Employee Handbook - Abacus Wealth Partners

12 Pages·2014·0.72 MB·English

by  Jonathan Bruce

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INTRODUCTION TO ABACUS
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Our Services (What we do)

Through financial planning, we help people make the best use of their financial resources,
freeing their time to enjoy what matters most in life. We show them where they are,
protect them from financial dangers, create a roadmap for their future, manage their
investments, and provide advice that touches every area of their lives.

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Our Purpose (Why we do what we do)

To expand what’s possible with money

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Our Core Values (How we do what we do)

Serve Others

We put the needs of our clients, the team, and our community above our individual desires.

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Listen Deeply & Speak with Care

We come to each conversation with an open mind rather than the “right answer.” We tell the
whole truth to ourselves, our clients, and each other.

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Bring Genius

We spend our time doing what we are best at and love most.

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Enjoy!

We believe that our time with Abacus should be the best years of (y)our life.

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Our Staff

A+ student intelligence

(Constantly Learning) Endearing (you want to
hang out with them)
Visionary
Impeccable
Communication
Tolerant
Trustable
Emotional

Listens from the heart
Intelligence
Open
Present
Walks the Talk
(Sufficiency, Generosity)
Doesn’t sell products/
work for Wall Street
Our Clients

Passionate,

Intelligent
Engaged Life
Listens

well
Gives constructive

feedback
Grateful Loyal
Trusting
Generous
Realistic

Influential
Expectations
BENEFITS
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Abacus Employee Benefits Summary

Abacus offers generous employee benefits in addition to salary and bonus. Here’s an overview of what our
employees enjoy.

Health/Dental/Vision insurance - We pay 90% of our employees’
premiums and 50% of their dependents’. (After 60 days of tenure)

Disability Insurance - We pay for short and long-term disability policies.
(After one year of tenure)

401k Match - We 100% match the first 3% of your salary that you
contribute to our 401k, and 50% match the next 2%. (Match begins after one
year of tenure, you may contribute after 90 days)

Education Reimbursement - We offer educational assistance for our
employees to study for the CFP or other relevant certifications or licenses.
(Details on subsequent pages)

Cell Phone Reimbursement - We cover the costs for voice and data cell phone plans, if the plans are
part of our AT&T or Verizon Corporate accounts. We do not cover the cost of the phone purchase or
phone upgrades for most employees.

Charity - Every employee is given a $250 annual allowance to give away to charitable projects through
the Glue Network. An additional $250 match to a charity of your choice is available as well if you
donate time or money to that charity. (Details on subsequent pages)

Time-Off - Employees do not earn or accrue a specified number of days off. We trust our staff to
balance their need for revitalization with our clients’ needs and the needs of the firm. (Details on
subsequent pages)

Telecommuting - Similar to our Time-Off policy, as long as our clients’ needs are being met, and you
get buy-in from your team and Abacus management, you may work from home, Starbucks, the ski
slopes, or the Great Barrier Reef (these are all actual examples). (Details on subsequent pages)
Other benefits
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We also offer:

Basic life and personal accident insurance

Technology and other online and in-person skill training and classes

Employee assistance programs

Adoption and commuting programs
Abacus Revenue Sharing Compensation Plan

All full-time (non-hourly) employees receive a portion of their compensation based on
a percentage of Abacus revenue. Here is how that works.

Each employee is given a certain percentage of revenue as part of their offer letter.
This percentage may change over time as employees progress in their career.

Every quarter, the employee’s percentage is multiplied by the prior quarter revenue
to determine the dollar amount of their compensation for the subsequent quarter.

That amount is paid equally among the six paychecks throughout the quarter.
Illustration
Employee X is paid a base salary of $40,000 per year and receives 0.4% of revenue.

Pretend that revenue for Q4 2013 is $2,000,000
Total Revenue Q4 2013 2,000,000
Quarterly Base Salary (40k divided by 4) 10,000
Total Bonus for Q1 2014 (0.4% times 2 million) 8,000
Total Pay for Q1 2014 18,000
Six paychecks in Q1 2014 - each is

3,000
(18k divided by 6)
How percentages might change
An employee’s percentage might change in a variety of scenarios. Here are a few
examples.

As an employee moves from one role to another, or becomes
significantly more adept in their current role, the percentage of revenue
may increase.

A new firm is acquired or an advisor with existing revenue joins Abacus.
In this case, everyone’s percentage of revenue would go down
proportionally such that the dollar amounts paid would stay the same as
the new revenue is added.

As we grow and add additional staff, everyone would eventually receive a
smaller percentage of revenue which would be shared with the new
staff. This is usually done in such a way that everyone’s total pay stays
the same or increased, even though their percentage decreases (by
reducing percentages in high growth quarters).

When certain employees or teams under or outperform the rest, then
sometimes we would reduce one team’s percentage of revenue and shift it to
others.
Abacus Education Reimbursement Program
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CFP and CFA Certification Programs:
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The employee’s supervisor and a member of
management must pre-approve the reimbursement of
expenses relating to the CFP and CFA programs. A
minimum of one year of tenure is required before
reimbursement is available.

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Abacus pays 80% of CFP-related education courses, books and
exam prep courses, of which half is paid prior to passing the exam
and half is paid after passing the exam. We pay for all exam fees
upfront. The upper limit on what we are willing to pay is $6,000
(including exam fees).

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Abacus pays 80% of the cost for CFA exam registration and CFA-provided
study materials and exam prep materials. We pay 50% upfront and 50% upon successfully passing the
exam at each level. The upper limit on what we are willing to pay for each level is $2,000 ($6,000 total
for all three levels).

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Registered Paraplanner Course:
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Abacus pays the full cost for the Registered Paraplanner “RP” program. We pay for this program 100%
upfront, but a bonus will be added to motivate employees to pass the courses.

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Continuing Education:
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Abacus pays for all required continuing education for NAPFA, the CFP, the CFA, the CPA/PFS, JD, and
Paraplanner. Available on day one of employment. For certain positions, this will be mandatory.

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Series 65:
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Abacus pays for study materials for the Series 65 exam as well as all exam fees. Available on day one of
employment. For most employees this will be mandatory.

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Other Programs:
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Other educational costs will be decided on a case-by-case basis (e.g. Kinder Life Planning, AAMS,
AWMA, CMFC, ADPA, APMA, CPRC, CRPS, Masters Degrees, etc.).

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Abacus Charitable Gifting Program
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As a firm that believes that philanthropy, self-sufficiency, and
generosity are cornerstones of a healthy and fulfilling relationship
to money, the Principals of Abacus have elected to donate 5% of
the firms’ profits annually to charity. This document describes the
mechanisms by which that money will be donated. By and large,
our intent is that our charitable giving will be focused in three
main areas.

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Poverty

Environment

Financial literacy

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The Abacus charitable giving allocation will be divided into three ‘buckets’: 

Employee Gifts, The Abacus Wealth Partners Charitable Grant, and Principal Gifts.
Employee Gifts (Non-principals)
Each non-owner, full-time employee who was employed by January 1st of the current year may direct
$250 to any of the charitable projects offered through the Glue Network Portal. You will be sent a gift
code to the portal in January each year.

The firm will also provide an additional $250 match if an employee has personally donated money or
volunteered at least 3 hours during the past 12 months for the charity. The charity must be a 501(c)(3)
and their mission should not be generally offensive or political (the donation is made by Abacus and
must not reflect badly on the firm). Donations to your church or your kid’s school are acceptable for
the matching portion of your gift.

Your gift allowance does not roll over to the next year. Make sure to request all your gifts by
12/31 of any given year.

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Abacus Advisor Referral Program
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New advisors:
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Abacus pays $5,000 for referrals of new advisors with no
assets. 50% of the bonus is paid after six months of
employment, and the remainder is paid after 12 months
of employment. Both the new advisor and the
referring employee must be current employees at
the time the bonus is due in order for it to be paid.
If either the advisor or the referring employee leave
employment, the bonus is forfeited.

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Advisors with clients:
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Abacus pays $10,000 for referrals of advisors who
join Abacus and who bring clients with them to Abacus. The revenue from the Advisor’s clients must be
over $200,000 in the first year for the referring employee to earn this bonus. 50% of the bonus is paid
after six months of employment, and the remainder is paid after 12 months of employment. Both the
new advisor and the referring employee must be current employees at the time the bonus is due in
order for it to be paid. If either the advisor or the referring employee leave employment, the bonus is
forfeited.

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Advisory firms:
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For referrals of advisory firms, Abacus will pay 5% of the first-year revenue of firms that merge with
Abacus and whose principals become owners at Abacus. The referral fee is capped at $20,000. This is a
difficult referral to get, as you can’t just refer us the name of a firm, you need to have a personal
relationship with one of the principals or key employees. 100% of the bonus is paid one year after the
merger is effective. The referring employee must be a current employee at the time the bonus is due in
order for it to be paid. If the referring employee leaves employment, the bonus is forfeited.

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Abacus Lead Gen Bonus
(eration)
If you refer a client to Abacus you will receive a bonus! You get 30% of
estimated annual fees from that client.

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• The 30% of estimated fees is placed into a Lead Generation “bucket”. At the
end of the year, you are able to withdraw 50% of the balance in your “bucket”.
The remaining balance rolls over to the next year.

Illustration Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Fees referred ($1million AUM per year) 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000
Amount added to your account 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000
Balance at end of year 3,000 4,500 5,250 5,625
Withdrawal (50% at end of year) 1,500 2,250 2,625 2,813
Remaining Balance 1,500 2,250 2,625 2,813
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What counts for the Lead Gen bonus and what doesn’t?

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COI and Client referrals - Counts most of the time
The staff member who is initially contacted by the COI or the Client with the referral gets it. If the
Client reaches out to multiple staff members with the initial referral, nobody gets it.

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Speaking Events, Seminars, Teaching, Workshops, Conferences - Sometimes they count,
sometimes not
• If the firm provides more than $1,000 in support of expenses, travel costs or staff time (at a specific
hourly rate), then it doesn’t count.

• If more than one staff member participates at the event, then it doesn’t count.

•!Otherwise, it counts, but check in advance if there are questions.

Blogs, Media quotes/articles, TV, Radio, Podcasts, Books, Magazine ads, referrals from NAPFA,
DFA, B Corp, Search Engines/Web, Acquisition - Doesn’t count
These belong to the firm. Abacus pays for the tools and structures that support our marketing activity,
your participation in these activities doesn’t then offer exclusive rights to leads that come from your
participation. It’s a team effort.

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The above is not necessarily a comprehensive list. There may be other situations that are not listed.
Guess who is the final arbiter of such situations…

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Important Notes:

• If the referring employee leaves employment, any remaining bonus is forfeited.

• Clients who receive any level of discounted fee (including family discounts) are not eligible. If the
discount is ever removed and the client starts paying full fees, then the client becomes eligible for the
Lead Gen bonus at that time.

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Employee Discounts
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Employee Discount:

Abacus provides investment management and financial planning services at
no cost to all of our employees. This includes spouses, dependents and
adult children of employees. It does not include parents, siblings, or ex-
spouses. At the time the employee leaves employment, fees revert to
the Abacus standard fee schedule.

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Family Discount:
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Abacus provides investment management and financial planning
services at a discounted fee to the family members of our
employees. This includes any immediate family member of you or
your spouse, including parents, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings, ex-
spouses, step-parents and ex-step-parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. This does not include
cousins or anything once-removed…

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This discount is up to 50% at the discretion of the employee. The employee must submit the discount
request to Jessica at the time the client inboards with Abacus. The discount is not automatic. Note
that any discount makes this client ineligible for the lead generation bonus, so please consider whether
your family member needs the discount, or whether it’s worth it to you to offer it to them.

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Other advisors at the firm are not required to service your discounted family members, although they
are free to agree to do so.

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At the time the employee leaves employment, fees revert to the Abacus standard fee schedule.

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A Note on Domestic Partners and Adoption:
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Abacus firmly believes that people have the right to define their family regardless of what state and
federal laws dictate. For the purposes of employee and family discounts, we recognize anyone as a
spouse whom you recognize as a spouse, regardless of gender or legal status. Similarly, adopted
children, legally or otherwise, are recognized as your children for the employee discount.

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A “Brother from another Mother”, however, doesn’t get a discount.

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