DISCLOSURES & PRIVACY STATEMENT
BUSINESS STANDARDS
Wealth by Design, LLC requires any employee whose function involves determining and giving investment advice to clients be appropriately licensed and subscribe to the same code of ethics as Certified Financial Planners.
PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATIONS
We have earned the certifications and credentials.
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP® and federally registered CFP® (with flame design) marks (collectively, the “CFP® marks”) are professional certification marks granted in the United States by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (“CFP Board”). The CFP® certification is a voluntary certification; no federal or state law or regulation requires financial planners to hold CFP® certification.
To attain the right to use the CFP® marks, an individual must satisfactorily fulfill the following requirements:
- Education – Complete an advanced college-level course of study addressing the financial planning subject areas that CFP® Board’s studies have determined as necessary for the competent and professional delivery of financial planning services, and attain a Bachelor’s Degree from a regionally accredited United States college or university (or its equivalent from a foreign university). CFP® Board’s financial planning subject areas include insurance planning and risk management, employee benefits planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning; . Examination – Pass the comprehensive CFP® Certification Examination. The examination includes case studies and client scenarios designed to test one’s ability to correctly diagnose financial planning issues and apply one’s knowledge of financial planning to real world circumstances; . Experience – Complete at least three years of full-time financial planning-related experience (or the equivalent, measured as 2,000 hours per year); and
- Ethics – Agree to be bound by CFP® Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, a set of documents outlining the ethical and practice standards for CFP® professionals.
Individuals who become certified must complete the following ongoing education and ethics requirements in order to maintain the right to continue to use the CFP® marks:
- Continuing Education – Complete 30 hours of continuing education hours every two years, including two hours on the Code of Ethics and other parts of the Standards of Professional Conduct, to maintain competence and keep up with developments in the financial planning field; and
- Ethics – Renew an agreement to be bound by the Standards of Professional Conduct. The Standards prominently require that CFP® professionals provide financial planning services at a fiduciary standard of care. This means CFP® professionals must provide financial planning services in the best interests of their clients.
CFP® professionals who fail to comply with the above standards and requirements may be subject to CFP® Board’s enforcement process, which could result in suspension or permanent revocation of their CFP® certification.
ENROLLED AGENT
An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals. Only Enrolled Agents, attorneys, and CPAs may represent taxpayers before the IRS. The license is earned in one of two ways, by passing a comprehensive examination which covers all aspects of the tax code, or having worked at the IRS for five years in a position which regularly interpreted and applied the tax code and its regulations. All candidates are subjected to a rigorous background check conducted by the IRS.
In addition to the stringent testing and application process, the IRS requires Enrolled Agents to complete 72 hours of continuing professional education, reported every three years, to maintain their Enrolled Agent status
Privacy Statement
Wealth by Design, LLC complies with the California Privacy Laws. Wealth by Design, LLC and its representatives collect nonpublic personal information about you from applications and other forms which we receive from you, and from oral and e-mail communications. We may also receive information from consumer reporting agencies. We may provide investment advice, tax return preparation services, insurance sales, and other services to you and receive information in the same way from you.
Wealth by Design, LLC and its representatives, in the course of business, will share this information that we collect with each other and with unaffiliated third parties (mutual funds, money managers, e.g.) for use in the business that they independently conduct. At such time as we terminate our relationship with one another, the information may be retained. We may disclose nonpublic information about you in connection with the transfer of your account to another financial institution at your request or the request of your representative.
We will not provide nonpublic personal information about you to non-affiliated third parties except to enable them or us to service your account, or when required by law.
We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those representatives and employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.
Business Continuation Policy
Wealth by Design, LLC has a Business Continuity Plan in place that provides detailed steps to mitigate and recover from the loss of office space, communications, services or key people.
This Business Continuity Plan covers natural disaster such as fire, flooding and earthquakes. The plan covers man-made disasters as well. Electronic files are backed up frequently and archived on and off site. Either of us can conduct business for any of our clients at either of our offices and/or off site.