Trust Advisory Group Review

Disciplinary Questions

After checking the disciplinary records of Trust Advisory Group, our system found no disciplinary questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.

Conflict Questions

After checking the regulatory records of Trust Advisory Group, our system has identified the following question(s) to ask. Learn more.

Is Trust Advisory Group also a Broker-Dealer or are they affiliated with one? What conflicts arise from this relationship? How does Trust Advisory Group mitigate them?

Currently Trust Advisory Group is also a Broker-Dealer or is affiliated with one. When firms are dual-registered as broker-dealers, they may be subject to compensation-related conflicts of interest, including revenue sharing from mutual funds, cross-selling of commissioned insurance products, and the sale of proprietary investment products. All of these conflicts can negatively impact clients via hidden fees and overall higher costs.

Does Trust Advisory Group offer mutual funds that have 12b-1 fees?

12b-1 fees increase the total annual cost of owning a mutual fund with no guarantee of higher returns. Some firms receive these fees as payments, which creates an incentive to promote them.

How does Trust Advisory Group approach insurance sales? What conflicts do I need to be made aware of?

Currently Trust Advisory Group actively practices as insurance brokers or agents, or they are affiliated with an insurance company or agency. This arrangement creates a conflict where the firm and its representatives may be motivated to insure clients with products, including annuities and life insurance, that generate high sales commissions when lower-cost alternatives may exist.

Does Trust Advisory Group practice as a law firm? Is Trust Advisory Group affiliated with one?

This firm or an affiliate actively engages in business as a law firm or lawyer. When operating in this dual-capacity, advisors may be incentivized to implement plans as an attorney that could drive higher revenue for themselves as investment advisors.

Does Trust Advisory Group offer products that have performance-based fees, or does it accept performance-based fees? Will any of my assets be invested in those products?

When performance-based fees are charged, the financial advisor is paid for outperforming a benchmark, typically an index. While this may seem like an attractive compensation structure to ensure your advisor is making your money work for you, often, the managers of those products are incentivized to take inappropriate risks to beat their performance benchmark. For instance, research has shown that mutual funds that use incentive fees take on more risk that funds that do not, and tend to double down and increase their risk following a poor performance. This could be detrimental to a client during down markets.

Does Trust Advisory Group perform side-by-side management? How does Trust Advisory Group mitigate conflicts that arise from managing accounts with differing fee structures?

This typically occurs when firms manage mutual funds or hedge funds alongside smaller retail accounts. Side-by-side management can create an incentive for the advisor to favor the larger funds, potentially leading to unequal trading costs and unfavorable trade executions for their retail clients.

Which securities does Trust Advisory Group trade for itself that it will also be recommending to me?

Trust Advisory Group has marked in their disclosures that they trade recommended securities. While this often can be seen as "eating your own cooking," there are several inherent conflicts that can arise. For example, front running is when a financial professional buys or sell securities ahead of their client. In short, any financial professional should disclose all positions they hold (or have sold short) that they will also be recommending to you.

Our system found no other conflict questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.