Services

CLEAR DIRECTION

We help partnerships and corporations by seeking to meet their sophisticated investment and planning needs. We believe we may accomplish this by working with existing, trusted advisors and when appropriate, introducing our team to fill voids, should they exist.

Real Estate Investing & Private Placement Alternatives

When suitable, we may consider the following real estate and private placement strategies.

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Institutional investment management

Through our partnership with Stonebridge Capital Advisors, we assist institutional investors in a fiduciary capacity that puts the company/clients’ interests first.

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Business advisory

For many business owners, your business is the most significant financial asset on the balance sheet.
WealthPoint was founded on the belief that all too often, in planning, entrepreneurs and affluent family groups are asked to make big decisions…

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Risk management

Through our associates at Strategic Risk Alternatives, we help affluent entrepreneurs mitigate risk across the enterprise with the goal of asset protection. Where suitable, these opportunities are now available to small and middle market companies…

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Customized Investment Management

Clear Direction Investments, along with Stonebridge Capital Advisors, provides tailored portfolio management services to high net worth individuals and households…

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Financial Planning

At Clear Direction, we believe that planning is the foundation for any and all subsequent investment recommendations. From weddings to college funding…

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Real Estate and Investment Property Exit Planning

Anyone who has been in the position of having to sell real estate that you earned a profit…

DST 1031 Exchanges

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Opportunity Zone Funds

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Real Estate Investing / Private Placement Alternatives

When suitable, we may consider the following real estate and private placement strategies. These solutions are executed by our network of trusted fund sponsors that we have conducted due diligence upon and maintain deep working relationships with.

Delaware Statutory Trusts / 1031 Exchanges
Senior housing development
Apartment community upgrades
Multi-family unit development
Non-traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Acquisition, upgrade, and eventual sale of hospitality properties
Grocery-Anchored retail
E-commerce/Industrial warehouse
Tax-advantaged energy and drilling programs
Oil and gas royalty income
Opportunity zone funds

Institutional investment management

Through our partnership with Stonebridge Capital Advisors, we assist institutional investors in a fiduciary capacity that puts the company/clients’ interests first. Clear Direction guides the Stonebridge team led by John Schonberg, CFA, the firm’s CIO, to create custom portfolios of equities, bonds, and exchange traded funds. These portfolios are formed with tax sensitivity as a priority.

The types of institutions we typically serve are:

Insurance companies
Foundations
Endowments
Non-profits
Corporations
Trusts

Business advisory

For many business owners, your business is the most significant financial asset on the balance sheet…WealthPoint was founded on the belief that all too often, in planning, entrepreneurs and affluent family groups are asked to make big decisions lacking the raw material they need to make great decisions. We believe that both the client and their longstanding, inner-circle advisors, can sense something's missing. For clients with the right demographics, we’ll make the personal introduction to a Wealthpoint partner to explore the difference between a planning process and a decision-making process to gain the wisdom about your desired outcomes.

Risk Management

Enterprise risk management strategies may be created to help protect intangible assets such as your brand and supply chain relationships. For example, specific service trades or businesses who have income within certain ranges may be able to establish their own re-insurance company, allowing them to maximize applicable parts of tax codes which, among other potential savings, provides access to the Qualifying Business Income deduction that business owners may not otherwise benefit from.

Customized Investment Management

Clear Direction Investments, along with Stonebridge Capital Advisors, provides tailored portfolio management services to high net worth individuals and households, including tax sensitive investing not available through mutual funds. Portfolios are managed as tax-advantaged separately managed accounts (SMAs). Assets are custodied at Charles Schwab/TD Ameritrade, Pershing and Fidelity. Stonebridge has its own in-house fixed income and equity teams consisting of individuals with many years of experience as well as high-level credentials.

At relationship inception, Clear Direction and Stonebridge sit down with the client to determine risk tolerance and personal objectives. We create an asset allocation that spells out different tolerance levels that we must stay within for each asset class, or type of asset (domestic stock, international bond, etc.) When the market fluctuates, we make investment decisions to keep the portfolio within those tolerance bands. We make a concerted effort to make sure that parties are all on the same page regarding the overall objectives of the account, initially and throughout the relationship.

We believe separately managed accounts offer the client the flexibility to manage taxes in accordance within their personal parameters and feel this is beneficial for the client because we pay close attention to what you already own with an eye towards where you want to end up. Our focus is on the end result…recognizing what we agree is an acceptable amount of capital gain to pursue. Because each portfolio owns individual stocks and bonds, we have discretion over when capital gains and losses can be realized.

For smaller accounts, we use SEI Private Trust Co. We believe their efficiency of managing mutual funds and re-allocating those funds as a discretionary RIA to stated client objectives is accomplished at a reasonable fee.

Financial Planning

At Clear Direction, we believe that planning is the foundation for any and all subsequent investment recommendations. From weddings to college funding, taking that dream vacation, and planning for long-term care expenses, it is our role to make sure that every important goal in your life is on our radar screen.

Retire Up is a supplemental financial planning tool, oftentimes combined with other programs. It takes into consideration many factors such as knowing that markets are variable and knowing we have access to fixed income choices… This serves as a guide to adjust our clients’ portfolios based on stress testing worst-case scenarios and planning the future accordingly. Utilizing tools such as these, Clear Direction believes it gives meaning to the facts and figures in order to give relevance to your financial life.

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Real Estate and Investment Property Exit Planning

Anyone who has been in the position of having to sell real estate that you earned a profit from knows that this means one thing: a tax headache. If the proper conditions are met, you may qualify for a 1031 exchange. This allows you to reinvest the proceeds of this sale in another real estate asset of the same type. You defer the gains until later – reaping more control over the timing and the tax rate that applies later.

While the 1031 exchange is something that many people know about, what few are aware of is that there are other ways to complete the benefits of an exchange instead of directly purchasing a replacement property. This may be of great interest for those who aren’t necessarily in the mood to go through the process of buying (and managing) another property. In situations like this, if suitable, it is useful to consider a Delaware Statutory Trust, or DST. A DST allows you to take a passive, fractional stake in a trust that holds the title to a couple, or several, properties.

As investment property exit professionals, we are well versed in 1031 exchanges and DST (Delaware Statutory Trust) funds as well as other options that many may not be familiar with. We work with real estate investors and their financial intermediaries such as attorneys and accountants who wish to structure non-traditional exit planning solutions.

Opportunity Zone Funds

Opportunity Zones are areas of the United States, certified by the US Treasury and the IRS, which exist for investors to receive preferential tax treatment in exchange for investing long term capital gains into areas designated by the governors of each state. With specialized knowledge of Opportunity Zones (not just limited to Arizona), we can help you understand the properties and/or funds that are qualified and help guide you to suitable and vetted opportunities.