Proffitt & Goodson, Inc. is a privately held independent registered investment advisory firm
that works with individuals, families and institutions to assist them in defining and meeting
their investment objectives through highly personalized, client‐focused portfolio
management, wealth planning, and pension consulting services. The firm is a SEC‐registered
investment adviser with its principal place of business located in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Proffitt & Goodson was founded by Jim Proffitt and David Goodson and began conducting
business as a registered investment adviser in August 1986.
David N. Goodson, Principal and Advisor and Neil W. Goodson, Principal, Advisor and Chief
Compliance Officer, are the firm’s principal shareholders (i.e., those individuals controlling
50% or more of this company).
Proffitt & Goodson offers Portfolio Management, Wealth Planning and Pension Consulting
services to its advisory clients. Please see the disclosure below in this Item for additional
information regarding these services.
As of December 31, 2023, we were actively managing $589,949,893 of client assets on a
discretionary basis and $10,485,895 on a non‐discretionary basis for a total of $600,435,788 of
assets under management.
OUR SERVICES
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Our firm offers portfolio management services to its advisory clients. We provide continuous
advice to a client regarding the investment of client funds based on the client’s individual
needs. Through personal discussions with our clients, we develop a clientʹs personal
investment policy and create and manage a portfolio based on that policy. During this data‐
gathering process, we determine the client’s individual objectives, time horizons, risk
tolerance, and liquidity needs. We may also review and discuss a client’s prior investment
history, as well as family composition and background. Often, our financial and wealth
planning services can help identify individual objectives, liquidity needs and risk tolerance.
We currently offer our portfolio management services on a discretionary basis only. Account
supervision is guided by the clientʹs stated objectives (e.g., growth, income or a balance
between growth and income), as well as tax considerations. Clients may impose reasonable
restrictions on investing in certain securities, types of securities, or industry sectors. However,
any restrictions imposed by a client may adversely affect the composition and performance of
the client’s portfolio.
Our investment recommendations are not limited to any specific product or service offered by
a broker‐dealer or insurance company. Our client portfolios may include: individual stocks,
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exchange‐traded funds (“ETFs”), no‐load mutual funds, options, corporate and government
debt securities, and municipal bonds.
Because some types of investments involve certain additional degrees of risk, they will only be
implemented/recommended when consistent with the clientʹs stated investment objectives,
tolerance for risk, liquidity and suitability.
WEALTH PLANNING SERVICES
Proffitt & Goodson, Inc. offers financial and wealth planning services to its clients. These
services include retirement income planning, tax planning, estate planning and cash flow
planning. To provide these services, Proffitt & Goodson gathers information on the client’s
current financial position, tax situation, and financial goals.
Clients can also receive investment and other financial advice on a consulting basis. Some of
the services offered include, investment advice regarding non‐marketable securities, trust
account and trustee services, estate administration, the preparation of Investment Policy
Statements (IPS) outside of a relationship for either portfolio management, pension consulting,
or other financial planning services.
Clients may also elect to hold a portfolio of securities with Proffitt & Goodson for which the
client chooses to retain investment discretion. These accounts are maintained on a non‐
discretionary basis and are usually associated with an account in which Proffitt & Goodson
has investment discretion, noted above. Clients may contact custodian without knowledge of
Adviser to execute trades at the Clients’ discretion. In the non‐discretionary portfolios, clients
maintain responsibility for investment selection. The client may give Proffitt & Goodson
instructions to buy, sell, exchange, convert, or hold securities, cash or other investments with
Clients’ prior consent. Adviser may or may not provide accounting services or execution of
trades services for these non‐discretionary portfolios.
We gather necessary information through in‐depth personal interviews and careful review of
documents supplied by the client. The specific information gathered depends upon the
service being provided. Consulting recommendations are not limited to any specific product
or service offered by a broker‐dealer or insurance company.
PENSION CONSULTING
Further, we provide several advisory services separately or in combination to 401(k) and other
retirement plans. Pension Consulting is comprised of four distinct services. Clients may
choose to use any or all of these services.
‐ Investment Policy Statement (ʹʹIPSʹʹ) Preparation: We will meet with a client to
determine an appropriate investment strategy that reflects the plan sponsorʹs stated
investment objectives for management of the overall plan. Our firm then prepares a
written IPS detailing those needs and goals, including an encompassing policy under
which these goals are to be achieved.
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- Selection of Investment Vehicles: We assist plan sponsors in constructing
appropriate asset allocation models. We then review various mutual funds
and ETFs
to determine which investments are appropriate to implement the clientʹs IPS. The
number of investments recommended is determined by the client, based on the IPS.
- Monitoring of Investment Performance: We monitor client investments continually,
based on the procedures and timing intervals set forth in the IPS. Although our firm is
not directly involved in the purchase or sale of investments for pension consulting
clients, we supervise the clientʹs portfolio and make recommendations to the client as
market factors and the clientʹs needs dictate.
- Employee Communications: For retirement plan clients with individual plan
participants exercising control over assets in their own account (i.e., self‐directed
plans), we may also provide periodic educational support and investment workshops
designed for the plan participants. The nature of the topics to be covered is
determined by us and the client under the guidelines established in ERISA Section
404(c). The educational support and investment workshops will not provide plan
participants with individualized, tailored investment advice or individualized,
tailored asset allocation recommendations.
SUB‐ADVISOR
We may perform as a sub‐advisor for other advisors. As such, we manage the client’s account
for that advisor. We do not manage these accounts differently than our managed portfolio
clients. When we act as a sub‐advisor, the investment advisor for the client will obtain the
client’s Investment Policy Statement and Investment Management Agreement. Client’s whose
money we manage under this arrangement will be billed directly from their investment
advisor. We will be paid a portion of the client’s management fee directly from the investment
advisor.
SCHWAB INSTITUTIONAL INTELLIGENT PORTFOLIOS
Proffitt & Goodson, Inc. offers an automated investment program (the “Program”) through
which clients are invested in a range of investment strategies Proffitt & Goodson has
constructed and manage, each consisting of a portfolio of exchange‐traded funds (“Funds”)
and a cash allocation. The client’s portfolio is held in a brokerage account opened by the client
at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Proffitt & Goodson uses the Institutional Intelligent
Portfolios® platform (“Platform”), offered by Schwab Performance Technologies (“SPT”), a
software provider to independent investment advisors and an affiliate of Schwab, to operate
the Program. Proffitt & Goodson is independent of and not owned by, affiliated with, or
sponsored or supervised by SPT, Schwab, or their affiliates (together, “Schwab”). Proffitt &
Goodson, and not Schwab, is the client’s investment advisor and primary point of contact with
respect to the Program. Proffitt & Goodson is solely responsible, and Schwab is not
responsible, for determining the appropriateness of the Program for the client, choosing a
suitable investment strategy and portfolio for the client’s investment needs and goals, and
managing that portfolio on an ongoing basis. Proffitt & Goodson has contracted with SPT to
provide the Platform, which consists of technology and related trading and account
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management services for the Program. The Platform enables Proffitt & Goodson to make the
Program available to clients online and includes a system that automates certain key parts of
our investment process (the “System”). The System includes an online questionnaire that can
help Proffitt & Goodson determine the client’s investment objectives and risk tolerance and
select an appropriate investment strategy and portfolio. Clients should note that, if Proffitt &
Goodson uses the online questionnaire, they will recommend a portfolio via the System in
response to the client’s answers to the online questionnaire. The client may then indicate an
interest in a portfolio that is one level less or more conservative or aggressive than the
recommended portfolio, but Proffitt & Goodson then makes the final decision and selects a
portfolio based on all the information they have about the client. The System also includes an
automated investment engine through which Proffitt & Goodson manages the client’s
portfolio on an ongoing basis through automatic rebalancing and tax‐loss harvesting (if the
client is eligible and elects). Proffitt & Goodson charges clients a fee for services as described
below under Item 5 Fees and Compensation. Proffitt & Goodson’s fees are not set or
supervised by Schwab. Clients do not pay brokerage commissions or any other fees to Schwab
as part of the Program.
PONTERA
Proffitt & Goodson uses a third‐party platform made available by Pontera Solutions, Inc.
(“Pontera”) to facilitate management of held away assets such as defined contribution plan
participant accounts, with discretion. The platform allows Proffitt & Goodson to avoid being
considered to have custody of client funds since Proffitt & Goodson does not have direct
access to client log‐in credentials to affect trades. Proffitt & Goodson is not affiliated with the
Pontera in any way and receives no compensation from them for using their platform. A link
will be provided to the client allowing them to connect an account(s) to the platform. Once
client account(s) is connected to the platform, Proffitt & Goodson will review the current
account allocations. When deemed necessary, Proffitt & Goodson will rebalance the account
considering client investment goals and risk tolerance, and any change in allocations will
consider current economic and market trends. The goal is to improve account performance
over time, minimize loss during difficult markets, and manage internal fees that harm account
performance. Client account(s) will be reviewed at least quarterly and allocation changes will
be made as deemed necessary.