How is this product/service different from what's already available? If you were to describe the ideal investment mechanism from a consumer's perspective — an R Account would be it. We've studied what investors dislike about mutual funds and worked to right the wrongs. The system is created entirely from the customer's point of view. Three areas that are particularly noteworthy — 1) it creates outstanding performance potential 2) it is ethics based which lets us create the perfect partnership between both advisor and client, and investment advisor and industry 3) it incorporates a totally transparent structure. We work for the client, we don't work for anyone else. Back To Top Is this a product or is it a service? Our "R Account" is both. Our product is the Money Masters portfolio that we have created, but we actively manage the portfolio for the investor so it's also a service. Back To Top Why not just buy mutual funds that already are rated by Morningstar? Morningstar offers a great service, rating thousands of funds. But they leave the investment decisions up to the individual investor. We have found that many investors are confused and uncertain about where to go for truly independent, credible and effective financial advice. As a result, billions of consumer dollars remain invested in mutual funds delivering poor performance. It doesn't have to be this way. We do the heavy lifting for them, using a highly disciplined evaluation system to deliver the best-of-the-best investment funds and managers without bias of any kind. Back To Top Do you have access to/cooperation from these mutual funds? To identify our Money Masters, we screen more than 8,000 mutual fund managers and score them against our strict selection criteria including manager tenure, performance results, style consistency, regulatory compliance and fund availability. To become a a Money Master, funds must be in their peer group top quartile and outperform our pre-determined benchmark over one, three, five and 10 year review periods. Money Masters do not hold client money and we have no direct relationship with them. Assets are deposited directly with Fidelity Investments, our third party custodian – and then invested using our Money Masters. This creates another level of checks and balances. Back To Top You say you offer independent advice. What do you mean by that? As much as 90 percent of the nation's 20,000 Registered Investment Advisory firms accept some form of extra compensation fees over and above the fees they take from their clients. (For example, 12b1 fees). We have eliminated these fees entirely. Money Masters does not accept commissions or payments of any kind from the financial services industry. Our clear impartiality gives us the freedom to select the "best of the best" investment funds and managers without bias of any kind. Back To Top How do you know customers will be comfortable turning over their money to an online operation? Online investment management has come a long way in terms of ease-of-use technology and security and more customers are investing and banking online every day. We have invested a great deal of money to provide the latest technology through our partnership with Diligent Partners, a key player in providing technology for the financial services industry. In addition, an account manager also is available to talk with the customer at any time. Back To Top Are you providing customized investment advice or is it a one-size fits all product? Each portfolio is strategically structured and contains our 10 Money Masters stock funds and our five Money Masters bond funds. The difference between the portfolios lies in the percentage of the funds allocated to each of our Masters. The difference reflects a number of factors – such as risk tolerance, age of the investor and investment goals. Back To Top Does this investment include financial planning services? Before we accept an investor, he or she must fill out questionnaire so we can understand their risk tolerance and investment goals. Once we have determined the investment profile, when we can create their portfolio. We do offer a separate financial planning service, but this is not required to invest in Money Masters. Back To Top