First Horizon Advisors, Inc., formerly known as FTB Advisors, Inc., is a financial advisor firm that's based out of Memphis, Tennessee. The firm manages assets for individual and institutional clients. Although this is an investment-centric firm, financial planning offerings like retirement planning, insurance planning and family office services are available.
Certain members of the advisory staff at First Horizon have the ability to sell insurance and investment products on a commission basis. These charges are in addition to client-paid fees. That makes First Horizon a fee-based firm; by contrast, a fee-only firm earns all of its compensation from the charges that clients pay.
First Horizon Advisors Background
First Horizon Advisors first opened for business in 2007 under the name First Tennessee Advisory Services, Inc. In 2013, the firm merged with an affiliated broker-dealer and became FTB Advisors, Inc. Then, in October 2019, the firm changed to its current name. Today, the firm is owned by First Horizon Corporation, which is a holding company that also owns First Horizon Bank, a financial institution with branches throughout the Southeast.
The advisory team at this firm is quite large, meaning there are plenty of advisory certifications to go around. These include certified financial planner (CFP), certified retirement counselor (CRC) and accredited investment fiduciary (AIF).
First Horizon Advisors Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
First Horizon Advisors works with a wide range of different clients, such as individuals with and without a high net worth, banking or thrift institutions, pension and profit sharing plans, charitable organizations, government entities, insurance companies and businesses.
To open an investment management account with this firm, you'll need at least $100,000 in investable assets. The firm reserves the right to waive this requirement, though.
Services Offered by First Horizon Advisors
First Horizon Advisors offers investment management services to its clients via a wrap fee program called Managed Account Solutions (MAS), which is made available through a third-party firm called Envestnet Asset Management, Inc. While this program encompasses a few versions of the firms investing services, it offers a plethora of others as well. For example, you can take advantage of the First Horizon Digital Advisor program, which is an interactive, online robo-advisor platform.
Take a look below for a deeper overview of the other services at First Horizon:
- In-house investment management
- Comes as either a discretionary or non-discretionary service
- Current investment portfolio review
- Asset allocation plan development
- Portfolio performance monitoring
- Corporate Retirement Plan (CRP) services
- Investment manager recommendations
- Plan service provider selections
- Ongoing investment manager review
- Investment policy statement (IPS) creation
- Financial planning
- Retirement planning
- Insurance planning
- Long-term care planning
- Family office services
- Estate planning
- Risk management
- Day-to-day money management
- Financial life organization
- Banking services
First Horizon Advisors Investment Philosophy
First Horizon Advisors approaches the investment process with an eye toward diversification, seeking to split investments across asset classes, geographic regions, management styles and ownership structures. The firm's in-house investment committee maintains a broad policy that derives from top-down, macroeconomic analysis. Additionally, the firm's advisors rely on this policy to create asset allocations that align with each client's financial goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, income needs, investment preferences and more.
When assembling investment portfolios for clients, advisors at the firm typically pull from separate account managers, no-load mutual funds, large-cap stocks, investment-grade bonds and other fixed-income securities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), hybrid mutual funds, real assets, hedge products and alternative investments. Which types of securities live within your portfolio will depend on your investor profile.
Fees Under First Horizon Advisors
When it comes to the fees for ongoing investment management services, First Horizon Advisors generally charges clients a percentage of their assets under management (AUM). These charges usually vary from 0.25% to 1.25%. The exact rate is negotiable, though it will likely depend on the size of your account and the program you decide to go with.
Fees for retirement plan services and other advisory services may come with a fixed fee, an asset-based annual fee or both. Again, this will depend on the nature and complexity of your personal financial situation.
What to Watch Out For
In total, First Horizon Advisors has five disclosures listed on its legal and regulatory record. Two of these apply to advisory affiliates of the firm, whereas the other three are in the firm's name. The most recent disclosure is from April 2022, when the firm was accused by FINRA of failing to supervise a registered representative, which resulted in undisclosed outside business activity. This resulted in a fine of $175,000 and a censure order.
First Horizon is a fee-based firm. This means certain advisors may earn commissions for overseeing securities transactions or initiating insurance product sales in their separate capacities as registered broker-dealer representatives or insurance agents. This practice creates an incentive that represents a potential conflict of interest. Despite this, the firm and its advisors are required to act in clients' best interests, as it legally abides by fiduciary duty.
Opening an Account With First Horizon Advisors
If you’re looking to become a client of First Horizon Advisors, there are a couple different ways to start the process. You can call the firm’s headquarters at (800) 213-3702, or you can head online to the firm’s website and fill out a contact form so an advisor can reach out to you directly.
All information was accurate as of the writing of this article.
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