Our Portfolio Manager Earns the Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®) Designation

Services we’ll be offering going forward are consultative in nature and reflect the Fiduciary Consulting direction we’ve moved toward over the past couple of years. This includes:

• Fiduciary Training for Investment Stewards, Investment Committees and their members, Trustees, etc.
• Assessments of Fiduciary practices and prudent investment selections for workplace retirement plans, trusts, etc.
• Education on investing topics with a Fiduciary focus.

We’re also able to expand the work that we already do with workplace retirement plans (401(k) and 403(b)’s), HSA’s, and other business level investment Fiduciary Consulting work.

As a firm with a heavy Fiduciary and Ethics focus, we’ve found it prudent to pursue instituting an Ethics Advisory Board to advise our own practice on the ethical implications of various investment vehicles, selection processes, and financial planning processes. As our firm expands into increasingly sophisticated and specialized areas of financial & investment advice, it’s important that we utilize more sophisticated guidance on the ethics of these more complicated practices.

The Advisory Board will be composed of knowledgable experts in ethics. We hope to announce the Advisory Board members in the summer of 2020. Stay tuned!

Fiduciaries manage other people’s money with a legal and ethical responsibility to put the needs and benefit of their clients ahead of the advisor’s (or the Advisory Firm’s) own interests. Chaim Investment Advisors has always been a Fiduciary practice. The Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®) is an advanced education in Fiduciary practice that recognizes that a good investment practice is not based primarily on picking the right investments- it’s the process of decision making that needs to be consistent, prudent, and based on due professional care.

In practice, that isn’t terribly difficult to do when a client only has an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a Brokerage account that needs managing. Things quickly get more complicated in real life, and as Chaim Investment Advisors has branched further into Insurance advice, Real Estate analysis, planning for workplace benefits (401(k)’s and the like), etc., our need for more the highest degree of advanced expertise in Fiduciary Law and Principles has also grown.

As mentioned above, this allows us to offer more advanced Consultant services that are based on advising not just assets we have under our care and management, but advises those who carry that responsibility themselves. An example would be an Investment Committee of a Trust that has a Fiduciary responsibility to the beneficiaries of the Trust. Yes, they can hire outside management. But even in the hiring process itself, they are acting as Fiduciaries and must exercise due care along the way. Our expertise level in this area has advanced over time and throughout earning the AIF® that we can advise on this and other Fiduciary processes at a more Institutional level.

AIF^® Code of Ethics

To my clients, I will:

1. Employ and provide the client information on the Prudent Practices when serving as an investment fiduciary and/or advising other investment fiduciaries.
2. Act with honesty and integrity and avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
3. Ensure the timely and understandable disclosure of relevant information that is accurate, complete, and objective.
4. Be responsible when determining the value of my services and my form of compensation; taking into consideration the time, skill, experience, and special circumstances involved in providing my services.
5. Know the limits of my expertise, and refer my clients to colleagues and/or other professionals in connection with issues beyond my knowledge and skills.
6. Respect the confidentiality of information acquired in the course of my work, and not disclose such information to others, except when authorized or otherwise legally obligated to do so. I will not use confidential information acquired in the course of my work for my personal advantage.
7. Not exploit any relationship or responsibility that has been entrusted to me.

To my community (whether defined by work, family, and/or friends), I will:

1. Proactively promote and be a steward of ethical behavior as a responsible partner among my peers in the work environment and in my community.
2. Ensure that the overall promotion of my practice is implemented in the best interests of my profession.
3. Seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work; acknowledge and correct errors; and properly credit the contributions of others.
4. Use corporate assets and resources employed or entrusted to me in a responsible manner.
5. Continue to improve my knowledge and skills, share ideas and information with colleagues, and assist them.