Scottdale, PA Office

Direct Financial Care provides comprehensive financial planning, financial consulting, discretionary investment management, and retirement plan consulting to individuals (including high-net-worth clients), small businesses, and plan sponsors. The firm reports approximately $232.6 million in discretionary assets under management and additionally advises on about $40.1 million of held-away assets for roughly 97 clients, operating with a two-advisor team.

The firm primarily uses a passive investment approach, constructing portfolios from low-cost index mutual funds and ETFs and employing weekly reviews to identify drift and rebalance as needed, while supplementing with third-party research for select individual securities and bonds. Investment management is typically discretionary, and clients may impose reasonable restrictions on holdings for values-based or other preferences; the firm also relies on account aggregation and custodial reporting to monitor held-away assets.

Distinctive aspects include the combination of a small advisory team overseeing relatively large discretionary assets alongside a material amount of assets under advisement, reflecting a mix of directly managed and held-away relationships. Operational practices that may be noteworthy to prospective clients include the firm’s primary custodian relationships (including Charles Schwab), use of standing letters of authorization and fee-deduction arrangements that create constructive custody subject to written safeguards, and limited assistance with simple estate planning documents via a web-based application.