Corporate Headquarters, Irvine CA Index Funds Advisors, Inc.
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local Phone: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
Our corporate office is located in the Atrium Building in Irvine, CA, which
is very close to Orange County's John Wayne airport. View
Directions Online Print
Version of Directions
Or contact us at any of our regional locations.
(IFA)
is a fee-only Independent Financial Advisor (ifa), registered with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission. IFA incorporated on
March 5, 1999. Under U.S. law, investment advisors owe their clients an ongoing fiduciary duty to provide full and complete disclosure of all fees, conflicts of interest, and to exercise discretion in selecting investments with only their clients' best interests in mind. All investors should make sure they have an independent financial team to reduce conflicts of interest among the team. They should include an independent Registered Investment Advisors (like IFA), an independent Estate Planning Attorney, an independent CPA, and an independent Insurance Advisor. Never have an insurance salesperson direct you to a product that pays them. Call IFA to discuss how to assemble this team, if you don't already have one.
Index Funds Advisors provides wealth management
by utilizing risk-appropriate, returns-optimized, globally diversified and tax-managed
portfolios of index funds. IFA founder, Mark Hebner and the team
at IFA have done extensive research as shown on this web site
and the highly
ranked book titled Index Funds. This research leads our
clients to an optimal money management strategy, net of our
advisory fees and taxes. IFA completely avoids the futile, speculative, and unnecessary
cost-generating activities of stock, time, manager,
and style picking.
Instead, our investment strategy employs a disciplined, quantitative
approach, emphasizing broad diversification and consistent exposure
to the structural trends of
publicly traded markets around the world, with an overweighting
of small and value priced companies. In short, we invest in capitalism.
The IFA advice is based on the highly respected research
indexes designed by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French and documented
in their empirical and peer-reviewed publications. The two
professors rank
high on total downloads per paper among 34.5 million downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network. Our current and independent
advice incorporates 84 years of IFA Indexes and IFA Index Portfolio risk
and return data, third generation index fund designs and
30 years of refined passive trading techniques employed by
Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA.)
IFA does not accept payments from DFA or from any other recommended
investments. IFA has a fiduciary duty to our clients and is exclusively paid by those clients
for ongoing advice about the optimal wealth management of their assets. We can assist clients in establishing and evaluating relationships with estate planning attorneys, independent insurance advisors, and accountants.
IFA plays several roles in the process of providing investment advice. They may be summarized with these seven roles:
The Expert: You need an advisor who can provide expertise in assessing the state of your finances and developing risk-appropriate investment strategies to help you meet your goals.
The Independent and Fiduciary Voice: The global financial turmoil of the past years has demonstrated the value of an independent , objective and fiduciary voice in a world full of product pushers and salespeople, who get paid by product providers and do not have a fiduciary duty to their clients. Here are five fiduciary principles.
Putting the client’s best interest first.
Act with prudence; that is, with the skill, care, diligence and good judgment.
Provide conspicuous, full and fair disclosure of all important facts.
Avoiding conflicts of interest.
Fully disclose and fairly manage, in the client’s favor, unavoidable conflicts if any.
The Listener: The emotions triggered by financial upheaval are real. IFA will listen to your fears, seek out the issues driving those feelings and provide practical long-term answers.
The Teacher: Getting you beyond the fear-and-flight phase of investing often is just a matter of teaching you about risk and return, the power of diversification, the importance of asset allocation and the virtue of discipline.
With IFA's extensive investor education program, we have a unique set of tools to be your teacher.
The Architect: Once these lessons are understood, IFA becomes an architect, helping you to build a long-term wealth management strategy that caters to your own risk capacity and lifetime goals.
The Coach: Even when the strategy is in place, doubts and fears will inevitably arise in your mind. At this point, IFA becomes a coach, reinforcing academic investment principles and keeping you on track.
The Guardian: Beyond these roles is a long-term role as a fiduciary, a lighthouse keeper or guardian, scanning the horizon for issues that may affect you and keeping you informed.
IFA adds value through matching people with portfolios by carefully qualifying and quantifying 5 dimensions of an investor's Risk Capacity and matching it to 5 dimensions of a portfolio's Risk
Exposure. This process produces investor-specific optimal
returns by applying the IFA proprietary concept of 10dRisk.
IFA obtains academically identified capital market rates of returns
for its clients from about 16,000 public companies in the U.S.
and about 43 other countries around the world. IFA then designs
highly tax-managed and low cost trading strategies, maintains
ongoing proper risk exposures through rebalancing, manages cash
inflows and outflows, and provides monthly
and inception to date detailed measurements of client performance
relative to the IFA Indexes and other traditional benchmarks.
This ongoing reporting on performance, gains, income and tax reporting is exclusively available at IFA and adds significant value since
measurement is essential to improvement.
This process positions our clients for an investment experience
that optimizes the trade off between risk and return, based on more than 84 years
of historical index data. By encouraging very smart behavior among our clients, we position them to be more successful at capturing the returns of the funds. As you see below the average fund investor and the do-it-yourself indexer have not been very successful at capturing the returns the market has to offer. The chart below summarizes several studies on the percentage of returns captured by various types of investors.
IFA manages individual and institutional accounts, including IRA,401(k), 403b,
profit sharing, pensions, endowments and all other investment accounts. We also facilitate IRA
rollovers from 401ks and 403bs. IFA provides investment advice to
individuals, trusts, corporations, non-profits, and public and private
institutions. For institutional accounts, please see our Institutional
Division web site: ifa-i.com and our social responsible investment advice for Catholics.
The chart below shows IFA's growth of assets under management since inception
in 1999.
IFA Clients Across This Great Land
IFA assists clients in creating and purchasing diversified
portfolios of index funds, primarily from Dimensional Fund Advisors (see The DFA
Brochure -- also see Transparency in Mutual Funds), Vanguard, Fidelity and BlackRock (iShares). Dimensional Fund Advisors strives to deliver the performance
of capital markets and add value through portfolio design and trading.
DFA departs from the rules and rigidity of traditional index funds
and avoids the cost-generating activity of stock picking and market timing.
Instead DFA focuses on the dimensions of capital markets that reward
investors and they deliver them as intelligently and effectively as possible.
Their indexes tend to overweight small cap and value stocks, where expected
returns are greater. Over 1,000 Investment Advisors rated DFA as
the best overall company in the mutual fund business in several
surveys. We primarily advise clients to invest in their funds to create globally diversified
portfolios of index funds. DFA funds are only available
to individual investors through DFA approved investment
advisors. IFA is approved for the purchase of DFA funds, but receives no
compensation from DFA or any other investments. For institutional investors with $100 million or more, we design diversified index manager portfolios to minimize vendor concentration risk.
You may select Charles Schwab & Company (Asset Protection), (also see this brochureA Winning Relationship) or Fidelity Investments
as the custodian for your account. (see SIPC)
If you already have an account with any of these firms, you can easily assign your account to our Master Account which will authorize IFA to manage your account.
We also have an IFA Advisor Network program,
where select financial advisors license the information and tools on
our web site for their prospective clients and existing clients. These advisors have a license agreement
with IFA and are approved to use the materials on this site. Advisors
without such an agreement are not authorized to use any of our proprietary intellectual property,
including but not limited to, the investor education and asset allocation
tools. If your advisor is using these tools without authorization, please
take note of their unethical practices and how they may be applied to you elsewhere in their business.
Mark Hebner is the
founder and President of Index Funds Advisors, Inc., author of
the ifa.com and indexfunds.com web sites, and the book, Index
Funds: The 12-Step Recovery Program for Active Investors. His previous book, Index Funds, was
nominated as one of the three all-time greatest investment
books, along with Warren Buffett and John Bogle. He provides webcasts on IFA.tv, is a frequent
lecturer and has attended over thirty investment conferences and
is considered the leading internet provider of information on index
funds and especially information on Dimensional Funds Advisors
mutual funds and portfolios of the research indexes used by DFA.
He is an Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65) and
has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of
California at Irvine and a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from
the University of New Mexico with a specialization in Nuclear Pharmacy.
Mr. Hebner was a member of the Young Presidents' Organization for
over 20 years and is currently a member of the Worlds' President
Organization and the Chief Executives Organization.
From 1975 to 1985, Mark was President, CEO and co-founder of Syncor
International (previously a public company - SCOR). In Jan. 2003,
Syncor was acquired by Cardinal Health for approximately $850 million.
As a Cardinal
Health division, Syncor is the world's leading provider of nuclear
pharmacy services. Through his experience at Syncor, Mr. Hebner gained
insight as to how public companies operate, raise capital, and promote
their securities.
Mr. Hebner has been the Chairman of two Global Financial Seminars,
is a respected speaker and is a frequent attendee of investment conferences
so that he can keep up with the latest research for his books and
web sites. He has met and learned from some of the brightest minds
in the business. He has attended lectures by William Sharpe, Paul
Samuelson, John Bogle, Warren Buffett, Eugene Fama, Sr. and Jr.,
Kenneth French, Rex Sinquefield, Roger Ibbottson, David Booth, Burton
Malkiel, Jeremy Siegel, Terrance Odean, Brad Barber, Robert Arnott,
Campbell Harvey, William Bernstein, Larry Swedroe, Paul Merriman,
Michael Mauboussin, James
Surowiecki, Daniel Solin, Sunil Wahal, James L. Davis, Weston
Wellington and many more.
Corporate
Office
19200 Von Karman Ave,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local #: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
Advisor Assistant:
Anne Page
949-428-0438
anne@ifa.com
Professors Eugene Fama and Kenneth French, DFA Conference 2006. See Step 2: Fama and French
Warren Buffett - who says
"the best way to own common stocks is through an index
fund." - 2000
Jack Bogle, Founder of Vanguard, at the Super Bowl of Indexing - Dec
3, 2007 (Book) See Step 2: Bogle
Professor William Sharpe (Nobel Laureate) at Schwab Impact Conference
- 2007 (Book) See Step 2: Sharpe
Professor Harry Markowitz
(Nobel Laureate) in La Jolla, CA - IFA is pleased to announce that Harry Markowitz
is a member of IFA's Advisory Board. See Step 2: Markowitz.
Bob Pisani of CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange - May
2007
David Booth, CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors
(DFA) visits IFA Irvine on July 24, 2009. See Step 2: Booth
Dan Solin
Senior Vice President
Patricia Solin
Investment Advisor Representative
Dan and Patricia Solin work
as a team to provide investors with superior investment education
and service.
Dan has appeared on CBS’s The Early Show, Fox
Television’s The O’Reilly Factor and Fox
and Friends, MSNBC’s Weekend Economic Review,
CNN’s Money, and Bloomberg Television. Dan is
a frequent speaker on investment-related topics and presents
before large corporate audiences and topic-oriented interest
groups. He has testified
before a congressional subcommittee investigating the fairness
of the mandatory arbitration system imposed on all investors
by the securities industry.
Dan is a Senior Vice President for Index Funds Advisors (IFA).
Dan is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65),
and he resides in Bonita Springs, Florida.
Patricia is a graduate of California State University, Fresno. She
also has Certificate of Legal Studies from U.C.L.A. Her employment history includes serving as a Manager with Price
Waterhouse in San Francisco and as President and Chief Operating
officer of a manufacturer. Patricia is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative (series
65). She resides in Bonita Springs, Florida.
Advisor Assistant:
Anne Page
949-428-0438
anne@ifa.com
Gordon Shuler
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President
Gordon Shuler has been an investment services professional for 20 years -- the most recent 10 years with Index Funds Advisors, Inc., as a Vice President and Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65). He has completed several Dimensional Fund Advisors Conferences for Investment Advisors and is an expert in Index Funds investing.
He has presented a variety of investment topics to hundreds of seminar attendees and has periodically provided commentary and interviews on local radio stations. Previously in the computer industry for over 20 years, his experience provides a solid background for the highly technical investment methodology offered by IFA. Gordon serves primarily high net worth investors and company 401(k) retirement plans --he enjoys educating clients through simplified explanations of complex investment concepts.
He was previously employed at large high technology firms including General Electric Co. and Hewlett-Packard, as well as several small start-up firms in the high technology area of computer-aided engineering.
He has a B.S. Degree in Production Management from California State University, Long Beach, with a specialization in Operations Research & Statistics.
Corporate
Office
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local #: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com
David G. Mertz
J.D., CFP®, AIF®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President
Dave is an attorney
licensed in Arizona, a Certified Financial Planner - CFP®, and
an Accredited Investment Fiduciary - AIF®.
He has published over fifty articles on insurance, savings,
and investing. He has served on the faculty at The University
of California at San Diego, Extension Education Department of
Business and Management where he taught ‘Risk Management’ and ‘Managing
Your Money’.
Dave also has been a designated expert witness on insurance, has consulted for the City of San Diego Retirement
System and has consulted on investment advisor securities regulatory
matters.
He has been offering financial advice to clients since 1983.
Corporate
Office
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local #: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com
Brendan Connelly
CFS®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President
Brendan Connelly began with IFA in 2004 and has been a Vice President with the firm since 2009.
Providing those “aha” moments when the peace of mind from optimal investing has a chance to become a long-term reality for people is what Brendan loves most about his profession. This holistic approach to long-term retirement income and financial planning is called Life Planning—a comprehensive means for achieving what matters most.
Now managing IFA’s Midwest regional office, Brendan’s unique perspective on the financial industry began while working on Wall Street for Dale Carnegie & Associates. This inside view of the industry and the characters comprising it led him to seek roles in Socially Responsible Investing, including a hedge fund led by a Sir John Templeton protégé. He was also a Vice President for NYPPe, the first secondary market for illiquid holdings including private equity and hedge fund positions. Before seeking out and choosing IFA to continue building his investment advisory practice, he worked with Legacy Financial in estate and financial planning for high net worth investors and small business owners.
Brendan earned his undergraduate degree from Central Connecticut State University in 1987 and retains CFS® designation, the oldest certification program in the mutual fund industry.
He and his wife of 18 years live in always entertaining Madison, Wisconsin with their bag-piping son and two adopted daughters of Puerto Rican heritage. Outside of work and family, he enjoys his lifelong hobbies of sailing, skiing and motocross to stay in shape and maintain balance. Walking his two dogs always helps too, as does his role of serving as an officer in the Benjamin Franklin Masonic Lodge.
Midwest
Regional Office
2918 Marketplace Drive,
Suite 111
Madison, WI 53719-5328
Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com
Denise Delaney
CFP®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President
Denise Delaney has been a Certified Financial Planner since 1992 with more than 23 years of financial services industry experience, which she applies to her work with institutions and high net worth clients.
An experienced problem solver, Denise enjoys the challenge of developing investment solutions for the often complex situations unique to her clients. Her areas of focus include personal portfolio construction, advising families on generational wealth, and assisting endowments and retirement plans while utilizing the unique tools provided by Index Funds Advisors. Denise's experience with these issues enables her to lead her clients to carefully developed investment solutions that minimize costs and taxes and maximize expected returns at given risk levels, acting as a true wealth preserver for her clients.
Denise understands that not all interested parties share the same knowledge regarding the investing process. She skillfully identifies her clients' needs and fully educates them about the benefits associated with a passive investment strategy. As a matter of course, Denise provides an empathetic ear while frequently spending time with families who are undergoing difficult transitions, particularly, widows and widowers who need advice in making portfolio adjustments. Denise understands the sensitive nature of such decisions and approaches these instances with care and patience, fully realizing the difficulty of needing to make investment decisions during times of duress.
Denise earned a degree in Business Administration from University of Phoenix. She is a proud mother to her son Evan. She enjoys the outdoors, particularly with her beautiful white standard poodle, Roxxy.
Advisor Assistant:
Tina Westman
949-428-0444
tina@ifa.com
Becky Vasquez
CFP®
Investment Advisor Representative
Vice President
Becky has 24 years of experience in the financial services industry. She received her Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation from University of California, Irvine. She is also an Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65).
Becky specializes in advising high net worth clients. With her expertise in asset allocation, retirement planning and tax efficiencies, she is able to assist investors in achieving their investment and retirement objectives.
Becky also has many years of experience in advising Investment Committees for Endowments, Foundations, and Pension Plans. Through IFA Institutional, Becky enables trustees and fiduciaries to fulfill their responsibilities by adhering to the principles outlined in the Prudent Investor Rule.
Becky works with companies to construct globally diversified, low-cost 401(k) solutions for their employees. High management costs and mutual fund fees erode employees’ returns and retirement security. Becky strives diligently to ensure that employees are offered the best investment choices.
Becky lives in Huntington Beach, California with her husband and two teenage children. She volunteers in her community, at her church, and at her children’s schools.
Corporate
Office
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local Phone: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
cell: 949-300-2267
Advisor Assistant:
Anne Page
949-428-0438
anne@ifa.com
Brad von Grote
Investment Advisor Representative
Brad von Grote began his career in the investment industry in 1999. He began as a stock broker, but Brad soon learned the inherent conflicts associated with commission-based fee structures. It was this realization that motivated him to shift his career to focus on delivering fee-only advice and acting as a true fiduciary to his clients. Brad joined Index Funds Advisors (IFA) in March, 2007. At IFA, Brad focuses on educating his clients about the true source of stock market returns, why every investor has the right to expect a return, and the odds of achieving their desired outcome. Brad is fully committed to assisting his clients toward maximizing their investment experiences by sharing with them the important data that is the hallmark of prudent investing. Married with two sons, Brad is active in his Huntington Beach, CA community where he enjoys kite sailing, bicycling and contributing his spare time to chair positions for "The Relay for Life" to benefit the American Cancer Society.
Corporate
Office
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Toll Free: 1-888-643-3133
Local Phone: 949-502-0050
Fax: 949-502-0048
Advisor Assistant:
Tina Westman
949-428-0444
tina@ifa.com
Venkat Yarlagadda
AIF®
Investment Advisor Representative
My name is Venkat Yarlagadda. I am an Investment Advisor Representative (Sereies 65) with Index Funds Advisors (ifa.com). I am a seasoned financial professional committed to delivering superior investment advice based on financial science. I proudly provide customized and personalized investment advisory services to individuals, 401(k) plans, pensions, profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations and other business entities.
My clients benefit from my unwavering commitment to the following four essential Principles:
I am deeply interested in what is important to you.
I will invest the necessary time to understand your unique investment needs.
I am an investment professional. If your needs are outside my scope of expertise, I will refer you to knowledgeable professionals who share my high standard of care.
I will always seek the most effective solution for you.
With just a few moments of your time, I can share with you the strategies for how I can help you achieve a brighter financial future of higher risk adjusted returns - the result of an education in financial science.
Manhattan,
New York Office
641 Lexington Ave, 15th Floor,
New York , NY-10022
Advisor Assistant:
Tina Westman
949-428-0444
tina@ifa.com
Cheri Franklin
Investment Advisor Representative
Cheri Franklin is
an Investment Advisor Representative (Series 65) and is located
in IFA’s Irvine, California office. With more than 20 years
of experience in the financial services industry, Cheri applies
a dedicated focus to offer customized retirement planning advisory
services to a small select group of clients, including company
401(k) retirement plans and affluent private investors.
“By maintaining my focus on retirement solutions for companies
and select individuals, I am able to deliver a high degree of personalized
service that is required for clients to enjoy a rewarding investment
experience. My goal is to ensure that my financial services team
and I work in sync on behalf of my clients. In doing so, I can
eliminate anxiety and confusion and facilitate the proper organization
of the financial futures of those who matter most -- my clients
and their valued employees.” - Cheri Franklin
Cheri lives with her husband and two Miniature Pinschers in Laguna
Hills, California.
Advisor Assistant:
Judy Baba
949-428-0458
judy@ifa.com
Richard N. Neal
CFP®
Investment Advisor Representative
Richard N. (Dick)
Neal manages IFA’s Texas Regional Office in Brenham, Texas. Dick
advises clients on risk-appropriate investments for long-term wealth
management. Prior to joining IFA, Dick spent 28 years
in banking; 17 of those years as President of various banks and
13 years as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
of a privately owned petrochemical marketing company in Houston,
Texas.
Dick has a particular interest in retirement plans, individual retirement planning
and the financial lives of our senior citizens. He is devoted to learning
the unique needs of each client and to providing them with an individualized
investment plan to achieve their personal financial goals.
Dick is a Certified Financial Planner, a Chartered Financial Consultant and a
Chartered Advisor for Senior Living. Additionally, Dick is a graduate
of the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA degree in Banking and Finance. He
graduated from the South Texas College of Law in Houston with a Juris Doctor
Degree. He is a graduate of the Banking School of the South at LSU and
is a Certified Commercial Lender. Dick is an Investment Advisor Representative
with a Series 65 license.
Dick and his wife, Carolyn, live in Brenham, Texas and enjoy traveling the world. They
have three children with active careers as a chemical engineer, a dentist and
a teacher specializing in early childhood development. They have seven
grandchildren.
Texas
Regional Office
303 E. Lubbock St.
Brenham, Texas 77833 Mail:
P.O. Box 360
Brenham, Texas 77834-0360
Corporate
Office
19200 Von Karman Ave.,
Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92612
Advisor Assistant:
Martin Ortiz
949-428-0450
martin@ifa.com
Roberta Lazarz
CFP®, MBA, MSW
Investment Advisor Representative
Roberta Lazarz is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional with more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and nonprofit organizations. As the creator and author of a nationwide personal finance education website, Roberta is an expert in investment, retirement, and charitable planning. Roberta specializes in helping investors take control of their money by learning the fundamentals of academic-based investing and partnering with them to create and maintain their personalized long-term investment plans.
In addition to earning the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ License from the College for Financial Planning, Roberta earned a Master of Business Administration degree and Master of Social Work degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Roberta has also received four national and local awards for her community service and has served in leadership positions for many nonprofit organizations.
IFA President, Mark Hebner, acquired a 1937 First Edition copy of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. This is an amazing book, with an estimated 60 million copies sold since 1937. This makes Think and Grow Rich the #20 best selling book of all books (the Bible is #1) and the #1 selling business book of all time.
When he opened the cover, he found a loose piece of paper, presumed to be owned by the businessman who originally bought this book. This typewriter created document from approximately 1937, spells out a timeless code of business ethics that resonated with the standards and policies Hebner instills in all IFA employees. IFA has adopted it as a policy of conduct and wanted to share it with you.