Overview
Schaper, Benz & Wise Investment Counsel, Inc. (“SBW”), founded in 1992, provides
professional portfolio management services primarily to high-net worth individuals and families,
foundations, pension and profit sharing plans and corporations by providing continuous
investment advice and management based upon the individual needs and objectives of each
client. SBW is an independent firm 100% owned by its employees. Bradley E. Benz has a
controlling interest in the firm.
We work with clients to establish appropriate investment objectives and policies based on the
client’s unique circumstances. We provide investment advisory services on a discretionary basis.
We make all investment decisions for client accounts and, when we deem appropriate and
without prior consultation with the client, we buy and sell stocks, bonds, other securities and
other financial instruments as we may select, subject to any written investment objectives,
policies and restrictions as the client may from time to time provide to us. From time to time, we
provide investment advisory services on a non-discretionary basis.
We manage equity, fixed income and money market strategies for our clients. From time to
time, we also provide personal financial planning services. These services may include income
planning, retirement planning, cash-flow planning and budgeting. As part of our advisory
services, we may provide recommendations concerning your employer retirement plan or other
qualified retirement account.
We may recommend that you consider withdrawing the assets
from your retirement account and rolling the assets over to an individual retirement account
(“IRA”). We provide investment advisory services to assets rolled over into an IRA or another
account for which we receive compensation. If a client rolls retirement account assets into an
IRA that we advise, we will charge an asset-based fee as described below in Item 5 – “Fees and
Compensation”. Please see Item 19 – “Additional Information” for additional disclosures
regarding retirement account rollovers.
SBW also provides financial planning and administrative services to certain clients as part of our
Family Wealth Counsel program. These services include retirement planning, financial and tax
planning, charitable planning, fiduciary trustee advising, private foundation administrative
services and estate tax planning in consultation with the client’s legal counsel. These services
may be provided in conjunction with investment advisory services or on a stand-alone basis.
We will not offer any products or services that guarantee rates of return on investments for any
time period to any client. All clients will assume the risk that investment returns may be
negative or below the rates of return of other investment advisers, market indices or investment
products.
As of December 31, 2023, we managed $1,381,835,279 in assets on a discretionary basis. As of
such date, we managed $17,488,932 in assets on a non-discretionary basis.