Lakewood Ranch, FL Office

Ferguson Shapiro is a team-based SEC-registered investment adviser managing roughly $415 million on behalf of individuals (including high-net-worth clients), corporations, pension and profit-sharing plans, foundations, estates, and trusts. The firm offers discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management, written financial planning, and fee-based variable annuity advisory services through Lincoln Financial Group, and it operates a separate wrap-fee program disclosed in its Wrap Fee Brochure.

The firm’s process begins with a review of a client’s financial “story” to create a tailored blueprint that sets savings goals, required rates of return and an individualized asset allocation; clients can impose reasonable investment restrictions. Portfolio implementation blends in-house enhanced strategies—including options trading, margin and the selective use of leveraged/inverse ETFs for concentrated positions—with selections of third-party money managers and model execution and rebalancing via GeoWealth.

Among peers, Ferguson Shapiro discloses arrangements that could influence product selection: the brochure notes indirect compensation from First Trust when First Trust ETFs or products are included in Ferguson Shapiro model portfolios, and that First Trust may cover GeoWealth platform fees in certain circumstances. The firm also cites use of third-party research and corporate ratings in its analysis and explicitly describes its role as a wrap-fee program sponsor, disclosures that are less common among similarly sized team firms.