Investment Advisory Contracts

At the core of the formal client-professional relationship, especially investment advisory relationships, is the client contract. This document outlines the services that a securities professional will provide his clients, spells out what the fees or commissions will be, discloses conflicts of interest, etc. Since this is such an important piece of documentation, the NASAA has put standards in place regarding the contract.

New and renewed investment advisory contracts must:

• • Be in writing
• • Outline all services to be provided
• • Contain a term (time limit) for the contract
• • Contain the advisory fee
• • Include the formula for calculating the fee
• • Specify the amount of the fee to be returned if the client term