Cox Financial Group, Ltd.

The firm provides investment advisory and financial planning services to a small client base that includes individual investors (both non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth households), trusts, pension and profit-sharing plans, and limited partnerships. Services include discretionary portfolio management of equities, fixed income and balanced portfolios, alternative investments, estate and retirement planning, and tax-related services including complimentary personal tax return preparation for larger accounts.

CFG bases recommendations on a comprehensive review of each client’s financial situation — including tax status, liquidity, risk tolerance and retirement goals — and typically delegates public market portfolio management to a sub-adviser while retaining ongoing monitoring and client reporting. The firm generally manages assets on a discretionary basis, honors socially responsible investing preferences, does not engage in commodities/options/short sales for managed accounts, and provides clients with periodic inventories and year-to-date performance results.

What is noteworthy for a firm of this size is the number of nonstandard affiliations and offerings: the adviser has affiliated legal and real-estate-related entities that sponsor and manage real estate limited partnerships, acts as general partner in some offerings, and provides related property-management and brokerage services, with annual internal valuations and disclosed potential conflicts. The firm also serves pension and profit-sharing plans, charges percentage-of-assets fees, and while it makes affiliated private placements available to clients, it does not operate as a private fund adviser.