Peirce Capital Management, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor, not a broker.

Brokers are required to provide “suitable products” to their clients.

Fee-only advisors are fiduciaries, required to provide “for the best interest of the client”. Fiduciary duty is generally considered the highest legal duty one party can have to another.

The difference between these two levels of accountability creates a huge difference in the approaches that are used.

Approach

A fee-only advisor is free to use what the advisor determines is the best approach for the client, based on the large amount of academic research available to us. Fee-only advisors often focus on a diversified portfolio of low cost, passively managed mutual funds…because we can!

Brokers are typically constrained by the products consistent with their company’s business model, which perpetually have the conflict between the return to the client, and the return to the company.

“You should fire your broker and find an investment advisor. Brokerage firms would like you to think that they perform the same function as investment advisors. Many brokers call themselves ‘financial consultants’ or ‘financial advisors’. But they are not the same as independent investment advisors…an investment advisor’s fiduciary duty is on a higher plane, like that of a lawyer, a trustee, or the executor of an estate.”

– Arthur Levitt, Former SEC Chairman