Ethics can be defined as a system of moral principles establishing the rules of conduct between individuals. Individual traits that are often associated with a high focus on ethical behavior include honesty, good character, privacy, transparency. This essentially defines a fiduciary, someone held in confidence and trust.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has this to say about ethics:
"As an investment adviser, you are a "fiduciary" to your advisory clients. This means that you have a fundamental obligation to act in the best interests of your clients and to provide investment advice in your clients' best interests. You owe your clients a duty of undivided loyalty and utmost good faith. You should not engage in any activity in conflict with the interest of any client, and you should take steps reasonably necessary to fulfill your obligations. You must employ reasonable care to avoid misleading clients and you must provide full and fair disclosure of all material facts to your clients and prospective clients."
The team at D3 Financial Counselors act as fiduciary advisors for all of our clients. We have structured our business to avoid conflicts of interest, since we sell no investment or insurance products. A third party custodian holds our clients' assets, and sends reports to our clients on a monthly basis. Consequently, our investment activities are completely transparent to our clients. There is no term to our contracts with our clients, so we work to earn our clients' trust on a daily basis.