Johnson Investment Counsel Review

Johnson Investment Counsel is a fee-only, independent investment advisory firm headquartered in Cincinnati, with four additional locations in Ohio and one in the Detroit metro area. The firm primarily serves individuals, including high net worth individuals, as well as a range of institutional investors. The firm doesn’t have a set minimum requirement for its portfolio management services aside from its robo-advisory program, which requires an investment of at least $5,000.

Assets under management (AUM): $18,763,707,876

Minimum investment: None, with the exception of the robo-advisor offering

Individual investor to advisor ratio: 60:1

Fee structure: A percentage of AUM, fixed fees

Headquarters: 3777 West Fork Road Cincinnati, OH 45247 Phone: 513-661-3100 Johnson Investment Counsel website and Form ADV

All information included in this profile is accurate as of May 19, 2022. For more information, please consult Johnson Investment Counsel’s website.

Overview of Johnson Investment Counsel

Founded in 1965 by Timothy E. Johnson, an MBA student and eventual university professor, the firm is now an employee-owned registered investment advisor. Johnson stepped down from running the company in 2013 but remains chairman and shares ownership of the firm with other members.

Johnson Investment Counsel divides itself into five divisions: wealth management, family office services, trust services, asset management and mutual funds. The company owns Johnson Trust Company, and is the sponsor and investment advisor of Johnson Mutual Funds Trust, a family of no-load mutual funds.

Currently, the firm has approximately 125 employees on staff, close to 70 of whom work in an investment advisory capacity.

Types of clients

For the most part, Johnson Investment Counsel works with individual investors. The firm currently serves more non-high net worth individuals than high net worth individuals, who are defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as those with at least $750,000 under management or a net worth believed to be at least $1.5 million. The majority of the firm’s assets under management, however, are from high net worth clients. It also works with a number of institutional investors of various types.

The firm doesn’t require a minimum account size or fee for its portfolio management services. However, clients will need to invest at least $5,000 to open an account with Johnson Intelligent Portfolios Programs, an automated investment program (think robo-advisor) available to individuals, IRAs and revocable living trusts.

Services offered

As a firm that works with wealthy families and individuals, the services offered by the firm are tailored to meet the needs of this type of client — such as family office services, including asset and liability management, cash flow management and family mission statement development. At Johnson Investment Counsel, a separate team is assigned to the divisions of wealth management, family office services, trust company and asset management.

The firm offers discretionary portfolio management (meaning the advisor can make decisions on behalf of the client) and institutional portfolio management, as well as pension consulting services and the selection of other advisors. Johnson Investment Counsel also is affiliated with Johnson Mutual Funds, a family of no-load mutual funds.

The company also offers Johnson Intelligent Portfolios, which provides automated investment management services for those with at least $5,000.

The following is a full list of services offered by Johnson Investment Counsel:

• Portfolio management (for individuals and institutions; mainly discretionary)
• Financial planning
• Wealth management
  • Investment management
  • Retirement planning
  • Cash flow planning
  • Estate planning
  • Asset protection planning
  • Income tax planning
  • Charitable planning
• Family office services
  • Asset and liability management
  • Advice on insurance and asset protection
  • Cash flow management
  • Income tax planning
  • Family mission statement development
  • Estate and wealth transfer planning
  • Philanthropic planning
  • Business succession planning
  • Relationship management
  • Asset protection planning
• Estate and trust services
  • Trust for individuals
  • Trustee and co-trustee
  • Agent for individual trustee
  • Executor and estate settlement services
  • Reducing gift and estate taxes
  • Managing the transfer of wealth to the next generation or to a charity
  • Philanthropic planning
  • Special needs planning
  • Charitable gift planning
  • Asset protection planning
• Selection of other advisors
• Pension consulting services
• Advisory services to retirement plans and plan participants
• Mutual fund services
• Robo-advisor program

Investment strategy

As a client of Johnson Investment Counsel, your portfolio will be customized according to your unique situation. The firm will allocate and invest your assets depending on a number of factors, including your financial objectives and information, risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs and other factors.

Investment strategies and portfolio management are maintained in a team setting and not dependent on a single advisor. Advisors follow a bottom-up approach for equity strategies and take a quantitative approach to company analysis. For fixed-income strategies, a combination of macro and micro strategies that focuses on quality yield and appropriate maturities will be used. Tax efficiency is not a primary consideration for your portfolio.

Investments the firm may use in client portfolios or offer advice on include:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
• Options contracts on securities and commodities
• Futures contracts on securities and commodities
• Interest in real estate, master limited partnerships and other partnerships

Johnson Mutual Funds, for which Johnson Investment counsel serves as advisor, also offers several fund choices.

Clients of the Johnson Intelligent Portfolios Program, the firm’s robo-advisory arm, will have their assets invested in a variety of investment strategies depending on their investment objectives and goals. These portfolio strategies primarily consist of mutual funds, ETFs and a cash allocation, though clients can instruct their advisor to exclude up to three funds from their portfolio. Your portfolio will be automated and include automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting (if you’re eligible and the option is elected).

Johnson Investment Counsel’s fees

The firm’s fees vary depending on the service provided.

Portfolio management fees: Clients who engage Johnson Investment Counsel for portfolio management services are charged based on a percentage of assets under management (AUM).

In addition to portfolio management fees, clients are responsible for transaction charges and brokerage fees imposed by the broker-dealer. Some brokers offer wrap fee programs, which charge a single fee that includes money management fees, certain transaction costs, custodial and other administrative costs.

Johnson Intelligent Portfolio Program fees: There are no specific fees noted in the firm’s brochure for its Intelligent Portfolio offering.

Financial planning fees: The firm doesn’t specify the nature of its fees for its financial planning services in its brochure. It only states that “[f]ees are due upon completion of services rendered.”

Disciplinary disclosures

No reported disclosures in the past 10 years.

Becoming a client

1. Contact the firm: To become a client, you can call the firm at any of its local offices or fill out a contact form provided on the firm’s website.
2. Determine next steps based on services desired: The next steps will depend on which services you receive:
   • For portfolio management services: If you are receiving advisory services, you’ll work with a representative to determine your investment objectives, risk tolerance and other relevant information, known as suitability information. Your advisor will then use your suitability information to select a predefined strategy or create one specific to your portfolio. All portfolios are assigned a primary manager, a secondary manager and support personnel. Clients can expect to receive confirmations and monthly or quarterly portfolio statements from their account custodian.
   • For Johnson Intelligent Portfolios Program: Intelligent Portfolios Program clients will have their assets invested in a range of investment strategies; clients can ask their advisor to exclude up to three funds from their portfolio. In this program, you may receive less frequent communications from the firm’s portfolio managers.
   • For financial planning services: You’ll begin the process by discussing your financial goals and objectives with an advisor. That advisor will then develop targeted objectives and create a plan for you.

Locations

Primarily based in Ohio, the firm has office locations in the following cities:

• Cincinnati (2)
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dayton, Ohio
• Brecksville, Ohio
• Novi, Mich.

While these are the firm’s only physical locations, it states on its website that it currently works with clients in 49 states.

Is Johnson Investment Counsel right for you?

For affluent individuals who want to work with a company that offers a wide range of wealth management, financial planning and family office services alongside portfolio management, Johnson Investment Counsel may be a good choice. The firm offers a team-based approach to meeting client needs and adheres to a fee-only model.

That said, for clients who prefer to keep all of their financial business under one roof, the firm doesn’t offer tax preparation or accounting. Tax minimization is also not a key aspect of the firm’s portfolio strategy, which may be an issue for some clients who prefer tax-optimized portfolios.

And if Johnson Investment Counsel isn’t your perfect fit, MagnifyMoney can help you find a more ideal firm. Take the first step today to find the advisory relationship you deserve.