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Tamar Securities, LLC
Doing Business As:
911 Financial Services™
&
Firefighters United Financial Services™
22466 Ventura Boulevard
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Telephone: (818) 914-7460
www.tamarsecurities.com
March 28, 2025
FORM ADV PART 2A
“FIRM BROCHURE”
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Tamar Securities,
LLC. If you have any questions regarding the content of this brochure, please contact the main offices of
Tamar Securities, LLC at (818) 914-7460. The information in this brochure has neither been approved nor
verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor by any State Securities Authority.
Additional information about Tamar Securities, LLC is also available on the SEC’s website at
www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Please, note that the use of the term “registered investment adviser” and the description of Tamar Securities,
LLC and/or our associates as “registered” does not imply a certain level of skill or training. You are
encouraged to review this brochure as well as the brochure supplements of our firm’s associates who advise
you for additional information on the qualifications of our firm and our employees.
Item 2. Material Changes to Part 2A of Form ADV: Firm Brochure
Form ADV Part 2 requires registered investment advisers to amend their brochure when information
becomes materially inaccurate. If there are any material changes to an adviser's disclosure brochure, the
adviser is required to notify you and provide you with a description of the material changes.
Since the last annual amendment filed on March 22, 2024, we have the following material changes to
disclose:
We added a new investment strategy called TAV (ua) Ultra Aggressive. Please see Item 8,
Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss, for more information.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Item 3. Table of Contents
Section:
Page(s):
Item 1. Cover Page for Part 2A of Form ADV: Firm Brochure ................................................................ 1
Item 2. Material Changes to Part 2A of Form ADV: Firm Brochure ........................................................ 2
Item 3. Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 3
Item 4. Advisory Business ........................................................................................................................ 3
Item 5. Fees and Compensation ................................................................................................................ 5
Item 6. Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management ......................................................... 11
Item 7. Types of Clients .......................................................................................................................... 11
Item 8. Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss ................................................... 12
Item 9. Disciplinary Information ............................................................................................................ 24
Item 10. Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations ................................................................. 24
Item 11. Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and Personal Trading ............ 25
Item 12. Brokerage Practices .................................................................................................................. 26
Item 13. Review of Accounts .................................................................................................................. 29
Item 14. Client Referrals and Other Compensation ................................................................................ 30
Item 15. Custody ..................................................................................................................................... 31
Item 16. Investment Discretion ............................................................................................................... 31
Item 17. Voting Client Securities ............................................................................................................ 32
Item 18. Financial Information ............................................................................................................... 32
Item 4. Advisory Business
Tamar Securities, LLC also conducts business under the following names:
• Firefighters United Financial Services
•
911Financial Services
• Tamar Insurance Solutions
We are dedicated to providing individuals, pensions, profit sharing plans, trusts, estates, corporations and
other types of organizations and individual clients with a wide array of investment advisory services. Tamar
Securities, LLC, is a limited liability company formed in the State of California. Our firm has been in
business as an investment adviser since June of 2010 and is solely owned by Amit Raz Stavinsky. Mr.
Stavinsky has been a registered investment professional in the U.S. since 1991.
The purpose of this brochure is to disclose the conflicts of interest associated with the investment
transactions, compensation and any other matters related to investment decisions made by our firm or its
representatives. As a fiduciary, it is our duty to always act in the client’s best interest. This is accomplished
in part by knowing our client. Our firm has established a service-oriented advisory practice with open lines
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Tamar Securities, LLC
of communication for many different types of clients to help meet their financial goals while remaining
sensitive to risk tolerance and time horizons. Working with clients to understand their investment objectives
while educating them about our process, facilitates the kind of working relationship we value.
At our firm, all the services provided first begin with a review of each client’s personal criteria that includes
their goals, needs, risk tolerance, and income needs versus growth, tax, legal issues, liquidity requirements,
and investment objectives and guidelines.
Next, we perform the following disciplines:
• Evaluating investment managers and holdings on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative
criteria;
• Making sure that portfolio managers consistently employ and follow their presubscribed
•
disciplined investment process;
Subjecting all investment professionals and financial products to a screening process (This
includes: organizational ownership, portfolio management tenure, investment process and
implementation, investment research, long and short-term performance, and risk/reward
assumed in portfolios as measured by their Beta, Alpha, active market timing, and significant
sector and position concentration), and monitoring and rebalancing asset allocation models on
either quarterly, semiannually or annual basis in order to establish an Efficient Frontier for
increasing portfolio returns and decreasing volatility.
1. Portfolio Management:
Our firm offers discretionary portfolio management services. As part of this service clients will be provided
asset management and financial planning or consulting services. This service is designed to assist clients in
meeting their financial goals through the use of a financial plan and/or consultation. Our investment advice
is tailored to meet our clients' needs and investment objectives. The client should also be made aware that
they will be responsible for all transaction costs associated with the ongoing management of their accounts.
If you participate in our discretionary portfolio management services, we require you to grant us
discretionary authority to manage your account. Subject to a grant of discretionary authorization, we have
the authority and responsibility to formulate investment strategies on your behalf. Discretionary
authorization will allow us to determine the specific securities, and the amount of securities, to be purchased
or sold for your account without obtaining your approval prior to each transaction. We will also have
discretion over the broker or dealer to be used for securities transactions in your account. Discretionary
authority is typically granted by the investment advisory agreement you sign with our firm, a power of
attorney, or trading authorization forms.
You may limit our discretionary authority (for example, limiting the types of securities that can be
purchased or sold for your account) by providing our firm with your restrictions and guidelines in writing.
As part of our portfolio management services, we invest your assets according to one or more
model portfolios developed by our firm. These models are designed for investors with varying degrees of
risk tolerance ranging from a more aggressive investment strategy to a more conservative investment
approach. Clients whose assets are invested in model portfolios may not set restrictions on the specific
holdings or allocations within the model, nor the types of securities that can be purchased in the model.
Please see Item 8., Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss section for detailed
information on our strategies.
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Types of Investments
We offer advice on various types of investments such as equities, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), mutual
funds and bonds based on your stated goals and objectives. Refer to the Methods of Analysis, Investment
Strategies and Risk of Loss below for additional disclosures on this topic.
Since our investment strategies and advice are based on each client’s specific financial situation, the
investment advice we provide to you may be different or conflicting with the advice we give to other clients
regarding the same security or investment.
For a list and description of each of the investment strategies we offer, please see Item 8., Methods of
Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss.
2. Independent Money Managers:
Our firm does not currently offer Independent Money Managers services.
3. Financial Planning and Consulting:
Our firm provides a variety of standalone financial planning and consulting services to clients for the
management of financial resources based upon an analysis of current situation, goals, and objectives to
clients who do not wish to engage in our Portfolio Management services. Financial planning services will
typically involve preparing a financial plan or rendering a financial consultation for clients based on the
client’s financial goals and objectives. This planning or consulting may encompass Investment Planning,
Retirement Planning, and Estate Planning.
Written financial plans or financial consultations rendered to clients usually include general
recommendations for a course of activity or specific actions to be taken by the clients (e.g., recommending
that clients begin or revise investment programs, create or revise wills or trusts, obtain or revise insurance
coverage, commence or alter retirement savings, or establish education or charitable giving programs).
Implementation of the recommendations will be at the discretion of the client. As part of our approach to
wealth management, we may also refer clients to unaffiliated third-party service providers for estate
planning services. Clients are under no obligation to engage the services of the unaffiliated third-party
service provider and clients do so at their own discretion. We are not responsible or liable for any of the
services provided by these unaffiliated third-parties and the firm is not compensated for these referrals. Our
firm provides clients with a summary of their financial situation, and observations for financial planning
engagements upon client request. Financial consultations are not typically accompanied by a written
summary of observations and recommendations, as the process is less formal than the planning service.
We manage $1,281,806,896 on a discretionary basis and $20,565,246 on a non-discretionary basis as of
December 31, 2024, totaling an aggregate $1,302,372,142 in Assets Under Management.
Item 5. Fees and Compensation
1. Portfolio Management:
Our annual portfolio management fee is billed and payable, quarterly in advance, based on the account
balance at the end of the previous quarter. Below are the fee schedules for our portfolio management . If
the portfolio management agreement is executed at any time other than the first day of a calendar quarter,
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Tamar Securities, LLC
our fees will apply on a pro rata basis, which means that the advisory fee is payable in proportion to the
number of days in the quarter for which you are a client. In limited circumstances and in our sole discretion,
we may negotiate our advisory fee depending on individual client circumstances.
We charge our advisory fees quarterly in advance for our Portfolio Management services. In the event that
you wish to terminate our services, you will need to contact us in writing and state that you wish to terminate
our services. Upon receipt of a client’s notice of termination, our firm will refund the unearned portion of
our advisory fee to you.
a. Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®):
All Equity discretionary money managed programs which include Growth Market Value
Securities (GMVS®) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
2.25%
Next $500,000
1.75%
Over $1,000,000
1.25%
b. Fixed Income Portfolios (FIP®):
All Fixed Income Portfolios (FIP) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
0.75%
Next $500,000
0.65%
Over $1,000,000
0.55%
c. Independent Relative- and Value-Oriented Global Equity Portfolios:
(1)
Total Asset Fund (“TAF®”):
All Equity discretionary money managed programs which include Total Asset Fund
(TAF®) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
2.25%
Next $500,000
1.75%
Over $1,000,000
1.25%
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(2)
Total Asset Market (“TAM®”):
All Equity discretionary money managed programs which include Total Asset Market
(TAM®) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
2.25%
Next $500,000
1.75%
Over $1,000,000
1.25%
(3) Market Value Securities (“MVS®”):
All Equity discretionary money managed programs which include Market Value
Securities (MVS®) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
2.25%
Next $500,000
1.75%
Over $1,000,000
1.25%
(4)
Total Asset Value (“TAV®”) (ua) Ultra Aggressive, TAV (a) Aggressive and TAV (ma)
Moderately Aggressive:
All Equity discretionary money managed programs which include Total Asset Value
(TAV®) subcategories; TAV® (ua) Ultra Aggressive, (a) Aggressive and TAV® (ma)
Moderately Aggressive, will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
2.25%
Next $500,000
1.75%
Over $1,000,000
1.25%
TAV® (FIP®):
All Equity and Fixed Income discretionary money managed programs which include
TAV® (FIP®) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.20%
Next $500,000
0.98%
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Over $1,000,000
0.76%
TAV® (a) Aggressive (FIP®):
All Equity and Fixed Income discretionary money managed programs which include
TAV® (a) Aggressive (FIP®) will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.80%
Next $500,000
1.42%
Over $1,000,000
1.04%
TAV® (ma) Moderately Aggressive (FIP®):
All Equity and Fixed Income discretionary money managed programs which include
TAV® (ma) Moderately Aggressive (FIP®) will adhere to the following pricing
schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.65%
Next $500,000
1.31%
Over $1,000,000
0.97%
TAV® (FIP®) International:
All Fixed Income and Equity discretionary money managed programs, which include
TAV® (FIP®) International will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.43%
Next $500,000
1.15%
Over $1,000,000
0.87%
TAV® (a) Aggressive (FIP®) International:
All Fixed Income and Equity discretionary money managed programs, which include
TAV® (FIP®) International will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.67%
Next $500,000
1.33%
Over $1,000,000
0.98%
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Tamar Securities, LLC
TAV® (ma) Moderately Aggressive (FIP®) International:
All Fixed Income and Equity discretionary money managed programs, which include
TAV® (FIP®) International will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.58%
Next $500,000
1.26%
Over $1,000,000
0.94%
(5) Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®) and Market Value Securities (MVS®) Hybrid:
FIP® MVS® Hybrid:
All discretionary money managed programs, which include FIP® MVS® Hybrid will
adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.43%
Next $500,000
1.15%
Over $1,000,000
0.87%
MVS® FIP® A:
All discretionary money managed programs which include MVS FIP A will adhere to the
following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.80%
Next $500,000
1.42%
Over $1,000,000
1.04%
MVS® FIP® MA:
All discretionary money managed programs which include MVS® FIP® MA will adhere
to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
First $500,000
1.65%
Next $500,000
1.31%
Over $1,000,000
0.97%
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Tamar Securities, LLC
(6) Cash Management:
All Cash Management portfolios will adhere to the following pricing schedule:
Assets Under Management
Annual Net Fee Assessed
$0 to $10,000,000
0.25%
$10,000,001 to $20,000,000
0.15%
Over $20,000,000
0.10%
Financial Planning and Financial Consulting Services:
Our firm charges on an hourly basis for standalone financial planning and consulting services. The total
estimated fee, as well as the ultimate fee charged, is negotiable based on the scope and complexity of our
engagement with the client. At the start of the process, our firm will estimate the total hours required to
complete the financial plan. The maximum hourly fee to be charged will not exceed $350.
Our firm requires a retainer of 50% of the ultimate financial planning or consulting fee at the time of signing.
The outstanding balance becomes due upon the completion and delivery of a financial plan and/or
consultation rendered. Payment becomes due within three business days upon the issuance of an invoice.
Plans and/or consultations normally take six months to complete, assuming that all requested information
and documents are provided to us promptly by the client. In all cases, our firm will not require a retainer
exceeding $1,200 when services cannot be finalized within 6 months.
Financial Planning & Consulting clients may terminate their agreement at any time before the delivery of
a financial plan by providing written notice. For purposes of calculating refunds, all work performed by us
up to the point of termination shall be calculated at the hourly fee currently in effect. Clients will receive a
pro-rata refund of unearned fees based on the time and effort expended by our firm.
Additional Fees and Expenses
Clients will incur transaction fees for trades executed by their chosen custodian, based on a percentage of
the dollar amount of assets in the account(s). These transaction fees are separate from our firm’s advisory
fees and will be disclosed by the chosen custodian. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. does not charge transaction
fees for U.S. listed equities and exchange traded funds. Our firm also recommends National Financial
Services/Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments as a custodian for client accounts. Other major custodians
have recently eliminated transaction fees for all ETFs and U.S. listed equities, so clients may pay more for
investing in the same securities at Pershing.
Clients may also pay holdings charges imposed by the chosen custodian for certain investments, charges
imposed directly by a mutual fund, index fund, or exchange traded fund, which shall be disclosed in the
fund’s prospectus (i.e., fund management fees, initial or deferred sales charges, mutual fund sales loads,
12b-1 fees, surrender charges, variable annuity fees, IRA and qualified retirement plan fees, and other fund
expenses), mark-ups and mark-downs, spreads paid to market makers, fees for trades executed away from
custodian, wire transfer fees and other fees and taxes on brokerage accounts and securities transactions.
Our firm does not receive a portion of these fees.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Commissionable securities sales.
In order to sell securities for a commission, our supervised persons are registered representatives of Purshe
Kaplan Sterling Investments, Inc. (“PKS”), a registered broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC. PKS
clears through National Financial Services (NFS). Our supervised persons may accept compensation for
the sale of securities or other investment products, including distribution or service (“trail”) fees from the
sale of mutual funds. You should be aware that the practice of accepting commissions for the sale of
securities:
1. Presents a conflict of interest and gives our firm and/or our supervised persons an incentive to
recommend investment products based on the compensation received, rather than on your needs.
We generally address commissionable sales conflicts that arise:
a) when explaining to clients that commissionable securities sales create an incentive to
recommend products based on the compensation we and/or our supervised persons may
earn and may not necessarily be in the best interests of the client;
b) When recommending commissionable mutual funds, explaining that “no-load” funds are
available through our firm if the client wishes to become an investment advisory client.
2. In no way prohibits you from purchasing investment products recommended by us through other
brokers or agents which are not affiliated with us.
3. Does not exceed more than 50% of our revenue.
4. Does not reduce your advisory fees to offset the commissions our supervised persons receive.
Item 6. Performance-Based Fees and Side-By-Side Management
We do not accept performance-based fees or participate in side-by-side management. Performance-based
fees are fees that are based on a share of a capital gains or capital appreciation of a client's account. Side-
by-side management refers to the practice of managing accounts that are charged performance-based fees
while at the same time managing accounts that are not charged performance-based fees. Our fees are
calculated as described in the Fees and Compensation section above, and are not charged on the basis of a
share of capital gains upon, or capital appreciation of, the funds in your advisory account.
Item 7. Types of Clients
We have the following types of clients:
Individuals;
•
• High Net Worth Individuals;
• Charitable Organizations;
Pension and Profit Sharing Plans; and
•
• Corporations or other business types.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Our firm requires a minimum account balance of $100,000 for each of the firm’s investment programs
except for the TAM program and GMVS portfolio.
•
•
For the TAM program, our firm requires a minimum account balance of $75,000. Normally, this
minimum account balance requirement is not negotiable and should be maintain throughout the
course of the client’s relationship with our firm. However, some exceptions can be made at the sole
discretion of the firm’s owner.
For the GMVS portfolio, our firm will require a minimum account balance of $50,000. Normally,
this minimum account balance requirement is not negotiable and should be maintained throughout
the course of the client’s relationship with our firm. However, some exceptions can be made at the
sole discretion of the firm’s owner.
Item 8. Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss
Methods of Analysis:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Global Macro;
Analysis of Sectors and Industries;
Top Down Relative Value;
Bottom Up Relative value
Underlying Fundamentals;
Cyclical;
Technical.
The following are the investment strategies we offer:
(1) Market Value Securities (“MVS®”):
Market Value Securities (MVS®) offers a strategic, discretionary fee-based, long-term
approach to Global Asset Allocation portfolios of mainly small to large cap individual
equities. Additionally, at times this program reserves the option to purchase preferred,
convertible preferred stocks, warrants, rights offering and options. Qualified participants,
with signed Options Trading, and Margin Application on file, will participate, when
deemed appropriate, in purchasing of options (Level 1) for Growth, Speculation, and
Income, in Spread Trading (Level 2), and in Uncovered Options Trading (Level 3) for
Speculation and Income. The investment philosophy is founded on the belief that
superior investment performance depends primarily on investing in the most attractive
global Economic Sectors, and Sub-Industries based, in general, on supply and demand
analysis.
The program endorses a top-down value discipline that seeks to identify globally
undervalued Markets, Economic Sectors, Industries, and Specific Securities in “Super
Cycles” that sell at discounts to both their respective and historical intrinsic values.
“Super Cycles” are defined as undervalued Economic Sectors, and Industries in the
Global Economy that our firm believes are best positioned for “Long-Term Growth”. For
example, in our view, “Super Cycles” can encompass industrial and/or technological
developments, similar to the internet wave of the 90s, that potentially can change the
way individuals consume, socialize and communicate with one another.
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The first step in the process analyzes the relative attractiveness of global Economic
Sectors, and their Sub-Industries. This is done first via in-depth analysis of supply and
demand fundamentals, and growth rate projections. Second, global Economic Sectors
and Sub-Industries are identified and selected. Third, individual small to large cap
equities are researched.
At the end, a due diligence process is implemented for identifying and selecting
individual equities that sell at discounts to their respective and historical intrinsic values.
Intrinsic values are determined by using discounted cash flow and relative valuation
models.
The fundamental analysis used to select the individual equities that end up making the
Market Value Securities portfolio (MVS®) includes primarily low absolute and relative
valuations such as price/earnings, price/book, price/cash, and debt to equity ratios. Other
fundamental research followed is based on analysis of barriers to entry, market share,
return on equity, growth projections, liquidity, market capitalization, free cash flow
generation, debt structure, management tenure, quality of brand, and franchise value.
Our firm believes that prior to a “Super Cycle” peak companies will have massive capital
expenditures associated with Growth, Mergers and Acquisitions activities. Eventually, at
the height of a “Super Cycle” the sector and its individual equities will dominate the
market from an earnings and market capitalization standpoint. For example, Technology
and Telecommunications grew to 40% of the S&P 500 Index in February of 2000, and
during the Japanese Real Estate bubble, properties in that country were valued at more
than the entire combined U.S. Real Estate market. When these signs are apparent, we
will attempt to rotate out of the Economic Sectors, Sub-Industries, and their related
Individual Equities in favor of new undervalued Economic Sectors and Sub Industries in
the world’s economy.
The MVS® program includes different threshold balances of assets under management.
In general, the minimum requirement to participate in the program is $100,000 in assets
under management. However, in order to accommodate some of the firm’s legacy
household clients and/or to be able, under certain circumstances, to provide additional
investment options, the MVS® program has created a diluted version of its main
discipline with lower threshold minimums of under $100,000 in assets under
management.
The underlying number and type of individual equity positions that make up the entire
MVS® portfolio will vary based on the accounts’ threshold balances in the program. For
example, the MVS® program with assets under management of over $100,000 will likely
carry higher number of different underlying equity positions in order to better target
specific sectors and industries in the world economy.
On the other hand, lower MVS® thresholds’ balances than $100,000 in assets under
management will likely carry fewer underlying equity positions that are typically apart
of the higher threshold MVS® program.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
As such, accounts engaged in the MVS® discipline which maintain less than the
$100,000 threshold balances in assets undermanagement will be subject to increased
concentration risk, as well as likely higher company risk, equity risk, volatility risk,
market risk, capital risk, foreign exposure risk, legal and regulatory risk, liquidity risk,
strategy risk, inflation risk, and interest rate risk. Additional information on the relevant
risks associated with investing in this program can be found within Item 8 of this
brochure.
(2) Growth Market Value Securities Portfolios (GMVS™)
Growth Market Value Securities, or GMVS™, is a discretionary, fee-based, long-term
approach to investing in equity securities of innovative companies that have yet to capture
meaningful market share in their respective industries. Additionally, at times, this program
reserves the option to purchase preferred stocks, convertible preferred stocks, warrants, rights
offerings, and options. Suitable clients, with signed options trading and margin application on
file, will participate, when deemed appropriate, in purchasing and selling options for growth
and income.
This program seeks to identify emerging, disruptive, and innovative companies that sell at what
we believe to be a discount to their intrinsic value. In general, this strategy will focus on small,
mid-cap, and large cap companies that will fundamentally change how individuals interact,
transact, consume, and socialize. More specifically, this equity portfolio will generally
encompass what is formally known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution in technology, which
typically includes emerging technologies such as 5G, autonomous driving, Internet of Things
(IoT), financial technology (FinTech), blockchain, augmented reality (AR), and artificial
intelligence (AI). This investment program, in general, will focus on companies that are in the
earlier stages of their development relative to their industry counterparts. This will provide
investors with the opportunity to gain exposure to technologically unique companies and
industries that have yet to reach the peak of their growth. Consequently, this program is risky,
aggressive in nature, and therefore, subject to extreme market volatility. Only clients with
compatible investment-related predispositions, such as risk tolerance and investment goals,
will be eligible to participate in this investment program.
In general, a bottom-up investment approach will be used to identify companies with promising
fundamentals, attractive growth prospects, and favorable business models that have recurring
revenue streams. Although relevant macro-economic factors will be considered in making
investment decisions, the primary focus will be on the individual business and its competitive
position in the marketplace. Traditional valuation methodologies, such as discounted cash flow
and comparative valuation models will be used to identify the attractiveness of the investment
with respect to its historical and expected intrinsic value. Furthermore, a review of corporate
management will be conducted to assess the efficacy of management’s decision-making, the
robustness of its corporate governance framework, and the historical ability of management to
attain their financial goals.
The investment program will utilize different portfolio management techniques and guidelines
to optimize the portfolio’s risk/reward parameters and thereby increase portfolio efficiency. To
avoid idiosyncratic risk, the following guidelines have been put in place to promote
diversification and reduce the portfolio’s industry concentration.
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The guidelines are as follows for this portfolio: (i) the portfolio, in general, will hold no more
than 15 stocks, (ii) individual equity positions, generally, will not exceed 20 percent of the
portfolio’s value, (iii) industry group and sub-sector holdings, in general, cannot exceed 40%
of the portfolio, (iv) account total cash position, in general, cannot exceed 45% of portfolio
value.
The GMVS™ program includes different threshold balances of assets under management. In
general, the minimum requirement to participate in the program is $100,000 in assets under
management. However, in order to accommodate some of the firm’s legacy household clients
and/or to be able, under certain circumstances, to provide additional investment options, the
GMVS® program has created a diluted version of its main discipline with lower threshold
minimums of under $100,000 in assets under management.
(3) Fixed Income Portfolios (FIP®):
Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®) offers a discretionary fee-based value strategy that includes
discounted/ premium taxable high yield bonds, double tax-exempt and taxable municipal
bonds, preferred stocks, convertible bonds, and foreign- denominated bonds.
The firm emphasizes discounted high-grade debt securities over equity and alternative
investments in order to achieve both constant annual income returns and fixed income price
appreciation. The firm may use proceeds accumulated from bond redemptions and income
generated in order to invest in equities. Additionally, the investment process is gradual,
fundamental in nature; and therefore, at times, supply constraints as well as low interest rate
environment could lead to excessive cash balances whereby many of the buy orders bid on are
not executed in a timely manner.
Management of Fixed Income Portfolios (FIP®) can be performed on a dual platform:
Discretionary and Non-Discretionary fee basis (Registered Investment Advisor), and
Discretionary and Non-Discretionary transactional basis through our firm’s association with
the broker-dealer: Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments (PKS), and their clearing operations
with National Financial Services (NFS). Additionally, the broker-dealers we do advisory
business with and/or our firm’s recommended custodian-Schwab Institutional, may clear
through RBC Capital Markets LLC, Pershing LLC, Legent Clearing, Inc. and Wedbush
Morgan Securities.
Second, all bond purchase Offerings are Bid on, and all bond sell Offerings are put out for a
Bid on Wall Street. In many cases, and at odds with Wall Street practices, this Bid/Offer
execution platform is duplicated for odd lot bond offerings where there is not enough liquidity;
thereby, allowing our firm to Bid on bond Offerings at even deeper discounts then is warranted
in a typical marketplace.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
(4) Independent Relative- and Value-Oriented Global Equity Portfolios:
Total Asset Fund (“TAF®”):
“TAF®” offers discretionary fee based, managed money program that utilizes “no load”
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and/or Index Funds (Although there are no upfront sales
charges, other fees and expenses do apply) in order to structure long-term Global Asset
Allocation portfolios.
The program endorses a top-down value discipline that seeks to identify globally
undervalued Markets, Economic Sectors, Industries, Fixed Income, and Specific
Securities in “Super Cycles” that sell at discounts to both their respective and historical
intrinsic values. “Super Cycles” are defined as undervalued Economic Sectors, and
Industries in the Global Economy that our firm believes are best positioned for
“LongTerm Growth”.
Next, qualitative and quantitative assessments are applied for deciding on the underlying
funds that will end up making the Total Asset Fund (TAF®) portfolio.
This process also attempts to evaluate risk/reward parameters assumed by Exchange
and/or Traded Index Funds as measured by their quantitative and/or Mathematical
Calculations of Risk.
The program utilizes general asset management guidelines in order to attempt to achieve
favorable risk/reward performance results independent of the market’s strength or
weakness.
(5) Total Asset Market (“TAM®”):
“TAM®” offers a disciplined, discretionary, and non-discretionary fee based mutual fund
of funds program. It attempts to establish long-term Strategic Asset Allocation portfolios
that are made out of a few select, mutual funds that are purchased at Net Asset Value
(NAV).
The program endorses a top-down value discipline that seeks to identify globally
undervalued Markets, Economic Sectors, Industries, Fixed Income, and Specific
Securities in “Super Cycles” that sell at discounts to both their respective and historical
intrinsic values. “Super Cycles” are defined as undervalued Economic Sectors, and
Industries in the Global Economy that our firm believes are best positioned for
“LongTerm Growth”.
Next, qualitative and quantitative assessments are applied for deciding underlying
mutual funds that will end up making the Total Asset Market (TAM®) portfolio.
The TAM program includes different assets under management thresholds. In general,
the minimum requirement to participate in the program is $75,000 in assets under
management. However, in order to accommodate some of the firm’s legacy household
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Tamar Securities, LLC
clients and/or to be able, under certain circumstances, to provide additional investment
options, the TAM program has created a diluted version of its main discipline with lower
threshold minimums than $75,000 in assets under management.
The underlying number and type of mutual funds that make up the entire TAM portfolio
will vary based on the assets’ threshold in the program. For example, the TAM program
with assets under management of over $75,000 will likely carry higher number of
different underlying mutual funds in order to better target specific sectors and industries
in world economy.
On the other hand, lower TAM threshold account balances than $75,000 in assets under
management will likely carry fewer underlying of different family funds that are
typically apart of the higher threshold balances of the TAM program.
As such, accounts engaged in the TAM discipline which maintain less than the $75,000
in assets undermanagement threshold balances will be subject to increased concentration
risk, as well as higher likely risks associated with the company risk, equity risk, volatility
risk, market risk, capital risk, foreign exposure risk, legal and regulatory risk, liquidity
risk, strategy risk, inflation risk, and interest rate risk. Additional information on the
relevant risks associated with investing in this program can be found within Item 8 of
this brochure.
Throughout the tenure of the Total Asset Market (TAM®) program, Global Asset
Allocation models are either rebalanced quarterly, semi-annually, or annually in order to
achieve an optimal strategic asset allocation on the Efficient Frontier. This process of
rebalancing a diversified global portfolio across a strategic combination of asset classes,
in turn can potentially increase overall investment returns while decreasing volatility.
Additionally, the investment process is gradual, fundamental in nature, and occasionally
technically driven. Implementing fundamental and technical analysis to uncover
oversold market conditions can lead to excessive cash balances in the interim.
(6) Total Asset Value (“TAV®”):
Total Asset Value (TAV®) investment program offers a platform that attempts to
combine, on a discretionary fee basis, four of Tamar Securities, LLC's investment
disciplines. These investment disciplines include:
Total Asset Market (TAM®)
Total Asset Fund (TAF®);
Market Value Securities (MVS®) or Growth Market Value Securities Portfolios
(GMVS®); and
Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®).
Please Note: Total Asset Value (TAV®) is a diluted version of the above investment
programs. Additionally, when Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®) becomes the
individual equity allocation in the TAV program as opposed to the Market Value
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Securities (MVS®) equity allocation, in general the volatility risk of the entire program
is likely to increase.
Total Asset Value ("TAV®") program is divided into three main investment disciplines:
TAV® (ua) Ultra Aggressive, TAV® (a) Aggressive, and TAV® (ma) Moderately
Aggressive. TAV®(ua) Aggressive strives to achieve an asset allocation model which,
in general, includes 50% investment weighting in Market Value Securities (MVS®) or
alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), 25% investment weighting in
Total Asset Fund (TAF®), and 25% investment weighting in Total Asset Market
(TAM®). Additionally, this strategy is subject to extreme volatility risk in financial
markets or Beta; and hence, designed for qualified investors with an extensive
investment experience and a very long-term investment horizon.
On the other hand, TAV® (a) Aggressive strives to achieve an asset allocation model
which, in general, includes 25% investment weighting in Market Value Securities
(MVS®) or alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), 35% investment
weighting in Total Asset Fund (TAF®), and 40% investment weighting in Total Asset
Market (TAM®). Lastly, TAV® (ma) Moderately Aggressive strives to achieve an asset
allocation model which, in general, includes 20% investment weighting in Market Value
Securities (MVS®) or alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), 35%
investment weighting in Total Asset Fund (TAF®) and 45% investment weighting in
Total Asset Market (TAM®). Tamar Securities, LLC's "Top Down" global value strategy
determines its ongoing asset allocation weighting among its three underlining disciplines
namely MVS or alternatively GMVS, TAF and TAM in an attempt to achieve optimum
risk reward performance results.
Total Asset Value ("TAV®") is also subdivided into the following three additional main
categories which include Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®):
A. TAV® (a) Aggressive (FIP®) that strives to achieve an asset allocation model which,
in general, includes 17% investment weighting in Market Value Securities (MVS®) or
alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), 25% investment weighting in
Total Asset Fund (TAF®), 28% investment weighting in Total Asset Market (TAM®),
and 30% investment weighting in Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®).
B. TAV® (ma) Moderately Aggressive (FIP®) that strives to achieve an asset allocation
model which, in general, includes 13% investment weighting in Market Value Securities
(MVS®) or alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), 20% investment
weighting in Total Asset Fund (TAF), 27% investment weighting in Total Asset Market
(TAM®), and 40% investment weighting in Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®).
C. TAV® (FIP®) that strives to achieve an asset allocation model which, in general,
includes 30% investment weighting in either Market Value Securities (MVS®) or
alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), Total Asset Fund (TAF®) or
Total Asset Market (TAM®), and 70% investment weighting in Fixed Income Portfolio
(FIP®).
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Tamar Securities, LLC
As with the previous two main Total Asset Value ("TAV®") programs, 911 Financial
Services™’s "Top Down" global value strategy determines its ongoing asset allocation
weighting among its four underlining disciplines namely MVS or alternatively GMVS,
TAF, TAM, and FIP in an attempt to achieve an optimum risk reward performance result.
D. TAV® (FIP®) International, in general, utilizes alternative investments to U.S.
domestic mutual funds. This program, designed for mostly foreign investors, includes
the following three asset allocation models: a.) Total Asset Fund (TAF®), b.) Market
Value Securities (MVS®) or alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®),
and c.) Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®). The program disciplines include the following
three sub categories: 1) TAV® (FIP®) International Portfolio that, in general, strives to
achieve an asset allocation model of 55% investment weighting in Fixed Income
Portfolio (FIP®), 15% investment weighting in Market Value Securities (MVS®) or
alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), and 30% investment
weighting in Total Asset Fund (TAF®), 2) TAV® (a) Aggressive (FIP®) International
Portfolio that, in general, strives to achieve an asset allocation model of 40%
investment weighting in Fixed Income Portfolio, 25% investment weighting in Market
Value Securities (MVS®) or alternatively Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®),
and 35% investment weighting in Total Asset Fund (TAF®), and 3) TAV® (ma)
Moderately Aggressive (FIP®) International Portfolio that, in general, strives to achieve
an asset allocation model of 45% investment weighing in Fixed Income Portfolio
(FIP®), 35% investment weighting in Market Value Securities (MVS®) or alternatively
Growth Market Value Securities (GMVS®), and 20% investment weighting in Total
Asset Fund (TAF®). As with the previous TAV programs, Tamar Securities, LLC’s
“Top Down” global value strategy determines its ongoing asset allocation weighting
among its underlining disciplines and asset classes. The investment process is gradual,
fundamental in nature, and occasionally, technically driven. Implementing fundamental
and technical analysis to uncover oversold market conditions can lead to excessive cash
balances in the interim.
(7) Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®) and Market Value Securities (MVS®) Hybrid:
This program combines the firm's MVS® global asset allocation portfolio of mainly
small to large cap individual equities with our FIP® fixed income strategy of individual
bonds such as discounted or premium taxable high yield bonds, double tax-exempt and
taxable municipal bonds, preferred stocks, convertible bonds, and foreign- denominated
bonds as follows:
A. FIP® MVS® Hybrid that strives to achieve an asset allocation model which in general
consists of 60% investing weighting into the Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®) strategy, and
40% investment weighting into the Market Value Securities (MVS®) program;
B. MVS® FIP® A (Aggressive) that strives to achieve an asset allocation model which in
general consists of 70% investment weighing into the Market Value Securities (MVS®)
program, and 30% investment weighting into the Fixed Income Portfolio (FIP®) strategy
and;
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Tamar Securities, LLC
C. MVS® FIP® MA (Moderately Aggressive) that strives to achieve an asset allocation
model which in general consists of 60% investment weighting into the Market Value
Securities (MVS®) program, and 40% investment weighting into the Fixed Income
Portfolio (FIP®) strategy.
(8) Cash Management:
Cash management consists in general of short duration fixed income securities such as
taxable and tax-free institutional money market funds, FDIC insured certificate of
deposits, Treasury bills, mortgage-backed securities, commercial paper, government
agencies, and low to high grade corporate bonds, tax free and taxable municipal bonds,
step up coupon bonds, convertible bonds, and preferred and floating rate preferred
stocks. These portfolios can be subject to interest rate risk, credit risk, and market
volatility risk. This program considers liquidity and cash needs per each individual or
entity's unique requirements by structuring diversified laddered fixed income portfolios
with different maturities, coupon payments and credit risks.
Investment Strategies:
•
Long-Term Purchases: Our firm may buy securities for your account and hold them for a
relatively long time (more than a year) in anticipation that the security’s value will appreciate
over a long horizon. The risk of this strategy is that our firm could miss out on potential short-
term gains that could have been profitable to your account, or it’s possible that the security’s
value may decline sharply before our firm makes a decision to sell.
•
Short-Term Purchases: When utilizing this strategy, our firm may also purchase securities with
the idea of selling them within a relatively short time (typically a year or less). Our firm does
this in an attempt to take advantage of conditions that our firm believes will soon result in a
price swing in the securities our firm purchase.
•
Trading: Our firm purchase securities with the idea of selling them very quickly (typically
within 30 days or less). Our firm does this in an attempt to take advantage of our predictions of
brief price swings. Trading involves risk that may not be suitable for every investor and may
involve a high volume of trading activity. Active trading accounts should be considered
speculative in nature with the objective being to generate short-term profits. This activity may
result in the loss of more than 100% of an investment.
•
Alternative Investments primary strategies include: a Long/Short Technology hedge fund, a
Private Equity Fund, and a Private Equity Real Estate Portfolio. Our firm can endorse
nontraditional investment strategies that could provide hedges and/or some downside market
protection.
•
Cash & Cash Equivalents: Cash and cash equivalents generally refer to either United States
dollars or highly liquid short-term debt instruments such as, but not limited to, treasury bills,
bank CD’s and commercial papers. Generally, these assets are considered nonproductive and
will be exposed to inflation risk and considerable opportunity cost risk. Investments in cash
and cash equivalents will generally return less than the advisory fee charged by our firm. Our
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Tamar Securities, LLC
firm may recommend cash and cash equivalents as part of our clients’ asset allocation when
deemed appropriate and in their best interest. Our firm considers cash and cash equivalents to
be an asset class. Therefore, our firm assess an advisory fee on cash and cash equivalents unless
indicated otherwise in writing.
Risk of Loss:
Investing in securities involves risk of loss that clients should be prepared to bear. While the stock and
bond markets may increase in value and consequently your account(s) could follow suite, it is also
possible that the stock and bond markets may decrease in value, and consequently your account(s) could
suffer a loss. It is important that you understand the risks associated with investing in the stock and
bond markets, your investment portfolios are appropriately diversified, and that you ask any questions
you may deem important for managing your investment portfolio(s).
•
Capital Risk: Capital risk is one of the most basic, fundamental risks of investing; it is the risk
that you may lose 100% of your money. All investments carry some form of risk and the loss
of capital is generally a risk for any investment instrument.
•
Company Risk: When investing in stock positions, there is always a certain level of company
or industry specific risk that is inherent in each investment. This is also referred to as
unsystematic risk and can be reduced through appropriate diversification. There is the risk that
the company will perform poorly or have its value reduced based on factors specific to the
company or its industry. For example, if a company’s employees go on strike or the company
receives unfavorable media attention for its actions, the value of the company may be reduced.
•
Economic Risk: The prevailing economic environment is important to the health of all
businesses. Some companies, however, are more sensitive to changes in the domestic or global
economy than others. These types of companies are often referred to as cyclical businesses.
Countries in which a large portion of businesses are in cyclical industries are thus also very
economically sensitive and carry a higher amount of economic risk. If an investment is issued
by a party located in a country that experiences wide swings from an economic standpoint or
in situations where certain elements of an investment instrument are hinged on dealings in such
countries, the investment instrument will generally be subject to a higher level of economic
risk.
•
Equity (Stock) Market Risk: Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market
fluctuations and volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and
perceptions of their issuers change. If you hold common stock, or common stock equivalents,
of any given issuer, you would generally be exposed to greater risk than if you held preferred
stocks and debt obligations of the issuer.
•
ETF & Mutual Fund Risk: When investing in an ETF or mutual fund, you will bear additional
expenses based on your pro rata share of the ETF’s or mutual fund’s operating expenses,
including the potential duplication of management fees. The risk of owning an ETF or mutual
fund generally reflects the risks of owning the underlying securities in the ETF, or in the mutual
fund. Clients will also incur brokerage costs when purchasing ETFs.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
•
Financial Risk: Financial risk is represented by internal disruptions within an investment or the
issuer of an investment that can lead to unfavorable performance of the investment. Examples
of financial risk can be found in cases like Enron or many of the dot com companies that were
caught up in a period of extraordinary market valuations that were not based on solid financial
footings of the companies.
•
Fixed Income Securities Risk: Typically, the values of fixed-income securities change inversely
with prevailing interest rates. Therefore, a fundamental risk of fixed-income securities is
interest rate risk, which is the risk that their value will generally decline as prevailing interest
rates rise, which may cause your account value to likewise decrease, and vice versa. How
specific fixed income securities may react to changes in interest rates will depend on the
specific characteristics of each security. Fixed-income securities are also subject to credit risk,
prepayment risk, valuation risk, and liquidity risk. Credit risk is the chance that a bond issuer
will fail to pay interest and principal in a timely manner, or that negative perceptions of the
issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of a bond to decline.
•
Foreign Exposure Risk: Our firm may have exposure to foreign markets, including emerging
markets, which can be more volatile than the U.S. markets. As a result, returns and net asset
values may be affected to a large degree by fluctuations in currency exchange rates, political or
economic conditions in a particular country. Any investments in emerging market countries
may involve risks greater than, or in addition to, the risks of investing in more developed
countries.
•
Inflation Risk: Inflation risk involves the concern that in the future, your investment or proceeds
from your investment will not be worth what they are today. Throughout time, the prices of
resources and end-user products generally increase; and thus, the same general goods and
products today will likely be more expensive in the future. The longer an investment is held,
the greater the chance that the proceeds from that investment will be worth less in the future
than they are today. Said another way, a dollar tomorrow will likely get you less than what it
can today.
•
Interest Rate Risk: Certain investments involve the payment of a fixed or variable rate of
interest to the investment holder. Once an investor has acquired or has acquired the rights to an
investment that pays a particular rate (fixed or variable) of interest, changes in overall interest
rates in the market will affect the value of the interest-paying investment(s) they hold. In
general, changes in prevailing interest rates in the market will have an inverse relationship to
the value of existing, interest-paying investments. In other words, as interest rates move up, the
value of an instrument paying a particular rate (fixed or variable) of interest will go down. The
reverse is generally true as well.
•
Legal/Regulatory Risk: Certain investments or the issuers of investments may be affected by
changes in state or federal laws or in the prevailing regulatory framework under which the
investment instrument or its issuer is regulated. Changes in the regulatory environment or tax
laws can affect the performance of certain investments or issuers of those investments; and
thus, can have a negative impact on the overall performance of such investments.
•
Liquidity Risk: Certain assets may not be readily converted into cash or may have a very limited
market in which they trade. This can create a substantial delay in the receipt of proceeds from
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Tamar Securities, LLC
an investment. Liquidity risk can also result in unfavorable pricing when exiting (i.e. not being
able to quickly get out of an investment before the price drops significantly) a particular
investment can have a negative impact on investment returns.
•
Market Risk: The value of your portfolio may decrease if the value of an individual company
or multiple companies in the portfolio decreases or if our belief about a company’s intrinsic
worth is incorrect. Further, regardless of how well individual companies perform, the value of
your portfolio could also decrease if there are deteriorating economic or market conditions. It
is important to understand that the value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, in
response to changes in the market, and you could lose money. Investment risks include price
risk as may be observed by a drop in a security’s price due to company specific events (e.g.
earnings disappointment or downgrade in the rating of a bond) or general market risk (e.g. such
as a “bear” market when stock values fall in general). For fixed-income securities, a period of
rising interest rates could erode the value of a bond since bond values generally fall as bond
yields go up. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.
•
Strategy Risk: There is no guarantee that the investment strategies discussed herein will work
under all market conditions and each investor should evaluate his/her ability to maintain any
investment he/she is considering in light of his/her own investment time horizon. Investments
are subject to risk, including possible loss of principal.
Alternative Investments:
For clients who own alternative investments, the absence of a public market, lack of liquidity and an
expected long term investment time horizon may include the following risks that you should consider:
•
You may experience the risk that your investment or assets within your investment may not be
able to be liquidated quickly, thus, extending the period of time by which you may receive the
proceeds from your investment.
Liquidity risk can also result in unfavorable pricing when exiting (i.e. not being able to quickly
get out of an investment before the price drops significantly) a particular investment and
therefore, can have a negative impact on investment returns.
•
No guarantee that investors will receive a distribution. Distributions may be derived from the
proceeds of the offering, from borrowings, or from the sale of assets, and we have no limits on
the amounts we may pay from such other sources. Payments of distributions from sources other
than cash flow from operations may decrease or diminish an investor's interest;
•
Economic factors affecting the real estate markets generally, including changes in the economy,
tenant turnover, interest rates, availability of mortgage funds, operating expenses, cost of
insurance and tenants' ability to continue to pay rent;
•
No connection between the share price of the REIT and the net asset value of the REIT until
such time as the assets are valued.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Item 9. Disciplinary Information
We have determined that our firm and related persons have nothing to disclose in regards to disciplinary
information.
Item 10. Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations
Some registered financial advisors of our firm are also registered representative of Purshe Kaplan
Sterling Investments, Inc. (“PKS”), a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. PKS is a
broker-dealer that is independently owned and operated and is not affiliated with our firm. In order to
comply with FINRA Conduct Rule 3280, PKS as an unaffiliated broker-dealer may periodically review
the investment advisory transactions of our firm. This information will be viewed by PKS’ compliance
department personnel for supervisory purposes only. No information viewed will be utilized for
purposes of solicitation or shared with any affiliation outside the scope of regulatory compliance. As a
result of this relationship, they may offer products and receive customary fees. A conflict of interest
exists when sales of commissionable securities create an incentive to recommend products based on
the compensation earned. To mitigate this potential conflict, our firm will act in the client’s best interest.
Neither the Adviser nor any of its management persons is a commodity broker/futures commission
merchant, a commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor or an associated person for the
foregoing entities or has an application for registration pending.
1. Insurance company of agency:
Some representatives of our firm are licensed insurance agents appointed by various insurance
companies in the state of California. They may offer insurance products and receive customary fees
as a result of insurance sales. A conflict of interest exists as these insurance sales create an incentive
to recommend products based on the compensation advisers and/or supervised persons may earn.
To mitigate this potential conflict, our firm will act in the client’s best interest. Further, Clients are
under no obligation to act upon any recommendations or execute any transactions utilizing the
firm’s representatives. Additionally, our firm also is registered as an insurance brokerage firm under
the name of Tamar Insurance Solutions. Clients may be solicited to use the services of this firm and
our representatives will receive commissions as a result of these transactions. A conflict of interest
exists as these commissionable securities sales create an incentive to recommend products based
on the compensation earned. To mitigate this potential conflict, our firm will act in the client’s best
interest.
2. Banking or thrift institution:
Our firm has nothing to disclose in this regard.
3. Real Estate and other Companies:
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Management person, Amit Stavinsky, is a general partner for Gapa, LLC, Roscoe Lennox, LLC,
Stavinsky Investments, LLC, and Tamar Investments, LLC, a limited liability companies formed
in California for mostly real estate development projects but also for equity, fixed-income, and
private equity investments. Additionally, Amit Stavinsky is a limited partner in the following
Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill entities: Wood Ranch Northridge, LLC, Wood Ranch Thousand Oaks,
LLC, Wood Ranch Valencia, LLC, Wood Ranch Cerritos, LLC, Wood Ranch San Diego, LLC,
Wood Ranch Rancho Santa Margarita, LLC, Wood Ranch Irvine, LLC, Wood Ranch Corona,
LLC, Wood Ranch Thousand oaks, and Wood Ranch Manhattan Beach.
Mr. Stavinsky spends approximately 5 hours per month on these activities. Clients are under no
obligation to utilize this service and Tamar Securities’ clients are not solicited to invest in this
outside business therefore no conflicts of interest exist.
fees or services.
to minimize
this conflict our
The compensation paid to our firm by third-party managers may vary, and thus, creates a conflict of
interest in recommending a manager who shares a larger portion of its advisory fees over another
manager. Prior to referring clients to third-party advisors, our firm will ensure that third-party advisors
are licensed or notice filed with the respective authorities. A potential conflict of interest in utilizing
third-party advisors may be an incentive to us in selecting a particular advisor over another in the form
of
firm will make our
In order
recommendations/selections in the best interest of our clients.
Item 11. Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in Client Transactions and Personal Trading
Description of Our Code of Ethics
We strive to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing our practices. Therefore, our Code of
Ethics includes guidelines for professional standards of conduct for persons associated with our firm. Our
goal is to protect your interests at all times and to demonstrate our commitment to our fiduciary duties of
honesty, good faith, and fair dealing with you. All persons associated with our firm are expected to adhere
strictly to these guidelines. Persons associated with our firm are also required to report any violations of
our Code of Ethics. Additionally, we maintain and enforce written policies reasonably designed to prevent
the misuse or dissemination of material, non-public information about you or your account holdings by
persons associated with our firm.
Clients or prospective clients may obtain a copy of our Code of Ethics by contacting us at the telephone
number on the cover page of this brochure.
Participation or Interest in Client Transactions
Neither our firm nor any persons associated with our firm has any material financial interest in client
transactions beyond the provision of investment advisory services as disclosed in this brochure.
Personal Trading Practices
Our firm or persons associated with our firm may buy or sell the same securities that we recommend to you
or securities in which you are already invested. A conflict of interest exists in such cases because we have
the ability to trade ahead of you and potentially receive more favorable prices than you will receive. To
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Tamar Securities, LLC
mitigate this conflict of interest, it is our policy that neither our firm nor persons associated with our firm
shall have priority over your account in the purchase or sale of securities.
Item 12. Brokerage Practices
We recommend that you establish an account with a custodian/brokerage firm with which we have an
existing relationship. Such relationships may include benefits provided to our firm, including but not
limited to, market information, and administrative services that help our firm manage your account(s).
We believe that recommended broker-dealers provide quality execution services for our clients at
competitive prices. Price is not the sole factor we consider in evaluating best execution. We also
consider the quality of the brokerage services provided by recommended broker-dealers, including the
firm's reputation, execution capabilities, commission rates, and responsiveness to our clients and our
firm. By using another broker or dealer you may incur lower transaction costs.
While we recommend custodians to clients, clients can decide whether or not to follow our advice.
Clients that choose to establish accounts with their elected custodians could do so directly with them.
At Tamar, we do not open these direct accounts for our clients.
At Tamar Securities, LLC, we seek to recommend custodians/broker-dealers that hold our clients’ assets
and execute their transactions on terms that are most advantageous when compared to other available
providers and their services. The following, are some of the wide range factors we consider when
recommending preferred custodians.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
combination of transaction execution services along with asset custody services
capability to execute, clear and settle trades (buy and sell securities for your account)
capabilities to facilitate transfers and payments to and from accounts (wire transfers, check
requests, bill payment, etc.)
breadth of investment products made available (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange traded
funds (ETFs), etc.)
availability of investment research and tools that assist us in making investment decisions
quality of services
competitiveness of the price of those services (commission rates, margin interest rates, other
fees, etc.)
reputation, financial strength, and stability of the provider
trading capabilities
experience, knowledge and professionalism of the individuals executing the transactions
•
• Access to a wide range of offerings
• Access to Bid Wanted lists
• Access to Initial Public Offerings, Best price execution, and up to standard technological
advancements for best execution, asset allocation, and reporting capabilities
Our recommended custodians provide us and our clients with access to its institutional brokerage – trading,
custody, reporting and related services. They also make available various support services. Some of those
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Tamar Securities, LLC
services help us manage or administer our clients’ accounts while others help us manage and grow our
business. Our preferred custodians’ support services are generally available on an unsolicited basis.
Our firm does not utilize client brokerage commissions to obtain research or other products or services. Our
preferred custodians may make certain research and brokerage services available at no additional cost to
our firm. These services include including research services such as research reports on recommendations
or other information about, particular companies or industries; economic surveys, data and analysis;
financial publications; portfolio evaluation services; financial database software and services; computerized
news and pricing services; quotation equipment for use in running software used in investment decision-
making; and other products or services that provide lawful and appropriate assistance to us in the
performance of our investment decision-making responsibilities. The aforementioned research and
brokerage services are used by our firm to manage accounts. Without this arrangement, our firm might be
compelled to purchase the same or similar services at our own expense.
As a result of receiving the services, we may have an incentive to continue to use or expand the use of our
preferred custodians’ services. Our firm examined this potential conflict of interest and we have determined
that the relationship is in the best interest of our firm’s clients and satisfies our client obligations, including
our duty to seek best execution.
Our recommended custodians charge brokerage commissions and transaction fees for effecting certain
securities transactions (i.e., transaction fees are charged for certain no-load mutual funds, commissions are
charged for individual equity and debt securities transactions). They enable us to obtain many no-load
mutual funds without transaction charges and other no-load funds at nominal transaction charges. Our
preferred custodians’ commission rates are generally discounted from customary retail commission rates.
However, the commission and transaction fees charged by our preferred custodians may be higher or lower
than those charged by other custodians and/or broker-dealers.
Our clients (with the exception of legacy wrap fee program clients) may pay a commission to our
recommended custodians that are higher than the amount another qualified broker-dealer might charge to
affect the same transaction. We determined in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to
the value of the brokerage and research services received. In seeking best execution, the determinative
factor is not the lowest possible cost, but whether the transaction represents the best qualitative execution,
taking into consideration the full range of a broker-dealers’ services, including the value of research
provided, execution capability, commission rates, and responsiveness.
Accordingly, although we will seek competitive rates, to the benefit of all clients, we may not necessarily
obtain the lowest possible commission rates for specific client account transactions.
Investment research products and services that are obtained by our firm will generally be used to service
all of our clients.
In addition to the benefits, our recommended custodians may also make available to our firm other products
and services that benefit us, but may not directly benefit our clients’ accounts. These benefits may include:
educational conferences and events, technology, compliance, legal, and business consulting; publications
and conferences on practice management and business successions; and access to employee benefits
providers, human capital consultants and insurance providers. In addition, our preferred custodians may
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Tamar Securities, LLC
make available, arrange and/or pay vendors for these types of services rendered to our firm by independent
third-parties. Our preferred custodians may discount or waive fees it would otherwise charge for some of
these services or pay all or a part of the fees of a third-party providing these services to our firm.
Some of these products and services assist our firm in managing and administering clients’ accounts.
These include software and other technology (and related technological training) that provide access to
client account data (such as trade confirmations and account statements), facilitate trade execution (and
allocation of aggregated trade orders for multiple client accounts), provide research, pricing information
and other market data, facilitate payment of our fees from clients’ accounts, and assist with back-office
training and support functions, recordkeeping and client reporting.
Many of these services generally may be used to service all or some substantial number of our accounts,
including accounts not maintained at our recommended custodians.
While as a fiduciary, our firm endeavors to act in our clients’ best interests, our recommendation that clients
maintain their assets in accounts at our preferred custodians may be based in part on the benefit our firm
receives and not solely on the nature, cost, or quality of custody and brokerage services provided by our
preferred custodians. This interest conflicts with the clients' interest of obtaining the lowest commission
rate available. Therefore, we must determine in good faith, based on the best execution policy stated above
that such commissions are reasonable in relation to the value of the services provided by such executing
broker-dealers.
Research and Other Soft Dollar Benefits
We do not have any soft dollar arrangements.
Brokerage for Client Referrals
We do not direct client transactions to a particular broker-dealer for soft dollars.
Directed Brokerage.
Not all advisers require their clients to direct brokerage. We do not require clients direct brokerage,
however, neither we nor any of our firm’s related personnel have discretionary authority in making the
determination of the brokers with whom orders for the purchase or sale of securities are placed for
execution, and the commission rates at which such securities transactions are effected.
Special Considerations for ERISA Clients
A retirement or ERISA plan client may direct all or part of portfolio transactions for its account through a
specific broker or dealer in order to obtain goods or services on behalf of the plan.
Such direction is permitted provided that the goods and services provided are reasonable expenses of the
plan incurred in the ordinary course of its business for which it otherwise would be obligated and
empowered to pay. ERISA prohibits directed brokerage arrangements when the goods or services purchased
are not for the exclusive benefit of the plan.
Consequently, we will request that plan sponsors who direct plan brokerage provide us with a letter
documenting that this arrangement will be for the exclusive benefit of the plan.
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Tamar Securities, LLC
We allow clients to direct brokerage. However, we may be unable to achieve the most favorable
execution of client transactions. Client directed brokerage may cost clients more money. For example,
in a directed brokerage account, you may pay higher brokerage commissions because we may not be
able to aggregate orders to reduce transaction costs, or you may receive less favorable prices.
We perform investment management services for various clients. There are occasions on which
portfolio transactions may be executed as part of concurrent authorizations to purchase or sell the same
security for numerous accounts served by our firm, which involve accounts with similar investment
objectives.
Although such concurrent authorizations potentially could be either advantageous or disadvantageous
to any one or more particular accounts, they are affected only when we believe that to do so will be in
the best interest of the effected accounts. When such concurrent authorizations occur, the objective is
to allocate the executions in a manner which is deemed equitable to the accounts involved.
In any given situation, we attempt to allocate trade executions in the most equitable manner possible,
taking into consideration clients’ objectives, current asset allocation and availability of funds using
price averaging, proration, and consistently non-arbitrary methods of allocation.
Prime Brokerage
Our firm participates in prime brokerage services provided by different bond traders. Orders shall be
transmitted to bond dealers for trade executions. Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investment, Schwab
Institutional, RBC Capital Markets LLC, Pershing LLC, Legent Clearing, Inc. and Wedbush Morgan
Securities, can clear our prime brokerage transactions in our block trading brokerage account
established in the name of Tamar Securities, LLC with our preferred custodian; Schwab Institutional.
Next, markup block trades are allocated to designated clients prior to placing orders., Additionally, fee-
based block trades cleared by prime brokerage firms are also allocated in the same way to designated
clients prior to placing orders. There are no mark-ups applied to block trades allocated to advisory
accounts.
Pursuant to the prime brokerage services agreement, Tamar Securities, LLC will maintain all details of
each prime brokerage transaction, including, but not limited to; contract amount, the security involved,
the number of shares or units, and whether the transaction was a long or short sale or a purchase.
Item 13. Review of Accounts
Investment advisor representatives of our firm will monitor your accounts on an ongoing basis and will
conduct account reviews at least on an annual basis to ensure the advisory services provided to you are
consistent with your investment needs and objectives.
The nature of these reviews is to learn whether clients’ accounts are in line with their changing life
circumstances, risk parameters, investment objectives, and appropriately positioned based on market
conditions, and their investment policies, if applicable.
Standalone Financial Planning clients do not receive reviews of their written plans unless they take
action to schedule a financial consultation with us. We do not provide ongoing services to financial
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Tamar Securities, LLC
planning clients but are willing to meet with such clients upon their request in order to recalibrate each
client’s financial planning models as his or her life circumstances change.
We encourage our clients to inform us of any changes in work, family, health, or other life
circumstances that might warrant a reassessment of investment goals. We strive to adhere to each
client's asset allocation guidelines and to rebalance or reallocate client portfolios as needed to
implement the investment strategy we have developed for the client or to adapt to changes in client
needs, goals, risk tolerance or other factors.
We may or at your request provide you with a written report. Reports we can provide will contain
relevant account and/or market-related information such as an inventory of account holdings and
account performance, etc. You will receive trade confirmations and monthly and/or quarterly
statements from your account custodian(s).
Financial planning clients do not receive written or verbal updated reports regarding their financial
plans unless they separately contract with us for a post-financial plan meeting or request an update to
their initial written financial plan.
Item 14. Client Referrals and Other Compensation
As mentioned in Item 4, Advisory Business, we may refer clients to unaffiliated third-party service
providers for estate planning services. Clients are under no obligation to engage the services of the
unaffiliated third-party service provider and clients do so at their own discretion. We are not
responsible or liable for any of the services provided by these unaffiliated third-parties and the firm is
not compensated for these referrals.
As disclosed under Item 10, Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations, persons providing
investment advice on behalf of our firm are licensed insurance producers. For information on the
conflicts of interest this presents, and how we address these conflicts.
We do not receive any compensation from any third-party in connection with providing investment
advice to you nor do we compensate any individual or firm for client referrals.
Refer to Item 12, Brokerage Practices section above for disclosures on research and other benefits we
may receive resulting from our relationship with your account custodian.
In accordance with Rule 206 (4)-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, our firm does not provide
cash or non-cash compensation directly or indirectly to unaffiliated persons for testimonials or
endorsements (which include client referrals).
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Tamar Securities, LLC
Item 15. Custody
As paying agent for our firm, your independent custodian will directly debit your account(s) for the
payment of our advisory fees. This ability to deduct our advisory fees from your accounts causes our firm
to exercise limited custody over your funds or securities. We do not have physical custody of any of your
funds and/or securities. Your funds and securities will be held with a bank, broker-dealer, or other
qualified custodian. You will receive account statements from the qualified custodian(s) holding your
funds and securities at least quarterly. The account statements from your custodian(s) will indicate the
amount of our advisory fees deducted from your account(s) each billing period. You should carefully
review account statements for accuracy.
Wire Transfer and/or Standing Letter of Authorization
Our firm, or persons associated with our firm, may effect fund transfers from client accounts to one or
more third- parties designated, in writing, by the client without obtaining written client consent for each
separate, individual transaction, as long as the client has provided us with written authorization to do so.
Such written authorization is known as a Standing Letter of Authorization. An adviser with authority to
conduct such third- party fund transfers on a client's behalf has access to the client's assets, and therefore
has custody of the client's assets in any related accounts.
However, we do not have to obtain a surprise annual audit, as we otherwise would be required to by reason
of having custody, as long as we meet the following criteria:
1. You provide a written, signed instruction to the qualified custodian that includes the third-party’s
name and address or account number at a custodian;
2. You authorize us in writing to direct transfers to the third-party either on a specified schedule or
from time to time;
3. Your qualified custodian verifies your authorization (e.g., signature review) and provides a
transfer of funds notice to you promptly after each transfer;
4. You can terminate or change the instruction;
5. We have no authority or ability to designate or change the identity of the third-party, the address,
or any other information about the third-party;
6. We maintain records showing that the third-party is not a related party to us nor located at the
same address as us; and
7. Your qualified custodian sends you, in writing, an initial notice confirming the instruction and an
annual notice reconfirming the instruction.
We hereby confirm that we meet the above criteria.
Item 16. Investment Discretion
Clients have the option of providing our firm with investment discretion on their behalf, pursuant to a signed
investment advisory client agreement. This type of agreement only applies to our Portfolio Management
clients. By granting investment discretion, we are authorized to execute securities transactions, which
securities are bought and sold, and the total amount to be bought and sold. Limitations may be imposed by
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Tamar Securities, LLC
the client in the form of specific constraints on any of these areas of discretion with our firm’s written
acknowledgement.
Item 17. Voting Client Securities
We will not vote proxies on behalf of your advisory accounts. If you own shares of applicable securities,
you are responsible for exercising your right to vote as a shareholder.
In most cases, you will receive proxy materials directly from the account custodian. However, in the event
we were to receive any written or electronic proxy materials, we would forward them directly to you by
mail, unless you have authorized our firm to contact you by electronic mail, in which case, we would
forward any electronic solicitations to vote proxies.
Item 18. Financial Information
Our firm does not have any financial condition or impairment that would prevent us from meeting our
contractual commitments to you. We do not take physical custody of client funds or securities, or serve as
trustee or signatory for client accounts, and, we do not require the prepayment of more than $1,200 in fees
six or more months in advance. Therefore, we are not required to include a financial statement with this
brochure.
We have not filed a bankruptcy petition at any time in the past ten years.
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Tamar Securities, LLC