FAQs

1. How is River Glen Wealth Counselors different from other independent wealth advisors?
   River Glen is an investment advisory firm that provides accredited investors with comprehensive financial and investment advice. Three practices are at the core of our business: commission-free service, team based wealth counseling and divergent investing. Through our divergent investing you can limit volatility with most of your money in low risk securities, and then invest a smaller portion of your portfolio in high risk private businesses that have the potential for a high return.
2. What differentiates River Glen Wealth Counselors from many financial advisors?
   Our services are designed for accredited investors who are tired of not knowing what they are actually paying their advisors and are receiving cookie cutter advice. We strive to offer expert unbiased wealth counseling, access to private investment opportunities, and a transparent, customized fee structure.
3. How does River Glen make money?
   For financial and tax planning and for risk planning we charged a customized fixed fee that is based upon the complexity of service that each client needs. For investment planning, we charge an asset-based fee based upon the amount of money you invest with us.
4. Does River Glen sell products or charge commissions?
   No, we do not sell products. Therefore, we aren’t paid commissions. With many financial advisors, clients get advice that has hefty fees embedded in the products they buy. Quite often these fees include commissions; and since the advisors are getting paid by virtue of the products they sell, their advice is biased. At River Glen, we reduce cost and bias by eliminating commissions which can assure you that we put your interests at the center of our business.
5. What is River Glen’s approach to investing?
   For accredited investors, we implement divergent investing which places most of the money in publicly traded investments. Then about 5% to 10% of the portfolio is invested in small, entrepreneurial companies. Most financial advisors lack the time and expertise to locate promising new companies during their initial stages of development. At River Glen, we identify and assess emerging private companies for our accredited investors-helping to match money to great new ideas.
6. What is an accredited investor?
   The SEC has several criteria by which a person or organization can qualify as an accredited investor, including a:
   1. Natural person who has an investible individual net worth, or joint net worth with the person’s spouse, that exceeds $1 million at the time of the purchase;
   2. Natural person with income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year; or
   3. Trust with assets in excess of $5 million, not formed to acquire the securities offered, whose purchases a sophisticated person makes.

   To learn more, review the SEC’s legal definition.

7. How often will I meet with my wealth counseling team?
   Each year, you will attempt to schedule a minimum of three appointments with your wealth counseling team, one in each of the three areas: financial and tax planning, risk planning and investment planning. During these appointments, we will review key aspects of your goals and current status to ensure that our plan is on target.
8. How big is River Glen Wealth Counselors?
   To ensure that we can provide excellent client service, our wealth counselors serve no more than 60 clients.
9. What professional licenses and degrees does our team have?
   Our wealth counselors possess advanced degrees from top colleges & universities, as well as professional designations including Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Analyst. Our learning specialist holds a Ph.D. in instructional systems design.
10. How many years of experience does the team have?
    Each of our organizational leaders has between 16 and 22 years of experience.