Customer Relationship Summary
Kowalski Financial Inc. is a registered investment advisory firm. Investment advisory services and fees differ from those offered through a brokerage firm and it is important for you to understand the differences. Free and simple tools are available to research firms and financial professionals at Investor.gov/CRS, which also provides educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisers, and investing.
What investment services and advice can you provide me?
Kowalski Financial provides financial planning, asset allocation, estate planning, investment management and retirement planning services. Our advisory services are tailored to the individual needs of each household. Kowalski Financial will consult with you initially and on an ongoing basis (at least annually) to determine your specific risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity constraints and other factors relevant to the management of your portfolio. In our investment management, we continuously monitor your investment accounts over which you provide us with such authority and provide advice. We construct a diversified selection of investments and manage your portfolio to meet your investment goals, adapting strategies as needed with changes.
When you engage us for investment management services, you will sign an advisory contract that gives us discretionary authority to determine the investment to buy and sell in your account. You may impose reasonable restrictions on our discretionary authority, which must be provided to us in writing and accepted by us. Our services may also include the recommendation or selection of other investment managers. More detailed information about our services is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, specifically under “Advisory Business.”
Ask us:
Given my financial situation, should I choose an investment advisory service? Why or why not?
How will you choose investments to recommend to me?
What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education and other qualifications? What do these qualifications mean?
What fees will I pay?
Fees and costs affect the value of your account over time. You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. It is important to make sure that you understand what fees and costs you are paying. Our fees are clearly outlined in our advisory contract and in our Form ADV Part 2A, under “Fees and Compensation.”
Kowalski Financial’s advisory relationships are administered through a quarterly asset-based fee based on the value of the advisory account. The asset-based fee reduces the value of your account and will be deducted from your investment portfolio. Transaction fees through your custodian are not included in our advisory asset-based fee. Some investments may also impose additional fees that will reduce the value of your investment over time, such as mutual funds.
Our fees vary and are negotiable. The amount you pay will depend, for example, on the complexity of the services you receive and the amount of assets in your account. The amount paid to our firm and your financial professional does not vary based on the type of investment we select on your behalf.
Ask us:
Ask us: Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give you $10,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for me?
What are your legal obligations to me when acting as my investment adviser? How else does your firm make money and what conflicts of interest do you have?
When we 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 investment advice we provide you. Here is an example to help you understand what this means:
- The more assets you have in the advisory account, the more you will pay us. We therefore have an incentive to increase the assets in your account in order to increase our fees.
- Clients who elect to use separately managed accounts through independent managers in the management of their portfolio will be paying Kowalski Financial and the selected Independent Manager for the management of assets.
We benefit from the advisory services we offer you. Additional information about these conflicts are provided in our Form ADV Part 2A under Brokerage Practices.
Ask us:
Ask us: How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?
How do your financial professionals make money?
Our financial professionals are paid a salary. They do not receive commission payments on new investments and do not accept any forms of non-cash compensation.
Do you or your financial professional have legal or disciplinary history?
Yes. One of our financial professionals does have a legal event in their personal history from 24 years ago. We do not believe that this event in any way impacts the ability of this individual to provide investment advice and direction. Visit www.investor.gov for a free and simple search tool to research our firm and our financial professionals.
Ask us:
As a financial professional, do you have any disciplinary history? For what type of conduct?
For additional information on our investment advisory services, please see our Form ADV Form 2A by contacting us at 952-297-8589 to request up-to-date information and/or a copy of this Customer Relationship Summary.
Ask us:
Who is my primary contact person? Is he or she a representative of an investment adviser or a broker-dealer? Who can I talk to if I have concerns about how this person is treating me?