
LWA will monitor your accounts on an ongoing basis and will conduct account reviews at least quarterly,
to ensure the advisory services provided to you are consistent with your investment needs and
objectives. Additional reviews may be conducted based on various circumstances, including, but not
limited to:
• contributions and withdrawals;
• year-end tax planning;
• market moving events;
• security specific events; and/or
• changes in your risk/return objectives.
The individuals conducting reviews may vary from time to time, as personnel join or leave our firm.
We will provide you with additional or regular written reports in conjunction with account reviews. Reports
we provide to you will contain relevant account and/or market-related information such as an inventory
of account holdings and account performance, etc. You will receive trade confirmations and monthly or
quarterly statements from your account custodian(s).
Because the custodian does not calculate the amount of the fee to be deducted, it is important for clients
to carefully review their custodial statements to verify the accuracy of the calculation, among other things.
Clients should contact us directly if they believe that there may be an error in their statement.
Item 14 Client Referrals and Other Compensation
We receive economic benefits from a non-client in connection with providing investment advice or other
advisory services to you. Through our participation in certain programs or use of a custodian we are
entitled to receive economic benefits. As part of our fiduciary duty, we endeavor at all times to put the
interests of our clients first. Clients should be aware, however, that the receipt of economic benefits by
our firm from a non-client in and of themselves creates a potential conflict of interest and may influence
our choice in providing services to your account. This arrangement does not cause our clients to pay
any additional transaction fees beyond those that are traditionally charged by our firm and/or other
service providers.
Refer to the Brokerage Practices section above for disclosures on research and other benefits we may
receive resulting from our relationship with your account custodian.
Charles Schwab & Co. Inc - Client Benefit Program
We receive an economic benefit from Schwab in the form of the support products and services it makes
available to us and other independent investment advisors whose clients maintain their accounts at
Schwab. In addition, Schwab has also agreed to pay for certain products and services for which we
would otherwise have to pay once the value of our clients’ assets in accounts at Schwab reaches a
certain size. You do not pay more for assets maintained at Schwab as a result of these arrangements.
However, we benefit from the arrangement because the cost of these services would otherwise be borne
directly by us. You should consider these conflicts of interest when selecting a custodian. The products
and services provided by Schwab, how they benefit us, and the related conflicts of interest are described
above (see Item 12—Brokerage Practices).
Product Sponsors
Representatives of our firm will occasionally accept travel, lodging and/or meals provided by various
product sponsors in order to attend their conferences or educational events. This compensation for
travel, lodging and/or meals is not directly dependent upon the recommendation of any specific product.
Although we may be incentivized to recommend products from product sponsors that pay for our travel,
our representatives will always adhere to their fiduciary duty in recommending appropriate investments
for our clients.
Solicitation Arrangements
In accordance with Rule 206 (4)-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, our firm provides cash or non-
cash compensation directly or indirectly to unaffiliated persons for testimonials or endorsements (which
include client referrals). Such compensation arrangements will not result in higher costs to the referred
client. In this regard, our firm maintains a written agreement with each unaffiliated person that is
compensated for testimonials or endorsements in an aggregate amount of $1,000 or more (or the
equivalent value in non-cash compensation) over a trailing 12-month period in compliance with Rule 206
(4)-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and applicable state and federal laws. The following
information will be disclosed clearly and prominently to referred prospective clients at the time of each
testimonial or endorsement:
• Whether or not the unaffiliated person is a current client of our firm,
• A description of the cash or non-cash compensation provided directly or indirectly by our firm to
the unaffiliated person in exchange for the referral, if applicable, and
• A brief statement of any material conflicts of interest on the part of the unaffiliated person giving
the referral resulting from our firm’s relationship with such unaffiliated person.
In cases where state law requires licensure of solicitors, our firm ensures that no solicitation fees are
paid unless the solicitor is registered as an investment adviser representative of our firm. If our firm is
paying solicitation fees to another registered investment adviser, the licensure of individuals is the other
firm’s responsibility.
Item 15 Custody
In our effort to provide superior customer service, many clients of Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC have
provided Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC written standing authority to transfer funds from one of their
accounts to another account, based on verbal instructions without having to receive written instructions
for each such transfer. Several examples include ‘transferring IRA distributions to a joint or trust account’,
‘transferring funds from a business account to the personal account of the business owner or vice versa’,
and ‘transferring funds from their Schwab brokerage account to an outside bank account or vice versa’.
In all cases these standing instructions have been authorized by written instructions granting the
Investment Adviser (IA) this power. Under no circumstances is the investment adviser a party to the
receiving account, unless the investment advisor has interest in the sending account (i.e. where he was
an authorized party of the sending account).
The current SEC interpretation of Third-Party Transfers is such that Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC is
deemed to have custody. However, Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC is exempt from the requirements of
providing audited financials and being subject to the SEC Surprise Exam because the following 7
conditions are met for any authorized Third-Party Transfer:
IA cannot change instruction with custodian;
IA maintains records showing that third-party is not related to IA;
• Client provides signed instruction to custodian with third-party disbursement info;
• Client authorizes IA in writing to direct transfers to third-party (e.g., on custodian form);
• Custodian verifies client instruction (e.g., signature verification and transfer of funds notice);
• Client may terminate or change the instruction with custodian;
•
•
• Custodian sends initial and annual notice & reminder to client Clients should receive at least
monthly statements from the qualified custodian that holds and maintains client’s investment
assets.
Laguna Wealth Advisors, LLC urges you to carefully review such statements and compare such official
custodial records to the account statements that we may provide to you. Our statements may vary from
custodial statements based on accounting procedures, reporting dates, or valuation methodologies of
certain securities.
Item 16 Investment Discretion
You may grant our firm discretion over the selection and amount of securities to be purchased or sold
for your account(s) without obtaining your consent or approval prior to each transaction. You may specify
investment objectives, guidelines, and/or impose certain conditions or investment parameters for your
account(s). For example, you may specify that the investment in any particular stock or industry should
not exceed specified percentages of the value of the portfolio and/or restrictions or prohibitions of
transactions in the securities of a specific industry or security. Refer to the Advisory Business section in
this brochure for more information on our discretionary management services.
If you enter into non-discretionary arrangements with our firm, we will obtain your approval prior to the
execution of any transactions for your account(s). You have an unrestricted right to decline to implement
any advice provided by our firm on a non-discretionary basis.
Item 17 Voting Client Securities
We will not vote proxies on behalf of your advisory accounts. At your request, we may offer you advice
regarding corporate actions and the exercise of your proxy voting rights. If you own shares of applicable
securities, you are responsible for exercising your right to vote as a shareholder.
In most cases, you will receive proxy materials directly from the account custodian. However, in the event
we were to receive any written or electronic proxy materials, we would forward them directly to you by
mail, unless you have authorized our firm to contact you by electronic mail, in which case, we would
forward any electronic solicitations to vote proxies.
Item 18 Financial Information
Our firm does not have any financial condition or impairment that would prevent us from meeting our
contractual commitments to you. We do not take physical custody of client funds or securities, or serve
as trustee or signatory for client accounts, and we do not require the prepayment of more than $1,200
in fees six or more months in advance. Therefore, we are not required to include a financial statement
with this brochure.