rca capital group, llc -...

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network®, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser.Fixed insurance products and services offered by RCA Capital Group are separate and unrelated to Commonwealth.

Louis M. Rusinowitz, JD, CFP®, AIF®Seth Cohan, AIF®, CLTC Maurice Acriche, AIF®

RCA Capital Group, LLC1325 Franklin Avenue, Suite 105Garden City, NY 11530516.605.1313www.rcacap.com

Rev 06/12


OUR PHILOSOPHY AND VISION

Building long-term relationships is our priority at RCA Capital Group, LLC. We start the journey by taking the time to listen to and to understand each of our clients personally. Together, we carefully chart a course to pursue financial success. We believe in using prudent investment strategies and are dedicated to guiding and sustaining our clients’ financial direction.

RCA Capital Group, LLC is an independent financial services, wealth management, and consulting firm. As independent financial professionals, we have the freedom to provide the highest level of guidance and insight to our clients. We recognize that each person’s situation is different, so we develop a financial plan that focuses on helping you accomplish your personal goals. Accordingly, our approach will be to pursue an in-depth understanding of your financial situation and the personal values you hold. This approach allows us to forge a strong partnership with you and to assist you as we strive to turn your dreams into reality.

VisionRCA Capital Group, LLC is organized around four basic principles that are the foundation of how we work. Each action we take with our clients is predicated upon these basic elements.

• Integrity. We will act with our clients best interests in mind. We will continue to earn our clients’ trust and will not take it for granted.

• Advice. We will provide well-reasoned guidance based on our educations, experience, and a thorough understanding of a client’s personal situation.

• Strategies. Pursuing your goals requires cost-effective solutions, not just products. We will discuss each client’s goals and constraints to build prudent, effective strategies to help meet objectives.

• Service. We build long-term relationships with our clients and their families. We strive to be a meaningful part of their lives.

Solving problems. Helping you clarify your goals. Freeing up your time so you can do what you want to do. Focusing on your priorities is our passion.

HistoryOur firm was founded with a mission to provide the highest level of financial services to our clients. With more than 75 years of combined experience, our partners have helped clients through many different market cycles and historical events. Our client centered, long term focus resonates with people tired of the sales quotas and conflicts of interest inherent in the brokerage world today. We established our firm as independent advisors operating with complete transparency and singularly focused on building our business by helping our clients. Our relationship with Commonwealth Financial Network®, one of the most respected independent broker/dealers in the nation, gives us invaluable back office support.


TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

Louis M. Rusinowitz, JD, CFP®, AIF® has been providing financial advice and guidance to his clients for more than 20 years. His interest in helping people address their goals and concerns comes from deeply rooted, personal experiences involving his father and his family. As a young man, Louis watched his father’s flying career end early due to medical issues, then saw his father reinvent himself as an entrepreneur operating his own flight instruction school. These experiences taught Louis the value of being an independent business owner as well as the need for sound investment planning, comprehensive insurance protection, and integrated financial planning.

Louis concentrates his efforts in two primary areas. He works with the firm’s clients toward building an effective, easy to understand plan of action. These plans encompass such issues as cash flow management, investment planning, tax and estate planning, and controlling unintended consequences resulting from death and disability. Louis also works with employer sponsored retirement plans to help ensure employers are meeting their fiduciary responsibilities and employees are getting the help and information they need to plan for retirement.

In all of his work, Louis believes that the trust needed to have a successful relationship can only be built over time and only maintained through a devotion to service, honesty and independence. Financial products

are widely available, typically confusing, and often used improperly. Louis takes great care to make sure clients understand the role these financial products have as part of a comprehensive plan of action. He fully understands the trust and faith clients place in our firm and accepts the responsibility of helping people reach their financial goals.

Louis obtained his law degree from The Fordham University School of Law in New York and prior to that, graduated Hofstra University with an Accounting Degree. After working in the tax practice of one of the world’s largest accounting firms, he became a Vice President in Citibank’s Private Bank. In 1997, Louis began a career as a Financial Advisor with AXA Advisors, LLC. He was routinely recognized by the company for his outstanding work with clients and was selected to AXA’s Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2007, Louis and his partner, Maurice Acriche, affiliated their company, M1 Financial Group, LLC, with Commonwealth Financial Network. In 2012, M1 Financial Group, LLC merged its operations with Seth Cohan of LAD Associates, Inc. and the three partners formed RCA Capital Group, LLC to further serve their clients.

Louis lives on Long Island with his wife and three children. He is active in the community and hopes to continue helping people for many, many more years.


TEAM BIOGR APHIES continued

Seth Cohan, AIF®, CLTC has been an advisor to individuals and businesses since 1986. Seth’s passion is to assist his clients and their families in achieving their financial goals and to help solve many of the financial challenges we all face. This commitment is evident in his daily analysis of client portfolios and his constant communication with his clients. Seth works closely with clients to construct portfolios and plans, employing both fundamental and technical analysis to help in his asset and security selection. He is well versed in most investment vehicles but specifically emphasizes individual equities and mutual funds, alternative investments, annuities and life insurance. He believes strongly that the investments must be carefully researched and analyzed before they may be chosen. He also believes that it is paramount that plans are reviewed on an ongoing basis and revised when appropriate.

Seth Cohan was president of LAD Associates, Inc., an investment advisory firm that he founded based on a simple idea and goal; To deliver independent, unbiased advice and ideas to individuals and businesses. In addition, he saw the need to provide the same level of service to individual investors and small to mid size institutions as is received by larger investors.

Recently, LAD Associates, Inc. merged with M1 Financial Group, LLC to create a larger and more diverse firm, RCA Capital Group, LLC.

This followed a long association between both entities and ensured that clients would continue to receive the independent personalized advice that we believe is superior to most financial consulting firms in today’s world.

Seth received his BBA from The George Washington University; he holds several securities and insurance designations; is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®), and holds a certification for Long Term Care Insurance (CLTC). His registrations include Series 6, Series 7, Series 26, Series 63 and Series 65 (held through Commonwealth Financial Network®), as well as Life and Health Insurance.

Seth is a New York resident along with his wife, three daughters and a fourth daughter, Dutchess, his Labrador Retriever.

Maurice J. Acriche, AIF® is a co-founding partner of RCA Capital Group, LLC, an independent financial services, wealth management, and consulting firm. He began his investment career in 1984 working with investors providing information and suggestions for fixed income products; US Government securities; corporate and municipal bonds, as well as money market instruments. His prior Wall Street affiliations have allowed him to expand his experience in proprietary trading and asset management. Maurice works with investment clients to develop portfolios that attempt to maximize investment returns for the level of risk with which each client is comfortable. Maurice’s strength lies in his ability to educate clients. He is able to take seemingly complex investment concepts and communicate them to clients in an easily understood manner.

Maurice is a graduate of the University of Maryland, with degrees in Finance and Economics. He has furthered his education at Harvard’s Institute of Advanced Markets. His registrations held through Commonwealth Financial Network® are series 7, 63, and 66. He holds the AIF® designation and is licensed in the areas of Life, Health, and Long Term Care insurance.

Maurice currently resides in Woodmere, New York, with his wife, Ann, and 3 children. He is an active member and volunteer for several charities and youth related programs.


VALUE OF WORKING WITH AN AIF®

OverviewSimply put, the term fiduciary applies to the more than five million individuals who have the legal responsibility for managing someone else’s money. A fiduciary is required by law to always act in the best interests of his or her client, beneficiary, or retirement plan participant. Yet, many fiduciaries are not even aware of their duties and responsibilities.

Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF® ) designees have been provided with the tools and training to help them acquire a thorough knowledge of fiduciary responsibility and can be an invaluable resource to investment fiduciaries and individual investors alike.

Don’t risk going it alone; AIF® designees have the expertise to help ensure that an investment management process is managed to an appropriate fiduciary standard of care.

TrainingAIF® designees have successfully completed a specialized program on investment fiduciary standards of careat the Center for Fiduciary Studies. The Center, in association with the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, was established in 1999 to provide the investment industry with the first full-time training and research facility focused exclusively on investment fiduciary responsibility and portfolio management.

Designees have passed a comprehensive examination on the 27 Prudent Investment Practices that formed the basis of their training. Designees are also required to strictly adhere to continuing professional education requirements, which aids them in staying abreast of recent events in the industry that are affecting every fiduciary.

Prudent investment processThe 27 practices that designees follow have been derived from interpretations of legislation, case law, and regulatory opinion letters that govern the fiduciary. Prudent Investment Practices, the published handbook that describes these practices, was co-produced by the Center and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Each of the 27 practices also makes good investment sense, and using the process they define should help to improve long-term investment performance.

More informationFor more information on the AIF® designation, please contact RCA Capital Group at 516.605.1313.


WEALTH MANAGEMENT

As you strive to grow your personal net worth, the financial challenges you face become increasingly complex. While some investors have a long-term strategy in place to grow their assets and manage risk within their portfolios, many do not have strategies for dealing with the tax implications that result from the distribution and transfer of the assets they have worked so hard to accumulate.

Capitalizing on opportunities to preserve, grow, and transfer your wealth requires the sophisticated guidance of a professional who knows and understands your long-term financial goals.

As an Investment Adviser Representative(s) of Commonwealth Financial Network®, our partners have the knowledge and experience needed to offer wealth management services that address the complex financial planning issues our clients face.

For the phases of your financial lifeWealth management refers to the coordination of various strategies that encompass all phases of your financial life, from the accumulation of assets, to risk management, to tax strategies, to retirement and estate planning.

The easiest way to conceptualize wealth management is to think of it as the logical transitions of your financial life:

• The accumulation of wealth. Construction of a solid, financial base sufficient to pursue your financial objectives.

• The protection of wealth. Creation of a strategy aimed at preserving your assets from erosion due to unexpected expenses, inflation, market decline, and taxes.

• The tax-advantaged distribution of wealth during life. Development of a sophisticated tax management plan to enhance your asset base by minimizing your tax burden and allowing you to distribute your assets according to your wishes.

• The tax-advantaged distribution of wealth at death. Planning for the controlled distribution of your assets at death—to whom you want, when you want, and at the lowest possible cost.

Strategies for complex issues Wealth management planning seeks answers to those tough economic questions and decisions that come with modern living. Our Wealth Management program divides these issues into six modules—each focusing on a different area of your financial life:

• Accumulation addresses your individual needs, asset allocation, and the suitability of different types of securities in light of your goals and risk tolerance. Accumulation strategies help to ensure that your investment portfolio remains closely aligned with your overall financial goals as you continue to build your asset base.

• Risk management works to minimize financial and other losses potentially associated with risks to your assets, business, or health. Some examples of risk are personal and professional liability, business ownership, property loss, and catastrophic illness or disability. Your first line of defense is to identify your sources of risk and then to either avoid or minimize the major exposures.


WEALTH MANAGEMENT continued

• Taxation considers the tax implications of individual, investment, or business decisions, usually with the goal of minimizing tax liability. While decisions are rarely made solely on their tax impact, you should have a working knowledge of the income or estate tax issues and costs involved.

• Business planning focuses on issues specific to business owners and shareholders. For most business owners, the business is their most significant asset, and the financial success of that business has an immediate impact on the economic security of the family. Without proper planning, you may have difficulty tapping the value of your business to support your retirement, or your family may lose the value of the business at your death.

• Retirement planning involves evaluating your current financial status and creating an accumulation strategy that will help to ensure your desired retirement lifestyle. Because your retirement years can span decades, retirement planning generally dominates other financial goals. A successful plan put into place during the wealth-building lifespan should address ways to maximize growth and tax-efficient distributions, as well as how to leave retirement assets to the next generation.

• Estate planning creates a master plan for the management of your property during life and the distribution of that property at death. For most people, estate planning gives you more control over your assets during your lifetime, provides care when you are disabled, and allows for the efficient, low-cost transfer of wealth at your death.

While not all of these modules will apply to your situation, we believe that identifying and addressing those that are pertinent will help you to better manage your financial future.

Planning for the long termNo matter what your level of wealth, working closely with a trusted professional who knows and understands you can help you target your goals. Working together, we can help you simplify the complexities of your financial life by focusing on your wealth in a systematic way and implementing a plan that will benefit you for the long term.


DEFINING THE WEALTH MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Intelligent investors often ask, “What is your wealth management process?” The following pages aim to provide the answer. There is a system to our practice, and, when managing our clients’ assets, we adhere to it.

Below, you will find a brief overview of our six-step process.

• Establish Client and Financial Consultant Relationships The goal here is to get to know you. We will ask you for relevant financial data, assess your risk tolerance, and determine your financial goals and needs. All future decisions in the Wealth Management process will stem from this information.

• Gather Data We will identify your principal needs and work with you to prioritize both short- and long-term goals.

• Analyze Current Positions In an “observations meeting,” we will assess your current accounts and policies, looking closely for gaps or inconsistencies.

• Present an Action Plan Depending on your situation, we will draft a financial plan that may include an Investment Policy Statement, a thorough retirement income plan, or a detailed action plan.

• Implement Plan At this stage, we will make the investment decisions on a product level: Which mutual funds should you buy? Which insurance policy is best for you? What sort of annuity fits best with your situation?

• Ongoing Review and Reporting The final step in the Wealth Management process involves the ongoing monitoring of your portfolio. As time goes on, we will ensure that your assets remain diversified and that your objectives stay on track. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against a loss in declining markets.

Wealth Management Process


RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL

As you are aware, our goal is to help you achieve your financial objectives. But you may not be familiar with the steps that go into pursuing your goals and needs.

Despite the do-it-yourself websites and TV talking heads advising you to buy and sell, the investment management process is more complicated than ever before. Products have become increasingly complex, tax law continues to change, and portfolio strategies must be fashioned for a 21st century that looks dramatically different from the 1990s. Our approach to investing is designed to stay afloat in the changing world of investment products and services, and our wealth management process is designed to illustrate the philosophies underlying our practice.

In brief, our responsibilities include:

Portfolio Management • Understanding your investment goals and objectives

• Choosing an appropriate asset allocation strategy tailored to target your goals

• Drafting an explicit, written investment proposal and/or an investment policy statement consistent with your goals and objectives

• Screening and selecting appropriate money managers, mutual funds, and other investment vehicles

• Implementing your portfolio

• Monitoring your portfolio both on an asset class and a fund-specific level

• Monitoring the tax aspects of your portfolio and underlying investments

• Tracking the activities of the overall investment program

• Rebalancing your portfolio in reaction to market swings to maintain the original asset allocation

Goal Management • Balancing your risk tolerance with your accumulation target

• Continually assessing the market and asset classes

Relationship Management • Managing the emotional swings associated with investing

• Uncovering your hidden emotions regarding money

• Ensuring the proper titling of assets

• Conducting a beneficiary review

• Monitoring the markets and allaying concerns associated with economic trends

• General account management

Many people do not realize that an investment management process goes far deeper than selecting a basket of mutual funds. You may not see the tangible results of all that we do, but as long as you understand all that goes on behind the scenes, you should gain confidence that your wealth is securely invested.


WHERE DO WE ADD VALUE?

With so many professionals, corporations, and even websites offering investment advice, it’s easy to get confused by the array of services, products, and plans. Prospective clients often ask us, “Where do you add value? What distinguishes you from the pack?” What follows is a brief response designed to assure you that partnering with our firm could be among the wisest decisions you ever make.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of people in the field of financial services who act as investment advisors, managing a client’s portfolio for a fee or earning commissions on trades. But few of them ever consider doing anything beyond investments. We believe that we can offer superior investment guidance while providing something more—comprehensive wealth management.

Questions we are often asked by our clients, and are able to assist with include:

•Whatisafinancialplanandhowwillonehelpme?

•HowdoIknowifmycurrentinvestmentsareright for me?

•Whatdoesassetallocationmeanandwhyis it important?

•HowdoIknowifI’msavingenough for retirement?

•Ineedtostartsavingformychild’seducation.Where do I begin?

•Willmyretirementsavingslastlongenoughatthe rate I’m withdrawing?

•Willmyfamilybeokayifsomethinghappenstome?

•IthinkImightneedmoreinsurance,butI’mnotsure what type. Can you help?

•Whathappenstomybusinessifsomethinghappens to me?

•Aren’testateplansjustfortheverywealthy?Whydo I need one?

•HowcanIdecreasethetaxburdenIpassalongtomy heirs?

If these questions or others come to mind when you think of your personal financial situation, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss how our firm can be of further help.


INTRODUCTION TO COMMONWEALTH

Commonwealth Financial Network® was founded to serve as the home office for investment professionals committed to providing unbiased financial guidance to their clients.

Unlike traditional Wall Street firms, Commonwealth does not produce or market any proprietary investment products, nor does it impose any sales quotas on its affiliated advisors. Accordingly, its national network of independent financial professionals is unique in its ability to make your needs the only motivating force—and that is the way it should be.

As Commonwealth advisors, we are provided access to all national exchanges, as well as to a full range of quality investment products and services. After working to understand your risk tolerance, personal values, and time horizons, we can recommend a suitable combination of:

• Mutual funds

• Full-service stock and bond trading

• Unit investment trusts

• Real estate investment trusts (REITs)

• Fixed and variable annuities

• Life insurance

• Managed investment programs

• Limited partnerships

• CDs and money market accounts

• Retirement plans

Commonwealth’s goal is to ensure that we are able to direct the maximum amount of energy possible toward our role as financial caregivers. It makes this feasible by supporting us with:

TechnologyCommonwealth’s continual investment in leading-edge systems strives to provide superior account processing and management, as well as access to critical data.

ResearchIn-house experts at Commonwealth pore over vast amounts of financial data to offer advisors an additional perspective on investment decisions.

Professional EducationAs Commonwealth advisors, we participate in a rich curriculum of technical seminars and educational programs reflecting the best practices in the growing complexity of financial issues.

Account SupportInformed investors enjoy greater personal comfort. Through consolidated monthly statements, online account access, and Commonwealth’s Service Center, we can provide you with all the information you’ll ever need.

In today’s complex economic environment, the major difference between making money and keeping money is knowledge. Investment decisions vital to your economic security are far too important to be ignored or left to a machine—or to anyone whose primary responsibility is not you, the investor.

Commonwealth believes in supplying primary financial care through independent financial professionals.

Commonwealth Financial Network is a member of the SIPC, which protects securities customers of its membership up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). An explanatory brochure is available on request or at www.sipc.org.

Commonwealth is a 10-time recipient of Investment Advisor magazine’s prestigious Broker/Dealer of the Year award, which is based on criteria that includes overall service and payout (1991, 1992, 1994, 1996–99, 2001, 2002, 2005).

Unprecedented 10-TimeBroker/Dealer of the Year

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