Our Firm
David West, CFA, MBA formed West Advisors, Incorporated in 2003. Our firm became a
registered investment advisor in 2011. David West is the sole owner of West Advisors, Inc.
Our Advisory Services
We will meet with a prospective client to discuss their circumstances, their needs and which of our
services they might want to use before we agree to provide advisory services for a client.
We use a written agreement with each client to define the type and scope of advisory services we
will provide, to specify our fees for those services and to define other important terms of our
advisory services. Either we or our client may terminate our agreement at any time without penalty
by providing written notice to the other party.
In our advisory service agreements we specify that we act as a fiduciary to our client. As a
fiduciary, we are legally required to put our client’s interest ahead of our own.
We offer the following advisory services to clients:
1. Personal Financial Consulting – We provide consulting services to help our clients:
a Define their financial goals
b Understand their present financial circumstances
c Evaluate the likelihood their present course of action will meet their future goals
d Identify different courses of action to improve the likelihood they will meet their future
goals
Financial consulting involves making assumptions about a client’s future investment returns and
future cash flows in order to simulate a client’s future financial situation. A financial plan cannot
predict the future and does not guarantee any particular future financial result. This inherent
limitation of personal financial planning is discussed thoroughly with each client.
Our personal financial consulting service generally consists of the following components, although
we will modify these services to fit the needs and requests of a client:
A. Gather Client Data and Help the Client Define their Goals – Our clients will specify
the financial issues they would like us to analyze. Generally, those financial issues
include:
1. Net worth
2. Annual cash flow
3. Expected spending needs
4. Retirement needs and abilities
5. Comparison of current and suggested investment asset allocation, based on the
client’s investment and risk profile
6. Projection of client’s simulated cash flow over client’s chosen time horizon under
varying scenarios, showing, the sensitivity of the projection to the differing
inputs.
B. Define Responsibilities for Implementing and Monitoring the Investment Plan –
Generally, we assume the responsibility for implementing and monitoring their
investment plan, although the client may retain specified implementation or monitoring
responsibilities.
2. Discretionary Investment Management – In this advisory service, we manage our client’s
specified investment accounts according to our client’s specified investment objectives. We
can manage investment accounts a client may hold in various capacities – for example, as
account owner, as a participant in an employer sponsored retirement plan, as an IRA owner, as
a personal representative of an estate, as a custodian for a uniform transfer to minor account,
or in instances where a client is a trustee of a trust.
As of December 31, 2022, we were providing discretionary investment management to one (1)
client and our client assets under management were approximately three hundred seventy-six
thousand, six hundred seventy-two dollars ($376,672).
Our discretionary investment management service generally consists of the following
components, although we will modify these services to fit the needs and requests of a client.
a. Develop an Investment Strategy- We work with our client to develop a strategic mix
of assets based on our client’s investment objectives, personal circumstances, risk
tolerance and any restrictions our client has placed on allowable investments.
b. Develop an Investment Policy Statement – At client’s request, we expand our
client’s Investment Strategy into a written investment policy statement that will
specify more exhaustively how the client’s funds are to be invested and what
limitations we must follow when we invest the client’s funds. Policy statements
further specify market-based benchmarks against which individual investment
managers or vehicles will be measured, as well as total portfolio benchmarks.
c. Recommend a Custodian and Broker – We will recommend a custodian to hold our
client’s investment accounts and we will recommend a broker to execute security
transactions for our client. Our clients are not obligated to accept our recommendation
of a custodian or broker. In our investment management agreement with each client,
the client will either direct us to use our recommended custodian and broker or the
client will otherwise specify the :ustodian and broker we must use. Please see Item 12
– Brokerage Practices, and Item 15 – Custody, for additional information.
d. Exercise Discretionary Investment Management – We will invest our client’s
investment funds using our own discretion and manage the funds on a continuous and
regular basis, but subject to the guidelines specified by the client.
e. Review Investment Accounts – We will formally review our clients’ investment
accounts on a monthly basis for existing clients, at the time we begin managing funds
for a new client, upon request of a client, or when we consider it necessary to do so
because of market or other circumstances. Please see Item –
8 Methods of Analysis,
Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss and Item 13 – Review of Accounts, where we
further describe our review.
f. Report on Investment Accounts – We issue a written report on our client’s investment
accounts each calendar quarter. We deliver this report to clients in a digital or paper
format depending on the client’s preference.
3. Non-Discretionary Investment Management – In this advisory service, we provide advice to
our clients on their specified investment accounts according to our client’s specified
investment objectives. We can provide advice on investment accounts a client may hold in
various capacities – for example, as account owner, as a participant in an employer sponsored
retirement plan, as an IRA owner, as a personal representative of an estate, as a custodian for
a uniform transfer to minor account, or as trustee of a trust.
As of December 31, 2022, we were providing non-discretionary investment management to
thirteen (13) clients and our client assets under management were approximately four hundred
thirty-seven million, one hundred seventy seven thousand, and nine hundred ninety-six dollars
($437,177.996).
Our non-discretionary investment management service generally consists of the following
components, although we will modify these services to fit the needs and requests of a client:
a. Develop an Investment Strategy - We work with our client to develop a strategic mix
of assets based on our client’s investment objectives, personal circumstances, risk
tolerance and any restrictions our client has placed on allowable investments.
b. Develop an Investment Policy Statement – At client’s request, we expand our client’s
Investment Strategy into a written investment policy statement that will specify more
exhaustively how the client’s funds are to be invested and what limitations we must
follow when we invest the client’s funds. Policy statements further specify market-
based benchmarks against which individual investment managers or investment
vehicles will be measured, as well as total portfolio benchmarks. Policy statements may
further contain additional criteria used in evaluating existing or prospective investment
managers or investment vehicles, including but not limited to fees, key professional
tenure, transparency, and sustainability of investment process.
c. Recommend a Custodian and Broker – We will recommend a custodian to hold our
client’s investment accounts and we will recommend a broker to execute security
transactions for our client. Our clients are not obligated to accept our recommendation
of a custodian or broker. In our investment management agreement with each client,
the client will either direct us to use our recommended custodian and broker or the
client will otherwise specify the custodian and broker we must use. Please see Item 12
– Brokerage Practices, and Item 15 – Custody, for additional information.
d. Exercise Non-Discretionary Investment Management – We will actively monitor our
client’s investment funds and provide our clients with recommendations regarding their
investment funds. Funds are monitored on a continuous and regular basis. We review
and recommend investment vehicles. Our firm receives no referral fees, in part or in
whole, from other investment advisers or vehicles we recommend.
e. Review Investment Accounts – We will formally review our clients’ investment
accounts on a monthly basis for existing clients, at the time we begin managing funds
for a new client, upon request of a client, or when we consider it necessary to do so
because of market or other circumstances. Please see Item 8 - Methods of Analysis,
Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss and Item 13 – Review of Accounts, where we
further describe our review.
f. Report on Investment Accounts – We issue a written report on our client’s investment
accounts each calendar quarter. We deliver this report to clients in a digital or paper
format depending on the client’s preference.
4. Other Advisory Services – Our clients may request advisory services other than personal
financial consulting or discretionary or non-discretionary management, and we work with
clients to tailor advisory services to fit their needs. As examples, we offer the following
services to clients:
a. One Time or Periodic Investment Advice – We provide investment advice or analysis to
address a specific client request, such as to review investments held in a specific investment
account when we are not providing discretionary investment management for the account.
b. Review of Investment Offerings in an Employer Sponsored Retirement Plan – An employer
can retain us to evaluate the investment offerings in the retirement plan sponsored by the
employer, and to recommend changes in the plan’s investment offerings.
Non‐Advisory Services
We offer certain non‐advisory services to our clients, as follows:
1. Estate Planning Project Management – We facilitate interaction between our clients and
their Estate Planning advisors and attorneys such that the investment plan and the estate
plan work as an integrated whole.
2. Accounting and Bill Payment – We provide accounting services and bill payment services
for business and/or charitable enterprises affiliated with our clients, including the
preparation of data for the completion of tax returns.
Our advisory service clients are not required to utilize any of our non‐advisory service offerings.
Wrap‐Fee Program
We do not participate in or sponsor any wrap‐fee program.