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Focused Wealth Management 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.

Focused Wealth Management is a financial advisor firm headquartered in Newburgh, New York millions in assets under management. The vast majority of the firm’s clients are individuals, but it also provides advisory services to pension plans, high net worth individuals and charities. Using a continuous and comprehensive approach to asset allocation and investment selection, the firm offers investment management services, financial planning services and several wrap fee programs to its clients.

Focused Wealth Management Background

Focused Wealth Management was founded in 1994 under the name Passante Associates LLC. It adopted the name Focused Wealth Management in 2010 when the current managing director of wealth management, Philip J. DeAngelo, assumed ownership of the firm.

Focused Wealth Management Types of Clients and Minimum Account Sizes

Focused Wealth Management’s clients include individuals, high net worth individuals, pension and profit sharing plans, charitable organizations and government entities. 

Focused Wealth Management does not have a set minimum for its investment management services. The annual management fee for these services is negotiated with each client, with 2% being the maximum management fee.

Services Offered by Focused Wealth Management

Focused Wealth Management offers a standard range of services to its clients, separated into a handful of programs. The Financial Advisor Wrap Fee Program is a bundled program in which Focused Wealth Management connects clients with investment managers at Securities America Advisors, a separate SEC-registered investment advisor. You’ll pay a single bundled fee for advisory services, custody, execution and clearing services.

Focused Wealth Management also offers its own proprietary wrap fee program in which the firm’s investment management committee monitors the accounts. Your bundled fee in this program will be based on a percentage of your assets. In addition to these wrap fee programs, the firm also offers conventional investment management, financial planning and consulting services.

Focused Wealth Management Investment Philosophy

Focused Wealth Management weighs several factors when selecting both asset managers and exchange traded funds (ETFs). These include trading platform availability, performance relative to assumed risk, assets under management, stability and growth in assets over time. The firm believes that proper asset allocation is the most important factor to consider when thinking about how to achieve long-term growth.

When analyzing equity and fixed income options for clients, the firm examines factors such as a company's balance sheet, income statement, liquidity, profitability, price volatility and credit rating. The firm also factors in market conditions, economic conditions, legislative risks and competition. Typically, the firm reevaluates its selections on a quarterly basis.

Fees Under Focused Wealth Management

Focused Wealth Management doesn't maintain a fee schedule for its advisory services based on the size of your account. For the Financial Advisors Program, the Focused Wealth Wrap Fee Program and any other investment management services, the firm will negotiate an annual fee with clients; as stated above, the fee will not be more than 2% of your account size.

The Financial Advisors program charges fees monthly in advance. The Focused Wealth Wrap Fee Program charges fees monthly in arrears. For any other investment management services, you'll pay the fees quarterly in advance. For financial planning and consulting services, fees won't exceed $150 per hour. These fees will be paid upon completion of the work performed or on a monthly basis.

Learn more about advisors' typical costs here.

What to Watch out For

Representatives at Focused Wealth Management are also registered representatives with Securities America, Inc. (SAI), which is a broker-dealer registered with FINRA. As representatives of a broker-dealer, these individuals may buy or sell securities and receive commissions. This means that if your account with Focused Wealth Management uses SAI as a custodian or broker-dealer, your Focused Wealth Management representative could be presented with a conflict of interest. Your representative would have an incentive to conduct transactions that would result in commissions, regardless of whether of whether they're best for your needs. 

Focused Wealth representatives also serve as separately licensed insurance agents and may receive the commissions typical of the sale of certain insurance products. This also creates a potential conflict of interest since the representatives will have an incentive to recommend these insurance products independent of what is in your best interest.

Focused Wealth Management is bound by fiduciary duty to act in its clients' best interest and to make its clients aware of these potential conflicts of interest before entering into any sort of advisory relationship. The firm also makes clear that its clients are under no obligation to purchase those products for which its advisors would receive commissions.

According to its latest SEC-filed Form ADV, Focused Wealth Management doesn’t have any disclosures.

Opening an Account With Focused Wealth Management

To get in touch with Focused Wealth Management, you can fill out the contact form on the firm's website. You can also call the firm at (845) 691-4035 to start the process of speaking with an advisor.

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

Tips for Finding a Financial Advisor

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  • As you begin your search for an advisor, it's helpful to consider why you're looking in the first place. Do you need assistance setting up an IRA or a 529 plan? Do you want to build a comprehensive financial plan? Or are you just starting to dip your toes into investing and want some basic guidance? If it's the latter, you may be interested in looking into a robo-advisor. These typically have lower account minimums, so you can start small and still work toward your goals.

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