Cerity Partners Review

Cerity Partners LLC is a registered investment advisory firm that provides investment management, financial planning, tax preparation and planning and other services for individuals and families. It caters largely to high net worth investors, although it does count non-high net worth individuals and various institutional investors as clients.

Assets under management (AUM): $44,670,528,622

Minimum investment: Typically $2 million

Individual investor to advisor ratio: 27:1

Fee structure: A percentage of AUM, hourly charges, fixed fees, performance-based fees

Headquarters: 335 Madison Avenue, 23rd Floor New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-850-4260 Cerity Partners website

All information included in this profile is accurate as of May 20, 2022. For more information, please consult Cerity Partners’ website.

Overview of Cerity Partners

Cerity Partners is a private-equity backed, full-service wealth management firm headquartered in New York City. Current firm president and CEO Kurt Miscinski co-founded Cerity Partners — then called HPM Partners — in 2009, with backing from Emigrant Bank and its chairman Howard P. Milstein.

In 2018, the private equity firm Lightyear Capital purchased Emigrant Bank’s majority stake in the wealth management firm, and the following year HPM Partners changed its name to Cerity Partners. In recent years, the firm has grown quickly via acquisitions.

Cerity Partners now has over 350 employees, nearly 200 of whom serve in investment advisory and research roles.

A look at the founders of Cerity Partners

Co-founder Howard Milstein has impressive roots: He is the grandson of Morris Milstein, who founded the Circle Floor Company, and the son of luxury real estate magnate Paul Milstein. Howard now heads up Milstein Properties, as well as New York’s oldest savings bank, Emigrant. He is a leading figure in finance and economics, and is chairman of multiple philanthropic ventures.

Kurt Miscinski was a managing director and executive committee member at Deutsche Bank before co-founding Cerity Partners. Prior to his time at Deutsche Bank, he was the chief operating officer for Scudder Private Investment Counsel, an asset management division that served family offices, wealthy individuals and nonprofits.

What types of clients does Cerity Partners serve?

The firm typically requires a minimum portfolio balance of $2 million, but it counts both individuals and high net worth individuals as clients, with its current individual client base fairly evenly divided between the two groups. (For reference, the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] defines a high net worth individual as someone with at least $750,000 under management or a net worth believed to be at least $1.5 million).

That said, Cerity Partners’ website and brochure also focus on high net worth individuals when outlining its services, and the firm’s $20,000 minimum annual fee may also generally leave out those with less to invest. Still, the firm does also note that it may waive its minimums at its discretion.

Cerity Partners offers a breadth of services to the individuals investors it serves, who include corporate executives, family offices, business owners and couples.

Services offered by Cerity Partners

Cerity Partners is a full-service firm, offering investment advisory services, wealth planning, tax preparation and planning, executive financial counseling and retirement plan services. The firm takes a holistic approach to financial planning, examining a client’s entire financial picture and goals to create an individualized plan and a customized investment strategy that complements it.

Here is a full list of services the firm can provide:

• Investment advisory services
  • Current portfolio evaluation
  • Assessment of investment objectives and financial goals
  • Strategic asset allocation planning
  • Manager search and evaluation
  • Investment program implementation and rebalancing
  • Portfolio monitoring and risk management
  • Performance measurement and attribution analysis
• Wealth planning
  • Retirement planning
  • Estate and wealth transfer planning
  • Philanthropy and charitable gift planning
  • Education planning
  • Tax planning and management
  • Insurance planning and risk management
  • Net worth analysis
  • Compensation and benefits analysis
  • Trust fiduciary and family office services
  • Bill payment service and client accounting
  • Liquidity and liability management
• Tax services
  • Preparation of tax projections, tax returns and estimated tax payments
  • Tax planning
• Marital financial planning
  • Pre- and post-nuptial agreements
  • Divorce financial consulting
  • Couples wealth management
• Executive financial counseling
  • Company benefits coordination and planning
  • Retirement, cash flow and budget planning
  • Estate planning
  • Tax planning and preparation
  • Investment planning and consolidated reporting
  • Insurance and risk management
• Retirement plan services

How Cerity Partners invests your money

The firm uses modern portfolio theory, which focuses more on asset allocation than on individual investments, to craft individualized portfolios for its clients. Portfolios are created based on an investment profile created for each client.

Client portfolios can contain a mix of asset classes and sub-asset classes, including:

• Cash and cash equivalents
• Global fixed income (domestic government agency, domestic tax exempt, emerging-market debt, investment-grade credit, high-yield credit and global bonds)
• Global equities (large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap domestic, international equity and emerging equity)
• Real return (real estate, commodities and treasury inflation-protected securities)
• Commodities
• Hedge funds
• Private equity

To implement its investment recommendations, Cerity Partners typically allocates clients’ assets among third-party managers. In some cases, however, it may select individual securities, investment companies, private equity or hedge funds.

Fees Cerity Partners charges for its services

The firm’s wealth management services for high net worth clients generally begins at 1.50% of assets under management, with a minimum annual fee of $20,000 typically required. This fee includes all of the Cerity Partners’ services, though occasionally the firm also charges a fixed retainer for financial planning, taxes or other services, depending on the extent of the services provided.

Clients will be separately responsible for third-party charges, such as transaction fees via custodians or brokers. Those who participate in other programs offered by the firm may also be subject to additional fees.

In some cases, Cerity Partners will charge performance-based fees as well. Those fees reflect individual negotiations with the clients who will pay them.

Cerity Partners disciplinary disclosures

Cerity Partners does not have any disciplinary disclosures on its record. All registered investment advisors must disclose any civil, regulatory or criminal events related to the firm, its employees or its affiliates in its Form ADV, paperwork filed with the SEC.

For more information on the firm, you can go to its Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) page.

Cerity Partners onboarding process

1. Contact the firm: You can reach out directly to a local office or fill out this online form. The firm requests basic contact information and offers the option to include a message.
2. Get a financial plan and an Investment Policy Statement: The firm takes a holistic, discussion-based approach to its services, with multiple advisors working together to assist clients with all facets of their finances. Advisors work with clients to create a comprehensive financial plan, and then monitor and adjust the plan as necessary. Advisors will also create a personal Investment Policy Statement, which is then used to build and manage the client’s portfolio.
3. Receive regular updates: While clients can reach out to Cerity Partners at any time to discuss their needs or objectives, the firm will contact all clients with investment accounts at least once per year to discuss the performance of their portfolio and talk about potential changes. Reviews for clients who receive financial planning or tax services are conducted on an as-needed basis.

Where Cerity Partners is located

Cerity Partners has offices in the following locations:

• New York (2)
• Irvine, Calif.
• Los Angeles
• Mill Valley, Calif.
• Los Altos, Calif.
• Redwood City, Calif.
• San Francisco
• Greenwood, Colo.
• Louisville, Colo.
• Jacksonville, Fla.
• Chicago
• Boston
• Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
• Cleveland
• Colleyville, Texas
• Fort Worth, Texas
• Houston

Additionally, Cerity Partners is registered to serve investors in 46 states, which allows it to also serve investors in states where it does not have office locations.

Is Cerity Partners right for you?

Cerity Partners may be a good choice for you if you have at least $2 million to invest and want additional services, such as estate and gift planning or tax preparation. Business owners, multi-generational family offices and couples in transition may also benefit from the expertise that Cerity Partners has working with clients like them.

Those with lower account balances may be better served by another firm, although the firm does currently have a roster that includes non-high net worth investors. That said, the firm’s typical $20,000 minimum annual fee may mean you are paying relatively high fees for a balance under $2 million.

Before you make your decision, be sure to research multiple firms to ensure you find the right advisor for you.