Client Resources

You should expect our uncompromising fiduciary loyalty and advice, driven by looking out for your best interests first and always. No commissions or hidden costs. Just fully disclosed fees structured so that the better you do, the better we do. 

You can also look forward to a Total Wealth Care™ relationship, managed by a dedicated Personal Wealth Advisor (PWA) who knows you personally and reports regularly to you. Your PWA implements and updates your Portfolio Management Plan, runs your financial planning and long-term wealth plan, and coordinates the team for tax, estate planning, and other needs. 

Your PWA is your personal wealth concierge. They are always available to direct your planning on all things financial from Social Security claiming strategies, Roth conversions, estate and asset protection planning, tax strategy, business and real estate questions, loan advice, college funding, and much, much more. 

Check-in calls serve as valuable touchpoints to review your financial progress, address any questions or concerns, and discuss updates or changes in your circumstances. Your PWA will guide you through the agenda, ensuring that each call is focused on your financial well-being and goals.

As a guide throughout the year, this detailed Client Planning Calendar is a great resource that we encourage our clients to print out and save.

As a valued client, active communication is key. We encourage you to share your financial goals, concerns, and any changes in your circumstances promptly. Regularly reviewing updates and responding to inquiries from your dedicated Personal Wealth Advisor (PWA) ensures we align our services with your evolving needs. Your commitment to open communication allows us to provide the most effective and tailored financial guidance.

To update us on your address or contact information, please email clienthelp@camarda.com.

We also ask our clients to make sure they are not accidentally receiving our emails in a spam or junk folder. With technologies changing, this may be something to check periodically.

Depending on your email provider, here’s some instructions on how to remove us from junk or spam:

• • Outlook Email:
    • Open Junk folder, search “Camarda.” (typically at the top)
    • Right-click on each email address you find from us
    • Go to “Junk” or “Block” in the menu that appears and click “Never Block Sender.”
  • Web-based Email (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.):
    • Open Spam (or Junk) folder, search and select any email from “Camarda.” (typically at the top)
    • Select one of any of our emails and Click the “Not Spam” button, also typically located at the top.

Welcome to Camarda! During onboarding, you can expect a comprehensive introduction to our services. Your dedicated PWA will guide you through the process of understanding your financial goals, risk tolerance, and preferences. We’ll work collaboratively to gather necessary information and initiate the creation of a personalized financial plan. Our aim is to ensure you feel informed, comfortable, and well-supported from the outset.

During this time, please be sure to provide any potentially needed documents and share any and all personal documents using our secure upload link and don’t hesitate to ask your PWA questions or help along the way.

Life is dynamic, and so are your financial needs. If any changes occur, simply reach out to your PWA. They will guide you through the process of updating your information or refining your goals. Open and transparent communication ensures that your financial plan evolves in alignment with your current circumstances and aspirations.

We have a published privacy policy that can be summarized as: 

1. We use physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards per Federal standards to protect clients’ nonpublic personal information. 
2. Our procedures are designed to secure confidentiality and protect against threats or hazards to the security or integrity of client records and information. 
3. Our policy restricts access to all current and former clients’ information to those employees and affiliated/nonaffiliated entities who need to know that information in order to serve the client.
   
4. We will only disclose information to others if
   a. You have authorized us to do so.
   b. We are required to by law or regulation.
   c. Such disclosure is permitted per federal and/or state privacy regulations. 
5. We won’t sell or otherwise share your information with outside companies, marketing agencies, or others outside of our family of entities (such as The Family Wealth Education Institute, The Wealth Doctor, and Camarda’s TaxMaster as educational material is often shared between our affiliated entities). Read with full details on a Disclosures page about what we do and our company, such as ADV Form 2.

Our investment decisions are driven by two key principles: 

1. Targeting superior returns for income and portfolio growth, and 
2. Managing risk with a goal of avoiding losses in declining sectors or markets 

We use a variety of disciplined investment methodologies, including fundamental and technical analysis. We believe in making decisions based on “what is” not “what should be.” Our approach considers current market conditions and integrates both economic data and actual price movements. We seek to remain nimble and yet disciplined in both up and down markets. We consider both top-down/macroeconomic, and bottom-up/sector & individual security perspectives, in decision-making. 

This means if an asset class appears to be in an uptrend, we look to have exposure until the trend changes. If we decide the trend has changed, we look to get out and shift exposure to more promising classes, or to cash as a protective measure. 

Where asset classes or entire markets appear to be in a downtrend, we seek to sequentially trim or eliminate exposure depending on our anticipated severity of portfolio impact. 

We watch the markets on a regular, continuing basis, analyzing conditions and standing ready to move quickly when appropriate. 

Camarda portfolio decisions are made by our Portfolio Management Board, as led by our Chief Investment Officer, who Chairs that Board. Collectively, the Board has many decades of experience and is extensively credentialed, including Ph.D.s and CFA®s. 

We use a highly customized approach designed to incorporate: 

• Your portfolio growth & family wealth goals 
• Income needs across the timeframes of your planning horizon 
• Tax control considerations 
• Your total financial picture – not just the part we manage 
• Your investment preferences and instructions 
• Your sensitivity and concerns about risk 

As part of our Full-Service Financial Planning, we develop a custom Portfolio Plan for each client, based on a personalized Investment Policy Statement for your family. We custom craft each portfolio, blending from our menu of proprietary Camarda strategies, in a full discussion with you. 

We also incorporate any specific preferences you have, including advising on existing positions you don’t want to sell for tax or other reasons. Unlike most advisors we know, we can even manage your current 401ks, without you leaving the plan or having to move assets out. We’ve even built similar systems for 529s, no-commission annuities, and other “hard to manage” investments. 

And as a new client, we won’t change or do a thing to your existing investments until you fully understand and give us the green light to begin managing your accounts according to the agreed upon plan. Once set up, we regularly discuss and adjust as you, and the world, change. 

Our fees are based on the value of your managed assets and designed to help align our interests – the better we do for you, the better we do.

Our fees are fully transparent – what you see is what you pay. This is quite different than other advisors. The difference is we tell you what we charge, while others’ total costs may be hard to spot. More importantly, we have no incentive to recommend one investment over any other – our only objective is achieving the best portfolio for you.

Many advisors are “fee-based” – where you pay an obvious fee but also hard-to-spot internal product costs & commissions. Many more are pure commission, which can look cheap or even free, but whose actual costs – buried in mounds of legalese disclosure – can cost much more than Camarda’s clear and transparent fees. They can also motivate an advisor to recommend what makes them the most, not what is best for you.

Our standard fees cover Full-Service Financial Planning, not just investments. Also, unlike the vast majority of advisors, we are true fee-only fiduciaries, and accept no commissions or other incentives on our recommendations. Our advice is solely based on what we think is best for you, without the conflicts of “kickback” compensation. If you’d us to resend our agreement or have any questions, please contact your PWA.

The Family Wealth Education Institute – FWEI – was founded by Dr. Jeff and partner Kim Camarda. Its mission is to provide astute wealth education and techniques to the public at large, including Camarda clients. 

The Camardas formed FWEI to promote better wealth education for America’s successful families, whom they found too often tragically overpaid taxes, were misadvised on an estate and asset protection planning, and misled by poorly trained, non-fiduciary advisors on investment, insurance, and other high-wealth matters. 

FWEI offers a catalog of online courses via its wealthmasterclass.org website. These classes and other FWEI resources are freely available to Camarda clients. 

TaxMaster offers non-SEC-defined wealth management advice and services. In other words, it provides non-securities-investment wealth management advice. 

This includes estate and asset protection planning, tax optimization strategies, tax return preparation, business, asset protection, estate planning, entity setup, and the development and execution of legal documents like trusts. 

TaxMaster is a shared owner affiliate of the Camarda Wealth Advisory Group but separate from investment advisor Camarda Financial Advisors for regulatory reasons, and to respect and accommodate the separate prerogatives of the SEC and IRS. Functions are highly coordinated to help deliver on Camara’s Total Wealth CareTM/one-stop value proposition. TaxMaster fees – typically for tax research, tax returns preparation, legal documents, and entities structure execution – are separate and distinct from Camarda’s. TaxMaster’s team includes Ph.D.s, CPAs, attorneys, & admitted Federal tax practitioners. 

More info on TaxMaster can be found at TaxMaster.US

Camarda believes portfolios should not only be grown. They must be preserved. If you’re like most of our clients, you believe that returns are important, but that avoiding big losses is even more important. Enjoying a lifetime of accumulations, only to face an extended, value-crushing bear market in or near retirement, can be devastating. Camarda uses active management as both a risk control and return enhancements measure. 

We watch the markets closely and are prepared to move quickly should we deem it prudent. This approach is quite different from the buy-and-hold dogma that you’ve likely experienced from a previous advisor. While “don’t worry, it always comes back” beliefs have become entrenched, the reality is that some market upheavals can be life-changing, and many buy-and-hold strategies may never recover from them. Getting out of the way can mean the difference between building serious, long-lasting wealth, and merely scraping by… or not being able to. Our proprietary strategies are designed to participate richly in market returns but get out of the way of market meltdowns. This is one of many key Camarda differences compared to other advisors and could make all the difference to your quality of retirement. 

Don’t keep us a secret! We appreciate your loyalty and trust. Please refer friends and/or family to Camarda, and they can experience The Camarda Difference that you’ve come to value. Here are some links to share a little bit about us: Our introduction video and our website’s INSIGHTS tab. And if you want to directly refer someone to us, please do so through your PWA.