Who holds my assets?
SEM Wealth Management does not have possession of your assets. All assets are held at a professional custodian. Checks for deposit should be made payable to your qualified custodian, not SEM.
What type of accounts are available?
- Individual
- IRA / Roth / SEP / SIMPLE
- Joint
- 403(b) & 401(k) rollovers
- Trust/Executorships
- Profit Sharing/Money Purchase
- UGMA/UTMA
- Variable Annuities
What is the minimum investment with SEM?
The minimum to invest with SEM is $25,000 per account, $50,000 per family. There are exceptions and other options available. Please contact us for details.
What reports do investors receive?
The custodian will provide timely account summaries at least quarterly. SEM will provide a quarterly report.
What control does SEM have over my account?
SEM has discretion to direct exchanges between investment options within your account. Advisory fees are directly deducted from your accounts. Except for fees, SEM cannot withdraw money from your account.
Who makes exchanges and will I be notified prior to the transaction?
SEM will direct the exchanges between investment options without prior notification. This information is detailed in the management agreement and SEM's ADV part 2.
What are SEM's investment management fees?
Fees are calculated at the end of each calendar quarter and collected in arrears. Annual fees are based on a percentage of assets under management. Household assets are totaled and charged the fee for the respective account based on that total amount.
What other fees do clients pay?
Our Axos clients pay a fee to Axos for providing custodial services based only on certain "eligible" assets held in their account investment in one of our four managed programs. The fee rate of 0.14% (14 basis points) is NOT charged on assets held in cash or No Transaction Fee mutual funds. This fee is charged on eligible assets. Some examples of eligible assets are Transaction Fee mutual funds, ETF (exchange traded funds) and stocks. Typically SEM uses a combination of No Transaction Fee and Transaction Fee mutual funds. This typically results in our clients paying this fee on less than 100% of the assets in their account. For example, if we held 50% of our assets in each of these two fund classifications, the fee would be one half or 0.075% (7.5 basis points). During the past two years the total fee level has been closer to 0.07% (7 basis points).
SEM feels our fee schedule negotiated with Axos Advisor Services is a favorable one as our clients do not pay transaction fees. This fits well with our active management style. Unlike most other custodians, our clients also do not pay an annual fee for each account they hold at TCA. There are also no annual IRA fees charges.
Think the fees are too high?
We often hear from prospective clients that our fees are too high. Two surveys from Vanguard & Russell discuss the value advisors bring to the relationship. Learn more here.
Can I access my account online and how do I set-up access?
We have instructions available here: Online Access - Client Version
Every client has online access set-up automatically. The temporary username is mailed to the client in their Axos welcome letter. The temporary ONE-TIME password is the 9 digit SSN or Tax ID (with no dashes). The client will have the option to change the username when logging in (this is the only time they can change their username – for now) and will be forced to change the password and set-up other options.
[Note: if a statement family is set-up, you only need to log in to the PRIMARY statement family account -- the one designated with an * in Liberty.]
What if I lost my username or password?
Contact your Advisor for help.
How are statements delivered?
The Axos app automatically enrolls everyone into eDelivery unless they opt out. If there is a statement family ALL ACCOUNTS will be delivered based on the preferences of the PRIMARY account. There are instructions on how to change this on the Online Access instructions mentioned above.
How do I switch the statement delivery method?
If you wish to change delivery status without logging in, there is a form to do this. To get there click “forms” at the top of the Liberty website, and scroll to the bottom under “other forms”. It's titled "Electronic Delivery Change/Opt-Out Request Form".
Can I enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?
You can set-up Multi-Factor Authorization by logging into your PRIMARY account and going to the “about your account” tab and clicking on Security Settings --> Two-Factor Authentication -->Time-based One-Time Password.
This will give you a QR code with instructions to set up MFA on your phone. Make sure you hit "save" when you are done.
[Note: if spouses both want access to the account, you both need to set-up MFA at the same time by scanning the same QR code on their device.]