CLIENT FAQs
I don’t live anywhere near Louisville, KY. Can I be a JMA client?
Just Money Advisors has clients in more than 25 states in the US. If you’re comfortable working by phone, e-mail, or an online video platform, distance is no barrier. We also make regular trips to regions where we have several clients. So even if you’re not geographically close to Louisville, KY, we are close enough to work together.
How does JMA charge for services?
Most clients retain Just Money Advisors for ongoing, fee-based investment management and financial planning. We do not work for commissions. Our goal is to develop and maintain long-term working relationships with our clients. We are committed to knowing our clients well enough that we understand both your financial goals, the motivations behind those goals, and your social and environmental concerns. We fashion investment portfolios designed to meet your unique needs while reflecting, to the extent possible, your personal values and social priorities.
We are compensated for the services we offer in one of two ways, depending on the type of client relationship.
Asset-based fees
Our fees for investment management services are based on a percentage of assets under management and vary depending on the total value of the client accounts. We will be happy to show you our fee schedule.
Hourly planning/consulting fee
For people with targeted questions, we are available to work on an hourly basis. Perhaps you are looking for a financial overview or retirement projection, an answer to that key question, “How am I doing financially?” Hourly work may also be appropriate if you are looking for help with planning for college funding, a review of your current investment portfolio, or other specific questions. For hourly work, JMA charges $150 per hour, with a four-hour minimum.
Community investment consultations include a brief overview to ensure whether community investing is appropriate in your situation, discussion of the many options available to people who want to put their money to work for maximum social impact, and guidance through the community investment process.
What does it mean to be a fiduciary?
The advisors at Just Money Advisors are investment fiduciaries. A fiduciary is legally obligated to act in their client’s best interest. Although fiduciary status is sometimes controversial in the financial services industry, it is not controversial at JMA because we are fundamentally ethical people. Of course, we act in our clients’ best interests–every decision, every day. In the long term, our clients’ best interests are our best interests; we are together working for clients’ well-being and a just and healthy world.
What is the relationship between JMA and NI?
The formal explanation of our relationship is all over this website: The persons doing business as Just Money Advisors are Investment Advisor Representatives of Natural Investments, LLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor firm.
What does that mean? Each layer of the financial services industry is regulated. JMA advisors are licensed appropriately to offer investment advice and to trade securities on behalf of our clients. But we are required to have (and deeply appreciate) regulatory services to ensure we are acting in our clients’ best interests and complying with securities regulations.
JMA contracts with Natural Investments to provide those regulatory services for us. Natural Investments is registered with and monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission; JMA is not a registered entity with the SEC. That’s why legal documents such as the client services agreement and investment policy statement are, technically, agreements between clients and NI, with JMA advisors acting as agents of NI.
And yet each of the 18 advisors under NI’s supervision is independent. We all specialize in socially responsive investing, but we each have our own emphasis and ways of working.
Our relationship with Natural Investments offers even more to clients as well as advisors. We function a bit like a coop, joining together for performance reporting and billing services, contact management software, compliance-required archiving of all e-mail correspondence, and more. As a group, we get lower-cost trades and mutual fund shares than if we worked alone.
Equally important, we have colleagues, sharing ideas and expertise across the firm.
Just Money Advisors is small, offering the benefits of personal attention and individual relationships. But the added scope of Natural Investment’s services and resources and a network of experienced SRI colleagues and industry leaders allow us to offer many of the advantages of a large firm at the same time.