U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC (sipc.org), is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as both a broker-dealer and an investment adviser. Brokerage and investment advisory services and fees differ, and it is important for you to understand these differences.
Additional free and simple tools are available to research firms and financial professionals like ours at investor.gov/crs, which provides educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisers and investing. If you have questions, please feel free to talk with your Financial Advisor.
We offer both brokerage and investment advisory services to retail investors. Here are the primary differences you would see:
Our brokerage services include buying and selling mutual funds, stocks, bonds and other types of individual securities in our Full Service or Self Directed brokerage account types. More investment products are available in a Full Service account compared to a Self Directed account.
Our Full Service account allows you to work with a Financial Advisor who will provide recommendations from time to time or at your request. With our Self Directed brokerage accounts, you place trades on your own, either online or by phone (for an additional fee) through the Wealth Management Advisory Service Center. Online tools and resources are available at no additional cost, but Financial Advisor recommendations are not provided online for Full Service accounts by Financial Advisors.
We do not monitor your account or investments for you, or provide ongoing advice, unless we state otherwise in writing, so you should ensure you are reviewing the investments in your accounts.
You make the ultimate decision regarding the purchase or sale of your investments. At U.S. Bancorp Investments, we do not offer discretionary brokerage accounts, in which your Financial Advisor manages your account.
We have an evaluation process that considers the breadth and depth of products, and resources we make available to our brokerage clients.
There is no account minimum for any of our brokerage accounts, though certain investment products have minimum investment amounts.
Our advisory services include investment advisory managed accounts (in the form of wrap accounts through the Personal Portfolios Program), automated investing (in the form of wrap accounts through Automated Investor) and, as part of our standard services, financial planning. Your Financial Advisor will provide ongoing monitoring and advice for your investments in advisory managed accounts. Automated Investing and financial planning is not monitored by a Financial Advisor.
Investment advisory services are available on both a non-discretionary and discretionary basis. In non-discretionary accounts, you make the ultimate decision regarding the purchase or sale of your investments. If you choose a discretionary relationship, the Investment Advisory Agreement you enter into with U.S. Bancorp Investments grants us and your Financial Advisor the authority to make investment decisions on your behalf without discussing them with you. In certain circumstances, you may limit our discretionary authority. For example, we may agree to not purchase certain types of securities for your account. Of course, accounts with restrictions will perform differently than accounts without restrictions. We also offer discretionary accounts managed by third-party asset managers that are not affiliated with U.S. Bancorp Investments. We have an evaluation process that considers the breadth and depth of products and resources we make available to our investment advisory clients.
We also offer automated investing through an online discretionary investment platform, named Automated Investor. Automated Investor uses the information you provide to invest your account assets in a proprietary model of exchange-traded funds selected by the Asset Management Group of our affiliate, U.S. Bank, N.A. Automated Investor only uses exchange-traded funds in its models.
Our advisory accounts do have minimum amount requirements, please see the Personal Portfolios and Automated Investor Wrap brochures for details.
Whether you invest through a brokerage or an advisory account, we do not limit our platform to particular asset classes, proprietary investments or to investments that result in our receipt of third-party compensation. However, certain investment categories are limited to proprietary investments and we expect to receive third-party compensation with respect to most of the investments we sell. When we recommend that you open a brokerage account and provide recommendations and other services for your brokerage account, we will be acting as a broker-dealer. When we recommend that you open an advisory account and provide recommendations and advice for your advisory accounts, we will be acting as an investment adviser. When we provide financial planning services, we will be acting as an investment adviser.
– Part 2A of Form ADV (Financial Planning Services) — Advisory Business (Item 4) and Types of Clients (Item 7)
– Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV (Personal Portfolios Wrap Brochure) — Services, Fees and Compensation (Item 4) and Account Requirements and Types of Clients (Item 5)
– Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV (Automated Investor Wrap Brochure) — The Service (Item 4) and Account Requirements and Types of Clients (Item 5)
In a brokerage account, you generally pay a commission for stock transactions (an amount charged to execute your trade), a markup/markdown for bond transactions (the difference between the market price and the amount you pay) and a sales charge for mutual fund transactions (an amount added to the market value of the shares). With annuities, we are paid by a direct payment from the insurance company. Because we earn revenue each time you trade in a brokerage account, we have a financial incentive when you trade more frequently and in larger amounts.
Some types of investments, such as mutual funds and annuities, charge ongoing fees that will affect the money you make on your investment over time. We receive certain ongoing fees from mutual fund companies, such as 12b-1 fees in connection with your investments.
There are other fees charged to your account. Some examples include annual fees for brokerage and individual retirement accounts, transfer, wire fees and termination fees. Please refer to the fee schedules found below under the "For additional information" section.
In a Personal Portfolio advisory account you pay a negotiable “wrap” fee based on the value of the assets in your account (including cash), billed to your account quarterly. In an Automated Investor account, your wrap fee is not negotiable. As a firm, we are compensated for our advisory services by the asset-based wrap fee you pay. An advisory wrap account incorporates most of your transaction and administrative costs into one, simple, quarterly fee. We’re also compensated by networking rebates, shareholder servicing fees, invoice credits and revenue sharing arrangements. In addition, we receive 12b-1 fees from mutual fund companies as part of your advisory account investments, but we credit these fees back to your account.
For the Personal Portfolio Program, depending on your investment selection, your asset-based wrap fee pays for third-party providers who manage your assets. The fee also compensates our firm and your Financial Advisor for the trading, monitoring and custodial services you receive. Therefore, a wrap fee is higher than a typical asset-based advisory fee that does not incorporate all your costs. The more assets that are in your account, the more you will pay us in fees. Therefore, we have an incentive to encourage you to increase the amount of assets in your account.
There may be other fees charged, such as exchange fees and transfer taxes, and the costs of trades executed with or through third-parties. For a list of additional fees charged, please see the Personal Portfolios and Automated Investor Wrap Brochures. Some types of investments, such as mutual funds, charge ongoing fees that will impact the performance of your investment over time.
You will pay fees and expenses whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you are paying.
– Part 2A of Form ADV (Financial Planning Services) — Advisory Business (Item 4) and Types of Clients (Item 7)
– Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV (Personal Portfolios Wrap Brochure) — Services, Fees and Compensation (Item 4) and Account Requirements and Types of Clients (Item 5)
– Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV (Automated Investor Wrap Brochure) — The Service (Item 4) and Account Requirements and Types of Clients (Item 5)
When we provide you with a recommendation as your broker-dealer or act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the recommendations and investment advice we provide you.
Here are some examples to help you understand what this means:
How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?
– Part 2A of Form ADV (Financial Planning Services) — Advisory Business (Item 4) and Types of Clients (Item 7)
– Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV (Personal Portfolios Wrap Brochure) — Services, Fees and Compensation (Item 4) and Account Requirements and Types of Clients (Item 5)
– Part 2A Appendix 1 of Form ADV (Automated Investor Wrap Brochure) — The Service (Item 4) and Account Requirements and Types of Clients (Item 5)
Our Financial Advisors retain a portion of the fee for advisory services and commissions on brokerage transactions charged to you. Some Financial Advisors are eligible for special incentive compensation in the form of recruitment and retention bonuses based on client assets brought to the firm and revenue generation. Some Financial Advisors are eligible to receive compensation for referrals made to our affiliates. The referral fees paid to Financial Advisors do not entail an additional cost to you.
We and our Financial Advisors also receive non-cash compensation from certain product sponsors that can include occasional gifts, meals, tickets or other entertainment or sponsorship support of educational or training events (which include educational and appreciation events Financial Advisors arrange for clients and prospects).
These benefits can create a conflict of interest to recommend one product over another. In addition, some Financial Advisors are not compensated for transactions in your account if the combined account balances in your U.S. Bank, N.A. and U.S. Bancorp Investments relationship do not meet or exceed $100,000. This can deter the Financial Advisor from recommending strategies that could be beneficial to you but do not result in a qualifying relationship balance that meets the threshold for compensation or may incent Financial Advisors to recommend a trade that is inconsistent with your financial situation but meets the threshold for compensation.
Yes. Visit investor.gov/crs for a free and simple search tool to research us and our financial professionals.
As a financial professional, do you have any disciplinary history? For what type of conduct?
If you would like additional, up-to-date information or a copy of this disclosure, please visit usbank.com/crs or call the Wealth Management Advisory Service Center at 800-888-4700.