MagnifyMoney 
Beacon Pointe Advisors, LLC is an independently owned, fee-only firm offering financial planning and wealth management services to both individuals and high net worth individuals. The firm has a particular focus on working with women and clients who are going through life milestones. Beacon Pointe is one of the largest RIAs in the U.S., and it has advisory teams located across the country.
The bottom line: Beacon Pointe Advisors, an RIA with offices throughout the U.S., offers wealth management and financial planning, generally to those with at least $1 million to invest..
| Assets under management (AUM): $23,674,542,188 | |
| Minimum investment: Generally $1 million | |
| Individual investor to advisor ratio: 52:1 | |
| Fee structure: A percentage of AUM, hourly charges, fixed fees | |
| Headquarters: 24 Corporate Plaza, Suite 150 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Website: www.beaconpointe.com Phone: 949-718-1600 |
All information included in this profile is accurate as of April 27, 2022. For more information, please consult Beacon Pointe Advisors’ website.
Beacon Pointe Advisors is an independent firm primarily founded in 2002 by Shannon Eusey, who remains the firm’s CEO. In March 2020, Beacon Pointe Advisors merged with sister firm Beacon Pointe Wealth Advisors in order to form a single registered investment firm called Beacon Pointe Advisors. As part of the transaction, private equity firm Abry Partners took a minority stake in the merged firm. However, the firm is majority-owned by its employees.
Beacon Pointe Advisors has roughly 350 employees, around 200 of whom work in an advisory capacity. The firm has a focus on serving women and their unique financial needs.
Eusey founded Beacon Pointe in 2002 based on a business school project. Before launching Beacon Pointe, Eusey worked as senior managing director and portfolio manager at Roxbury Capital Management, overseeing socially responsible investments for many years.
Eusey is a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council and is regularly featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Financial Planning magazine and Investment News. She co-authored the bestselling book “Your Dollars, Our Sense: A Fun and Simple Guide to Money Matters.”
The firm serves mostly individuals and high net worth individuals. (For reference, the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] defines a high net worth individual as someone with at least $750,000 in assets under management or a net worth of over $1.5 million.) While the minimum account balance required for clients is technically $1 million, the firm may waive or reduce that minimum at its discretion, as evidenced by the fact that it serves more individuals than high net worth individuals.
Beacon Pointe Advisors has a particular focus on women investors. In 2011, it founded the Women’s Advisory Institute, aimed at helping female clients. Additionally, half of the firm’s leadership team are women. Beacon Pointe also specializes in helping multi-generational families; entrepreneurs and business owners; and clients going through financial life changes, such as divorce or the death of a spouse.
Beacon Pointe Advisors offers both consulting services and a managed account program. Financial planning services fall under the consulting part of the business.
Clients interested in financial planning have the option of getting a holistic plan that looks at their entire financial picture and results in the creation of a written financial plan with specific recommendations. Clients can also request limited-scope financial planning focused on a specific goal, such as saving for retirement or paying for a college education. Other consulting services offered by Beacon Pointe include assistance with creating an investment policy or asset allocation strategy; recommendations of managers, mutual funds, or custodians; and the monitoring of managers and portfolios on a non-discretionary basis.
Clients in the managed account program have access to the above services as well as investment management on a discretionary basis. That means that the firm invests the money on clients’ behalf and has the authorization to make changes to keep the client’s portfolio in line with their investment policy.
The firm also offers an automated investment program, which is essentially a robo-advisory service. The automated investment program invests clients in a range of investment strategies that the firm constructs and manages, each consisting of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and cash. Clients can open an automated investment account on the firm’s website, and the program is available to those who open a brokerage account with Charles Schwab.
Beacon Pointe also offers a suite of institutional-focused services, including for institutions, retirement plans and insurers. It also can provide outsourced CIO services.
Here is a complete list of services currently offered by Beacon Pointe Advisors:
Beacon Pointe works with each client to learn about their financial situation to create an individual investment policy based on their goals and risk tolerance and the firm’s models.
When possible, the firm recommends investments with active managers who have undergone a rigorous screening process that includes quantitative and qualitative analysis, portfolio analysis and product evaluation. Beacon Pointe also offers a custodial search service, helping clients choose from a group of custodial candidates.
The core asset classes that the firm uses in client portfolios include the following:
The fees Beacon Pointe Advisors charges vary depending on the service provided. Here are the firm’s fees for its major service categories:
Fees for asset management: Private clients in the managed account and wrap fee programs pay negotiated asset-based fees, typically ranging from an annual 0.50% to 1.15% of assets under supervision. The maximum rate the firm will charge is 1.65% of assets under management. For clients in the managed account program, these fees are in addition to any manager or transaction fees that clients may owe custodians.
Fees for consulting services: For consulting services provided on a one-time or project basis, Beacon Pointe Advisors charges either a fixed, project-based fee, with a typical minimum of $25,000, or an hourly fee that typically runs from $350 to $500 an hour. If the consulting services are provided on an ongoing basis, the firm will charge an asset-based fee. The annual retainer fee for discretionary portfolios generally ranges from 0.20% to 0.50%, while the rate ranges from 0.08% to 0.50% for non-discretionary portfolios. Clients with a portfolio worth more than $500 million typically pay a negotiated fixed fee.
Fees for the automated investment program: Beacon Pointe charges a rate of 0.50% of assets under management for clients in the automated investment program. Other fees may include fund fees, custodian fees and fees charged by independent managers.
The firm doesn’t have any disciplinary disclosures on its record. Registered investment advisors who face disciplinary action, including criminal charges, regulatory infractions or civil actions, must report those incidents on the Form ADV that they file with the SEC.
For more information on the firm, visit its Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) page.
The firm lists offices in the following states on its website:
Beacon Pointe Advisors may be a good choice for you if you have at least $1 million to invest and are interested in active management for your portfolio. Women investors, in particular, may be well served by the firm, which specializes in many of the financial issues and life events facing women investors.
However, Beacon Pointe Advisors also has a relatively high minimum balance at $1 million. Another firm may be a better choice if you don’t have the funds, though it’s worth noting that the firm may waive this minimum at its discretion and that it does have a good number of non-high net worth investors. Be sure to research multiple firms to ensure you find the right advisor for you.
Beth BravermanBeth Braverman is a freelance writer covering personal finance, careers and parenting. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications, including CNN Business, CNBC.com and USNews.
Read More
