Wessel Investment Counsel, LLC Wessel Investment Counsel, LLC

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where would the assets in my portfolio be kept?

To provide our clients with peace of mind, all portfolio assets are held in custody by Shareholders Service Group, Inc, a discount brokerage firm that outsources the custody of its assets to Pershing, LLC. Pershing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank of New York Company, Inc. As a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and other regional exchanges, Pershing provides custody, securities clearing, execution, and settlement services to over 1,000 financial firms worldwide.

How will I know when adjustments are made to my portfolio?

Our custodian will mail an official confirmation statement directly to you anytime an adjustment is made to any of the accounts within your portfolio. Unless you allow us to manage your account on a fully discretionary basis, we may also have to contact you to obtain your approval prior to making any such adjustments.

From whom will I receive my account statements?

Your statements will be generated and mailed to you directly by our custodian on a monthly basis (or quarterly for less active accounts). Since we do not issue or control your statements, we have no ability to alter or intercept them.
Why is this important? We certainly have no intention of defrauding any of our clients, but occasionally a rogue broker or advisor steals assets from clients and then issues false statements in an attempt to hide the crime. By having your statements sent to you directly by our custodian, you can be sure that the statements you receive are official.

What will my account statements be like?

Comprehensive. You will receive Pershing’s most comprehensive monthly statement, which will include necessary tax information (e.g., realized gain and loss and cost basis information) that is often not included on less comprehensive statements.
For accounts having an initial market value of at least $500,000, you will also receive additional performance reporting that will address:

  • Comparative Performance versus Major Market Indices
  • Asset Allocation
  • Credit Quality
  • Maturity Schedule
  • Projected Cash Flow and Income

As is the case with your regular account statements, Pershing will mail these performance reports directly to you. Together, Pershing’s account statements and quarterly performance reports provide comprehensive account reporting.

Can I view my account online?

Yes. You may either return to our home page and click the “Check My Account” link, or click here. For additional convenience, The "Check My Account" link is located on all pages of our web site.

Which broker does Wessel Investment Counsel use?

We utilize the services of Shareholders Service Group, Inc. – a discount brokerage firm that caters specifically to independent investment advisors. When we make an adjustment to your account, we place the order through Shareholders Service Group. The order is then routed to and cleared by Pershing. Please bear in mind that while we utilize the services of a broker, we are in no way beholden to this (or any other) broker. We have absolutely no incentive to generate trading commissions on their behalf. Shareholders Service Group is merely a service provider to us. Our fiduciary duty remains to our clients.

What if Wessel Investment Counsel were to go out of business?

While we don’t plan to, it is a fair question. If we were to go out of business, you would simply establish a new account or accounts with some other advisor or custodian. The account(s) we were managing for you will probably be able to be transferred to your new custodian according to automated industry standards. We would then promptly (by law) refund any unearned investment management fees to you. In the meantime, if you wanted to make any adjustments to your portfolio, you would simply call our broker (Shareholders Service Group) directly and it would handle your order instructions as would any other discount broker.

What if I no longer want Wessel Investment Counsel to manage my portfolio?

You would simply put it in writing to us and provide a copy to our broker (Shareholders Service Group). Upon receiving your written instructions to terminate our relationship, we would then be unable (by law) to touch your account. Upon our broker’s receipt of its copy of your termination instructions, we would no longer be able to even see your account(s) on our account management system. We would then (by law) promptly refund to you any unearned investment management fees we might have received from you. You would then embark on transferring your accounts elsewhere as discussed in the preceding question.

Where would my account records be kept?

Your account data would be kept by our custodian. The safety and integrity of your account data is therefore in the hands of a global custodian that services well over 1,000 financial firms, worldwide. We retain other client-related data on an encrypted, fire-walled, network. (If you’ve seen the 60 Minutes episode where the encrypted networks of various nationwide retailers were breached after only a few minutes of trying, you’ll be glad to know that the encryption standard we use is the more robust "WPA" standard rather than the "WEP" standard which is easier to "hack.")