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Eagle Strategies Review

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This review was produced by SmartAsset based on publicly available information. The named firm and its financial professionals have not reviewed, approved, or endorsed this review and are not responsible for its accuracy. Review content is produced by SmartAsset independently of any business relationships that might exist between SmartAsset and the named firm and its financial professionals, and firms and financial professionals having business relationships with SmartAsset receive no special treatment or consideration in SmartAsset’s reviews. This page contains links to SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool, which may or may not match you with the firm mentioned in this review or its financial professionals.

Eagle Strategies, LLC

Headquartered in New York, Eagle Strategies offers financial planning and investment management in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, and many of its advisors are licensed agents or representatives of the insurance company and its subsidiaries, New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation and NYLIFE Securities.

With billions in assets under management, Eagle Strategies almost entirely serves individual clients above and below the high-net-worth threshold. It also provides advisory services to pension and profit-sharing plans, traditional, Roth, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs, trusts and estates, charitable organizations, donor-advised funds and businesses. Generally, its financial planning clients have a net worth or income greater than $50,000.

Eagle Strategies markets its services to financial advisors, not retail clients. However, retail clients can work with the firm through its extensive network of investment advisor representatives (IARs). These advisors may also be insurance agents or representatives of a broker-dealer. In these other roles, they may earn additional compensation in the form of sales commissions. This makes Eagles Strategies a fee-based advisory firm. 

Eagle Strategies Background

Eagle Strategies started as NYLIFE Advisors in 1988. It changed its name to Eagle Strategies, Corp. in 1994 and re-formed as an LLC in 2007.

Greg Webster, the president and CEO of Eagle Strategies, is also a vice president at New York Life Insurance Company. Previously, he held leadership roles at Financial Services Industry Advisory and Consulting, Headwaters SC Group, HSBC Brokerage and Park Avenue Securities.

Eagle Strategies Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes

The bulk of the firm’s business is with individual clients. Roughly 80% of them do not have a high net worth, while the rest do. As mentioned earlier, the firm also serves retirement plans, charitable organizations, corporations and businesses. 

Eagle Strategies offers many different advisory programs with optional features, and account minimums vary, depending on the program and features.

Services Offered by Eagle Strategies

Eagle Strategies’ primary business is providing financial planning and investment management services. It offers many different programs and variations of them. Generally, though, they fall into three categories: wrap fee, non-wrap fee and solicitor. It’s also possible to have a brokerage, mutual fund or other securities product account. Additionally, the vast majority of investment accounts are managed on a non-discretionary basis, meaning advisors will not make trades without getting a client’s approval first.

Under the wrap fee program, there are four programs, collectively called the Lifetime Wealth Portfolio Programs: 

  1. Fund Advisory
  2. Separately Managed Account
  3. Representative Directed 
  4. Unified Managed Account

The Lifetime Wealth Portfolio Programs, in turn, get support from Envestnet Asset Management, Inc. (for platform managerial services), National Financial Services (for custody, clearing and administrative services) and NYLIFE Securities (for brokerage services).

Under the non-wrap fee program, Eagle Strategies offers what it calls financial plans, limited financial planning services, financial seminars and fee-based hourly advice.

Finally, with the solicitor program, where Eagle Strategies will connect clients to unaffiliated third-party advisors to provide investment advisory services, there are two programs: one with Brinker Capital Inc. and one with Frontier Asset Management, LLC

Eagle Strategies Investing Philosophy

Eagle Strategies has no single, overarching investing philosophy, as one of its selling points is access to its diverse network of investment services professionals.

Fees Under Eagle Strategies

Fees vary, depending on the program. Generally, the wrap fee programs base their fees on a percentage of billable assets under management, which roughly amount to the value of securities and cash. On top of the Eagle Strategies’ fee, there is the fee of the investment program sponsor. Here is a breakdown of how much a wrap fee program participant could pay at most:

Eagle Strategies Fee Schedule
Programs Advisor Fee Sponsor Fee Total Client Fee
FA Program 1.50% 0.27% to 0.57% 1.77% to 2.07% 
SMA Program (Fixed-Income Strategies) 1.50% 0.40% to 0.62% 1.90% to 2.12% 
SMA Program (Equity and Balanced Strategies)  1.50% 0.58% to 0.82% 2.08% to 2.32%
Representative Directed Programs  1.50% 0.15% 1.65% 
UMA Programs  1.50% 0.27% to 0.77% 1.77% to 2.27%
Eagle Strategies Prosper Portfolios 0.50% 0/30% 0.80%

What to Watch Out For

According to Eagle Strategies’ most recent SEC-filed Form ADV, it has 30 disclosures on its record. All but three of these apply to advisory affiliates of the firm.

As mentioned earlier, many Eagle Strategies advisors are also broker-dealer representatives or licensed insurance agents who receive commissions. However, they are bound by their fiduciary duty to work in your best interest.

Opening an Account With Eagle Strategies

To contact Eagle Strategies, send an email to Eagle_Strategies_Marketing@newyorklife.com. Alternately, you can go to their website and find an advisor near you by typing in your zip code.

All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.

Tips for Finding the Right Financial Advisor

  • SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
  • Make sure any prospective advisors are fiduciaries. They must put their clients’ best interests before their own, while advisors who are not bound by the fiduciary duty are simply required to make suitable recommendations to their clients.

How Long $1mm Lasts in Retirement

SmartAsset's interactive map highlights places where $1 million will last the longest in retirement. Zoom between states and the national map to see the top spots in each region. Also, scroll over any city to learn about the cost of living in retirement for that location.

Least
Most
Rank City Housing Expenses Food Expenses Healthcare Expenses Utilities Expenses Transportation Expenses

Methodology We analyzed data on average expenditures for seniors, cost of living and investment returns to determine how many years of retirement a $1 million nest egg would cover in cities across America.

First, we looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on the average annual expenditures of seniors. We then applied cost of living data from the Council for Community and Economic Research to adjust those national average spending levels based on the costs of each expense category (housing, food, healthcare, utilities, transportation and other) in each city. Using this data, SmartAsset calculated the average cost of living for retirees in the largest U.S. cities.

We assumed the $1 million would grow at a real return (interest minus inflation) of 2%. Then, we divided $1 million by the sum of each of those annual numbers to determine how long $1 million would cover retirement expenses in each of the cities in our study. Cities where $1 million lasted the longest ranked the highest in the study.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Council for Community and Economic Research