The principles of Academy Wealth Advisers bring a wealth of successful business experience to the business of managing your hard earned investments. We know from personal experience how difficult it is to build a successful business or career and how important it is to invest and protect the rewards of your life's work with an investment plan that is intelligent, prudent, disciplined and specifically tailored to you.
Services/Products
Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm providing investment advice, portfolio management, diversification and asset allocation strategies. We provide investors with focused, clear, efficient and straight-forward investment advice that is strategically aligned with your financial needs, objectives, risk tolerance and investing time horizon. Located near Philadelphia.
Academy Wealth Advisers, LLC ("Academy") is a Registered Investment Advisor ("RIA"), registered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Academy provides investment management and related services to it clients. Academy will file and maintain all applicable licenses as required by the state securities boards and/or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as applicable. Academy renders individualized responses to persons in a particular state only after complying with the state's regulatory requirements, or pursuant to an applicable state exemption or exclusion.
Mutual Funds
Choosing the share class most suitable for you depends on your investing time horizon, the amount you will invest, whether you qualify for any discounts and whether the investment will be made in a brokerage or advisory account. If you purchase a mutual fund through a retail broker you may be charged a sales load fee (as high as 5.75%) at time of purchase (Class A shares), later when you sell the mutual fund (Class B shares) or on an ongoing basis (Class C shares). A sales load fee is like a commission that investors pay when they purchase any type of security from a broker. In the case of Class A shares, the full price paid upfront by the investor is reduced (by the sales load fee) and thus not entirely invested in fund shares. Another important fee to be considered is the 12b-1 fee, which is a fee paid by the mutual fund out of fund assets to cover distribution and shareholder service expenses. Discounts are often available at different purchase thresholds or breakpoints or if you, along with qualifying family members, hold mutual funds in the same fund family. Class A shares are generally suitable for large amounts invested for the long term, particularly if discounts can lower the upfront sales load. Class B shares (with their higher 12b-1 fees and back-end sales charge) may be more suitable for investing small amounts over a long-term horizon. Class C shares may prove to be less expensive than Class A or B shares if you have a short investment timeline and a small amount to invest.
Bonds
Wealth Management
Richard M. Welch, Jr. (Rick) specializes in providing investment advice, portfolio management, diversification and asset allocation strategies. Located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near the City of Philadelphia, he uses his 30 years of investment experience to serve clients across the Mid Atlantic region. He is responsible for managing all client relationships, portfolio management services, investment research, performance reporting, compliance and marketing. A published author, he has written over fifty articles on a broad range of investing, financial planning and wealth management topics.
Money Market Funds
A mutual fund is an actively managed investment fund with day-to-day managers who buy and sell securities according to a plan which designates a specific purpose, style or category. Current estimates place total net assets in domestic mutual funds at approximately $19.0 trillion. At present, about 60% of mutual funds focus on equities, 25% are bond funds, 10% are target date funds and 5% are money market funds. Many mutual funds offer different types, or classes, of shares all of which invest in the same investment portfolio and will have the same investment objectives and policies. Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on this topic states “that each class will have different shareholder services and/or distribution agreements with different fees and expenses and, therefore, different performance results. A multi-class structure offers investors the ability to select a fee and expense structure that is most appropriate for their investment goals (including the time that they expect to remain invested in the fund).” The timing and amount of mutual fund fees must be considered as you design and execute your investment plan. The choice then for investors boils down to two things: how much you pay in fees and when you pay those fees, both decisions which can have a significant impact on the long-term investment return of your portfolio.
We provide comprehensive financial planning services designed to meet all of your investment management and retirement planning needs. What can you expect from Academy Wealth Advisers? You can expect expert, professional investment and financial advice from advisors that truly care about you.
Retirement Planning
Planning for retirement requires you to make assumptions about your life and the world around you. Your path to retirement is a personal one with twists and turns along the way that are unique to you and your circumstances. Together we will examine your potential retirement income sources and develop a plan to safely manage their growth and preservation in the years leading up to and into your retirement. With us by your side, you can rest assured that we will have an in depth understanding of your vision of what a happy, healthy and prosperous retirement is.
Asset Management
As we design an investment portfolio we focus on sound investing principles, our belief in efficient investing, the importance of diversification and how asset allocation impacts expected return. Our wealth managers are experienced in creating investment plans that balance risk and expected return, are well diversified, efficient and transparent. Our work starts with a strategic asset allocation that is the foundation of the portfolio, then, we use tactical overlays to take advantage of short-term market trends. Our goal is to capture significant upside in rising markets with less downside in declining ones.