What does Charles A. Liles & Associates do?
- The firm provides its clients with peace of mind by developing and managing overall, goal-achieving investment and wealth management strategies recognizing and emphasizing the value and discipline of a goal-oriented plan.
- Founded in 2003 by Charles Liles after twenty-three years of banking and investment consulting experience in central Indiana, the firm is dedicated to personal service and unbiased advice.
Don’t stockbrokers, insurance agents and bankers do the same thing?
- No, typically stockbrokers, insurance agents and bankers either sell investment securities for a sales commission and/or have a limited array of investment choices to meet a client’s unique needs. They also, typically, do not explore areas beyond which they are directly compensated such as estate and retirement planning, education planning, insurance, taxation and charitable giving.
- As a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of Indiana and with fiduciary responsibility, the firm must always place the client’s best interests first when making recommendations as opposed to determining the suitability of one particular investment. A fiduciary demonstrates prudence by the process through which investment decisions are managed.
Then how is your firm different?
- No product sales or commissions – therefore no potential conflicts of interest.
- Service focus – limited number of clients; clients deal with the firm’s owner who has over 30 years of financial services experience.
- Cost effective – overhead expenses are tightly controlled; low minimum account size (suggested minimum of $1 million under advisement).
- Planning based – consider all of the client’s investment accounts and special circumstances in estate and retirement planning, insurance, tax planning, charitable giving and educational funding.
If you don’t sell anything, how do you get paid?
- The firm is paid a fee based upon the amount of investment assets under direct management.
What if I have a 401(k) or other investments not with your firm?
- The fee you pay to the firm covers analysis and recommendations on your other, unsupervised investments as well.
- It is crucial that all of your investments work in concert to meet your overall financial objectives.
What type of investments do you recommend?
- The firm recommends low cost, no-load mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) encompassing distinct investment styles and disciplines including equities, fixed income and alternative strategies. The firm is pleased to offer its clients access to the suite of no-load mutual funds from Dimensional Fund Advisors.
- All research is proprietary and done in-house.
What if I have questions about estate and retirement planning, insurance needs, tax planning, charitable giving and educational funding?
- We explore and address these topics as they affect your investment and wealth management plan and work closely with your other advisors to develop an overall, complementary financial strategy.
What’s involved in becoming a client and how often do we meet?
- Please click on What’s Involved.