Castle Wealth Planning, LLC – Form CRS                                                                                                     Date: December 2023

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  INTRODUCTION

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Castle Wealth Planning, LLC (CWP), acting as a fiduciary, is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser. Brokerage and investment advisory services and fees differ, and it’s important to understand these differences within the financial industry. CWP is not a broker or broker-dealer; we are an advisory firm. In its simplest terms, we do not create products or have a financial interest in the investments we recommend. In addition, as a fiduciary, we have the responsibility to put the interests of our clients ahead of our own. Free and simple tools are available to research firms and financial professionals at www.Investor.gov/CRS, which also provides educational materials about broker-dealers, investment advisers, and investing.

 

 

WHAT INVESTMENT SERVICES AND ADVICE CAN YOU PROVIDE ME?

 

We offer investment advisory services to a wide variety of clientele: retail clients, charitable foundations and small to intermediate-size businesses for the benefit of various account types, taxable and tax-deferred. We manage each client’s assets as a separate account with unique investments and investment mix consistent with each client’s particular situation, resources, goals and risk tolerance. We monitor each account ongoing and typically furnish portfolio reports quarterly. Our management of client accounts is usually on a discretionary basis, meaning you would authorize us to select the securities, amount and identity, to buy or sell consistent with a mutually agreed-upon, long-term investment strategy. Occasionally, we do engage in a non-discretionary advisory relationship where we must obtain the client’s permission before making any investment activity. In general, we construct portfolios with publicly-traded, non-proprietary instruments such as stocks, bonds, money market investments, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and real estate investment trusts. We do occasionally vet and recommend non-publicly traded real estate investments to only those clients for which these investments may be appropriate. Our firm will also provide portfolio monitoring as a separate service when requested by clients. In addition, financial planning services are customary to the investment advisory relationship at no extra cost and typically involves comprehensive financial analysis and cash-flow projections assisting in the choice of appropriate investment asset allocation. We do offer hourly and retainer services as well. Limitations on investments are typically client-imposed, those set by plan sponsors, or that of mutual funds that aren’t supported by the custodian. Our minimum account balance is $250,000 to open and maintain – this may be and is waived in certain circumstances.

 

Additional Information: Please refer to Items 4, 7 and 13 of our Form ADV, Part 2A.

 

Conversation Starters – Ask your financial professional:

      • Given my financial situation, should I choose an investment advisory service? Why or why not?

      • How will you choose investments to recommend to me?

      • What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education and other qualifications? What do these        

         qualifications mean?

 

WHAT FEES WILL I PAY?

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You will be charged an ongoing fee, payable quarterly in arrears, based upon the total assets in your account. This fee is calculated from the following schedule (annual calculation): 1% of assets that are in the range of $0 to $1,000,000, and 0.5% is applied to just those assets in excess of $1,000,000. This calculation is done quarterly, and each quarterly fee is therefore 1/4th of the annual calculation. Similarly, for portfolio monitoring services the maximum fee is 0.5% and is payable under the same terms as for our management services. The more assets that are in your account, the more you will pay in fees.  Our fee does not include charges imposed by custodians, brokers and other third parties such as brokerage commissions, wire transfer fees, custodial fees, transaction fees, and taxes and fees on the securities transactions in your account. In addition, mutual funds, money market funds and ETFs also charge internal management fees. Financial planning services are provided customarily as  part of our wealth management services, and so there is no additional fee. CWP does also offer hourly consulting services as well as retainer arrangements, both are based upon a mutually agreed-upon hourly rate that is typically close to $250/hour. Fees for retainer services are also paid quarterly in arrears.  

 

Additional Information: You will pay fees and costs whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce the amounts you make on your investments through time – please understand the fees and costs you are paying. You may also refer to Item 5 of our Form ADV, Part 2A.

 

Conversation Starters – Ask your financial professional:

     • Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give $10,000 to invest, how much          will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for me?

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WHAT ARE YOUR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS TO ME WHEN ACTING AS MY INVESTMENT ADVISER? HOW ELSE DOES YOUR  FIRM MAKE MONEY AND WHAT CONFLICTS OF INTEREST DO YOU HAVE?

 

When we act as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, the way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests. You should understand and ask us about these conflicts because they can affect the investment advice we provide to you. Here are some examples to help you understand what this means: When a client asks advice on whether to use resources to purchase real estate (or pay down a mortgage) vs. investing in an account with us, there is a conflict of interest whereby the choice to invest with us would likely benefit us financially, while it might be in the client’s interest to choose to increase their net investment to real estate. Despite our legal and fiduciary obligations to act in your best interest, it’s important to be aware of conflicts. Our custodian (Schwab) provides benefits to us in the form of support products and services, and these benefits are maintained in general by most custodians for independent investment advisers whose clients maintain accounts with them. We are incentivized to have our clients maintain their accounts with the custodian that provides us with these products and services.

Additional Information: Please refer to Items 10-12 and 14 of our Form ADV, Part 2A.

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Conversation Starters – Ask your financial professional:

     • How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?

 

HOW DO YOUR FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS MAKE MONEY?

 

 Our financial professionals are compensated by a salary. They do not earn any commissions.

 

 DO YOU OR YOUR FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS HAVE LEGAL OR DISCIPLINARY HISTORY?

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 Yes, we do. Please visit www.Investor.gov/CRS for a free and simple search tool to research our firm and our financial professionals.

 

 Conversation Starters – Ask your financial professional:

      • As a financial professional, do you have any disciplinary history? For what type of conduct?

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 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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You can find additional information about us and our advisory services on the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov by searching CRD # 141601 or at our website: www.castlewp.com . You may also contact our firm at (805) 962-5630 and request this relationship summary and other up-to-date information.

 

 Conversation Starters – Ask your financial professional:

     • Who is my primary contact person? Is he or she a representative of an investment adviser or a broker-dealer?                  Who can I talk to if I have concerns about how this person is treating me?