Account Information
Good communication is at the heart of a long and lasting relationship.
Your RiverStone Wealth Advisory Team is made up of professionals dedicated to a full-time career in financial service. We maintain state, federal and regulatory licensing and annually complete Continuing Education as well as the required course of study for advanced credentialing. What does this mean to you? All RiverStone Wealth Advisors are knowledgeable regarding the various type of accounts we offer and can help answer questions relating to your accounts. The information below provides an overview to many common questions.
Investor Protection
RiverStone Wealth Management, Inc., is a member of SIPC, which protects the securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $100,000 for claims for cash). An explanatory brochure is available upon request or at www.sipc.org. Additional coverage of up to $25 Million per account is routinely provided for our larger clients' security positions through special insurance protection provided by our clearing firm.
We are members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Industry Association (SIA).
SEC Rule 606 Order Routing Disclosure
RiverStone routes non-directed customer orders to First Clearing, LLC for execution. See http://www.marketsystems.com/msi/reports/index.html?clientid=fccp for a disclosure of order routing information.
Privacy Policy
We are committed to keeping the personal information collected from our potential, current and former customers confidential and secure. The proper handling of personal information is one of our highest priorities. We want to be sure that you know why we need to collect personal information from you. We also want to explain to you our commitment to protect the information you provide to us. We never sell your information to any outside parties.
Customer Information
We collect and keep only information that is necessary for us to provide services requested by you and to administer your business with us.
We may collect nonpublic personal information when:
You complete an application, subscription documents or other forms. This includes information such as name, address, social security number, assets, income, net worth and other information deemed necessary to evaluate your financial needs.
As a result of transactions with us, our affiliates or others. This could include transactions completed with us or information received from outside vendors to complete transactions or to affect financial goals.
We verify our customers’ identity to actively prevent, deter, and detect illegal financial activity. As of October 2003, pursuant to the USA PATRIOT Act, all customers who open new accounts with RiverStone Wealth Management will be required to provide identification verification documents to help establish their identity. At a minimum, we will verify, to the extent reasonable and practicable, the identity of any customer seeking to open an account, maintain records of information used to verify a customer’s identity, and check to ensure that a customer does not appear on any published government terrorist lists.
Sharing Information
We only share your nonpublic personal information with non-affiliated companies or individuals as permitted by law, such as your representative within our firm, securities clearing firm, issuer, mutual funds, insurance companies and other product vendors, or to comply with legal or regulatory requirements. In the normal course of our business, we may disclose information we collect about you to companies or individuals that contract with us to perform servicing functions such as:
- Record keeping
- Computer related services
- Good faith disclosure to regulators who have regulatory authority over the company
Companies we hire to provide support services are not allowed to use your personal information for their own purposes and are contractually obligated to maintain strict confidentiality. We limit their use of your personal information to the performance of the specific service we have requested.
We do not provide your personally identifiable information to mailing list vendors or solicitors for any purpose. We do not sell your personal information to anyone.
When we provide personal information to a service provider, we require these providers to agree to safeguard your information, to use the information only for the intended purpose, and to abide by applicable law.
The law allows you to “opt out” of only certain kinds of information sharing with third parties. RiverStone Wealth Management, Inc. does not share personal information about you with any third parties that triggers this opt-out right. This means YOU ARE ALREADY OPTED OUT.
Employee Access to Information
Only employees with a valid business reason are allowed to access your personal information. These employees are educated on the importance of maintaining the confidentiality and security of this information. They are required to abide by our information handling practices.
Protection of Information
We maintain security standards to protect your information, whether written, spoken, or electronic. We update and test our systems to ensure the protection and integrity of your information.
Maintaining Accurate Information
Our goal is to maintain accurate, up-to-date customer records in accordance with industry standards. We have procedures in place to keep information current and complete, including timely correction of inaccurate information.
Disclosure of our Privacy Policy
We recognize and respect the privacy concerns of our potential, current and former customers. We are committed to safeguarding this information. As a member of the financial services industry, we are posting this Notice of Privacy Policy for informational purposes and will update and distribute it as required by law. It is also available upon request.
Customer Identification Program Notice
To: All Customers
From: FINRA
To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. This notice answers some questions about your firm’s Customer Identification Program.
When you open an account, your firm is required to collect information such as the following from you: Your name, date of birth, address, and an identification number. Examples of identification numbers for U.S. and non-U.S. Citizens are:
U.S. Citizen: taxpayer identification number (social security number or employer identification number)
Non-U.S. Citizen: taxpayer identification number, passport number, and country of issuance, alien identification card number, or government-issued identification showing nationality, residence, and a photograph of you.
You may also need to show your driver’s license or other identifying documents.
A corporation, partnership, trust or other legal entity may need to provide other information, such as its principal place of business, local office, employer identification number, certified articles of incorporation, government-issued business license, a partnership agreement, or a trust agreement.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, and New York Stock Exchange rules already require you to provide most of this information. These rules may also require you to provide additional information, such as your net worth, annual income, occupation, employment information, investment experience and objectives, and risk tolerance. If you do not provide the information requested, your firm may not be able to open an account or carry out transactions for you. If your firm has already opened an account for you, they may have to close it.
Thank you for your patience. Your cooperation will support the financial industry’s efforts to deny terrorists and money launderers access to America’s financial system.
Business Continuity Planning
Riverstone Wealth Management has developed a Business Continuity Plan regarding how we will respond to events that significantly disrupt our business. Since the timing and impact of disasters and disruptions is unpredictable, we will have to be flexible in responding to actual events as they occur. With that in mind, we are providing you with this information regarding our Business Continuity Plan.
Contacting Us – If after a significant business disruption you cannot contact us as you usually do at 888-476-5554, you should call our alternative numbers or visit our web site at http://www.riverstonewealth.com .
If you cannot access us through those means, you should contact our clearing firm, First Clearing, LLC, at 1-877-496-3223 or http://www.firstclearing.com for instructions on how it may provide prompt access to funds and securities, enter orders and process other trade-related, cash, and security transfer transactions.
Our Business Continuity Plan – We plan to quickly recover and resume business operations after a significant business disruption and respond by safeguarding our employees and property, making a financial and operational assessment, protecting the firm’s books and records, and allowing our customers to transact business. In short, our Business Continuity Plan is designed to permit our firm to resume operations as quickly as possible, given the scope and severity of the significant business disruption.
Our Business Continuity Plan addresses: data back up and recovery; all mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments; alternative communications with customers, employees, and regulators; alternate physical location of employees; critical supplier, contractor, bank and counter-party impact; regulatory reporting; and assuring our customers prompt access to their funds and securities if we are unable to continue our business.
Our clearing firm, First Clearing, LLC, backs up our important records in a geographically separate area. While every emergency situation poses unique problems based on external factors, such as time of day and the severity of the disruption, we have been advised by our clearing firm that its objective is to restore its own operations and be able to complete existing transactions and accept new transactions and payments within a reasonable time period. Your orders and requests for funds and securities could be delayed during this period.
Varying Disruptions – Significant business disruptions can vary in their scope, such as only our firm, a single building or unit housing our firm, the business district where our firm is located, the city where we are located, or the whole region. Within each of these areas, the severity of the disruption can also vary from minimal to severe. In a disruption to only our firm or a building housing our firm, we will transfer our operations to a local site when needed and expect to recover and resume business within a few hours. In a disruption affecting our business district, city, or region, we will transfer our operations to a site outside of the affected area, and recover and resume business within a day. In either situation, we plan to continue in business, transfer operations to our clearing firm if necessary, and notify you through our web site or our customer emergency number as to how to contact us. If the significant business disruption is so severe that it prevents us from remaining in business, we will assure our customer’s prompt access to their funds and securities.
For more information – If you have questions about our Business Continuity Planning, please feel free to contact us. If you would like a copy of our complete Business Continuity Plan or if you would like a copy of the First Clearing Business Continuity Plan please call us at 1-866-476-5554.
Margin Disclosure Statement
We are furnishing this document to you to provide some basic facts about purchasing securities on margin, and to alert you to the risks involved with trading securities in a margin account. Before trading stocks in a margin account, you should carefully review the margin agreement provided. Consult us regarding any questions or concerns you may have with your margin accounts.
When you purchase securities, you may pay for the securities in full or you may borrow part of the purchase price from your brokerage firm. If you choose to borrow funds from your firm, you will open a margin account with the firm. The securities purchased are the firm’s collateral for the loan to you. If the securities in your account decline in value, so does the value of the collateral supporting your loan, and, as a result, the firm can take action, such as issue a margin call and/or sell securities or other assets in any of your accounts held with the member, in order to maintain the required equity in the account. It is important that you fully understand the risks involved in trading securities on margin. These risks include the following:
➥ You can lose more funds than you deposit in the margin account. A decline in the value of securities that are purchased on margin may require you to provide additional funds to the firm that has made the loan to avoid the forced sale of those securities or other securities or assets in your account(s).
➥ The firm can force the sale of securities or other assets in your account(s). If the equity in your account falls below the maintenance margin requirements or the firm’s higher “house” requirements, the firm can sell the securities or other assets in any of your accounts held at the firm to cover the margin deficiency. You also will be responsible for any short fall in the account after such a sale.
➥ The firm can sell your securities or other assets without contacting you. Some investors mistakenly believe that a firm must contact them for a margin call to be valid, and that the firm cannot liquidate securities or other assets in their accounts to meet the call unless the firm has contacted them first. This is not the case. Most firms will attempt to notify their customers of margin calls, but they are not required to do so. However, even if a firm has contacted a customer and provided a specific date by which the customer can meet a margin call, the firm can still take necessary steps to protect its financial interests, including immediately selling the securities without notice to the customer.
➥ You are not entitled to choose which securities or other assets in your account(s) are liquidated or sold to meet a margin call. Because the securities are collateral for the margin loan, the firm has the right to decide which security to sell in order to protect its interests.
➥ The firm can increase its “house” maintenance margin requirements at any time and is not required to provide you advance written notice. These changes in firm policy often take effect immediately and may result in the issuance of a maintenance margin call. Your failure to satisfy the call may cause the member to liquidate or sell securities in your account(s).
➥ You are not entitled to an extension of time on a margin call. While an extension of time to meet margin requirements may be available to customers under certain conditions, a customer does not have a right to the extension.