Introduction
Good Life Advisors, LLC is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisor. Advisory services and fees are different from brokerage services. It is important to understand the difference and carefully consider which account type and services are right for you. This document provides a summary of the services provided by Good Life Advisors, LLC and the associated fees. In addition, free and simple tools are available to research firms and financial professionals at Investor.gov/CRS. The tools provide educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisors, and investing.
Relationships & Services
What investment services and advice can you provide me?
Good Life Advisors, LLC strives to meet with clients, no less than annually, to provide investment advice, develop strategies and define goals as well as regularly monitor investments as part of our standard services. Assets can be managed on a discretionary or a non-discretionary basis. Discretionary authority allows Good Life Advisors, LLC to buy and sell securities without asking in advance and without material limitations whereas non-discretionary authority would be limited to offering advice, but you would make the decision to buy or sell. Good Life Advisors, LLC receives compensation by charging a quarterly on-going asset management fee. Good Life Advisors, LLC can also receive compensation based on a fixed fee or an hourly fee as disclosed in our ADV 2A. Advisory services are not limited to proprietary products or a limited menu of products. There is no minimum dollar amount required to open an account.
Conversation Starters: Given my financial situation, should I choose an investment advisory service? Why or why not? How will you choose investments to recommend to me? What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education, and other qualifications? What do these qualifications mean?
Fees, Costs, Conflicts and Standard of Conduct
What Fees will I Pay?
Fees and costs affect the value of your account over time. Good Life Advisors, LLC charges a management fee based on a percentage of assets under management and can also charge separately for financial planning and/or an hourly consulting engagement. You pay our advisory fee even if you do not buy or sell and whether you make or lose money during the billing period. Good Life Advisors, LLC has a fiduciary duty to manage an account in a cost-effective manner and considers custodian fees, account maintenance fees, fees related to mutual funds (12b-1 fees) and variable annuities, and other transactional fees (ticket charges) and product-level fees when making investment recommendations. In a wrap fee program, the asset-based fee will include most transaction costs and fees to the broker/dealer or bank that will hold your assets (called “custody”) and as a result wrap fees are typically higher than non-wrap advisory fees. Paying for a wrap fee program could cost more than separately paying for advice and for transactions if there are infrequent trades.
What are your legal obligations to me when acting as my investment advisor?
As an investment advisor, we always have a fiduciary duty to act in your best interest.
How else does your firm make money and what conflicts of interest do you have?
Good Life Advisors, LLC does not offer proprietary product, receive payments from third parties for investment advice, participate in a revenue sharing agreement or conduct principal trading. The more assets you have in an advisory account, the more you will pay us. We therefore have an incentive to increase the assets in your account to increase our advisory fees. Additional information about conflicts of interest are available in our ADV 2A.
How do your financial professionals make money?
Financial Professionals are compensated based on a percentage of assets under management. The percentage charged is based on the scope and complexity of your account, the amount of time and expertise required as well as the account value. Financial Professionals can also make money by providing financial plans or charging an hourly consulting fee.
Conversation Starters: Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give you $10,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for me? How do conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?
Disciplinary History
Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?
Good Life Advisors, LLC has no disciplinary history to disclose; however, certain Financial Professionals do. We encourage you to visit Investor.gov for a free and simple search tool to research our firm and our financial professionals. To report a problem to the SEC, visit Investor.gov or call the SEC’s toll-free investor assistance line at (800) 732-0330.
Conversation Starter: Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?
Additional Information
Some of our Financial Professionals are registered representatives of LPL Financial LLC (“LPL”), an SEC registered broker/dealer and investment advisor. Your Financial Professional can offer you brokerage services through LPL or investment advisory services through Good Life Advisors, LLC. Brokerage services and investment advisory services are different, and the fees we, and LPL, charge for those services are different. It is important that you understand the differences. In particular, your Financial Professional can earn additional transaction-based compensation and have additional conflicts of interest as a result of providing brokerage services through LPL. You are encouraged to learn more about LPL by reviewing LPL’s Form CRS – Customer Relationship Summary and having a discussion with your Financial Professional. You can also access free and simple tools to help you research firms and financial professionals at Investor.gov/CRS, which provides educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisors, and investing.
You could also open a brokerage account with a broker/dealer, where you pay a transaction-based fee, generally referred to as a commission, when the broker/dealer buys or sells an investment for you. With a broker/dealer, you can select investments, or the broker/dealer may recommend investments for your account, but the ultimate decision to buy or sell will be yours. A broker/dealer must act in your best interest and not place its interests ahead of your interest when recommending an investment or an investment strategy involving securities. When a broker/dealer provides any service to you, the broker/dealer must treat you fairly and comply with a number of specific obligations. Unless you and the broker/dealer agree otherwise, the broker/dealer is not required to monitor your portfolio on an ongoing basis. If you were to pay a transaction-based fee in a brokerage account, the more trades in your account, the more fees the broker/dealer would charge you. Consequently, the broker/dealer has an incentive to encourage you to trade often. You can receive investment advice in either type of account, depending on the fee structure you prefer. To request an updated Customer Relationship Summary, please contact us at (610) 898-6927.
Conversation Starter: Who is my primary contact person? Is he or she a representative of an investment advisor or a broker/dealer? Who can I talk to if I have concerns about how this person is treating me?