Our Team
To serve those charged with the stewardship of financial assets by providing a high level of financial expertise and professionalism. To conduct our relationships with clients, service providers, and all others with kindness, free from conflicts of interest, and always in the best interest of our clients.
Our History
Independent. Focused. Expert. Our team has been together since 1988. Since inception, we recognized a need and chose to stand out by offering employers and their employees truly independent, conflict-free advice.
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It all started in the 1980s, when 401(k) plans were gaining popularity. We found ourselves helping a client establish a participant-directed plan. Setting up the plan was not difficult, but the client also had a specific request – to explain this new benefit to employees. This was the challenge.
As we traveled the country meeting with the client’s employees, we recognized a tremendous need. Employees needed trustworthy financial advice, but most did not have the means to access financial service professionals. Seeing this need and having the resources, we took it upon ourselves to fill this void.
The demand to advise employer-sponsored retirement plans and their participants steadily grew as participant directed plans increased in popularity. We continued to share our expertise with plan sponsors and to educate their employees, absent any conflicts of product sales or commissions. Our conversations with our clients and our one-on-one interactions with employees proved to us the impact of our work: We were changing lives. It was this impact that motivated us to focus our practice on serving the qualified plan marketplace exclusively.
Our vision was to create a different kind of institutional advisor, one whose structure was independent and completely straightforward. In 2004, the Francis team formally severed ties with a national brokerage firm and established Francis Investment Counsel as a Registered Investment Advisor. We were committed to serve as an ERISA fiduciary to our retirement plan sponsors and their employees.
Today, our Firm’s business model stands out within a complex industry.
Our structure is straightforward. We are 100% employee owned with no affiliations of any kind, no financial products to sell, and no personal wealth management service offerings.
Our compensation is straightforward. 100% of the Firm’s revenues comes from hard dollar fees paid by clients. There are no conflicts, no commissions, and no indirect compensation.
Our services are straightforward. We help plan sponsors design the best retirement plans possible while helping their employees become better family finance managers through our MoneyAdvice@Work® financial wellness services.
With Francis Investment Counsel, what you see is what you get: a dedicated, conflict-fee advisor, committed to the success of your plan and your people.
Our People
With decades of experience, the team at Francis Investment Counsel brings to life a service-centered organization. We attract employees who seek to help others, challenge the status quo, and look ahead to what’s coming next.
