Spears Abacus Advisors LLC (New York)

Name: Spears Abacus Advisors LLC
Address: 147 East 48 Th Street, New York, NY, 10017
Telephone: 212-230-9865

Spears Abacus Advisors LLC is a large advisory firm based in New York. It manages $1.22 billion of regulatory assets for 409 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2007 and has operated in the jurisdictions of California, Connecticut, Florida, and 5 other states.

Spears Abacus Advisors provides portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for investment companies, portfolio management for businesses and institutional clients, and review of asset allocation. It doesn't provide financial planning services to its clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

Spears Abacus Advisors: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of Spears Abacus Advisors LLC is $1.22 billion. The firm's AUM has grown by 51% since the beginning of its operation, and $23.5 million of the total AUM is attributable to clients outside of the United States.

The firm manages $1.16 billion in discretionary accounts and $54.8 million in non-discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $2.93 million each. Non-discretionary accounts, where clients actively manage their portfolios, generally hold around $4.22 million.

Spears Abacus Advisors has custody of $204.4 million in cash and securities for 38 clients in total but doesn’t act as a qualified custodian.

Investments

The firm invests in exchange traded securities the most. They account for 57% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is cash and cash equivalents, which make up 14% of the firm’s portfolio. Investments in state and local bonds form 11% of the total invested assets.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay Spears Abacus Advisors LLC for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management and fixed fees. Flat-fee based compensation is the most transparent and the one you can safely predict in advance. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients Spears Abacus Advisors serves?

The firm provides services to individuals, investment companies, charitable organizations, high net worth individuals, pooled investment vehicles, corporations or other businesses, and pension and profit sharing plans. The largest group of clients of Spears Abacus Advisors is high net worth individuals with 307 clients and $924.8 million of assets under management. Among the 11 most similar advisory firms, Spears Abacus Advisors has the 3rd highest percentage of high net worth individuals out of all clients.

The amount of regulatory assets under management is $1.21 billion for 409 clients that can include trusts, estates, and 401(k) plans and IRAs of individuals and their family members. 2% of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

Spears Abacus Advisors doesn't advise any private funds.

Careers at Spears Abacus Advisors LLC

The company employs 15 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 47 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. No employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There isn’t anyone with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm doesn’t compensate employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees don’t receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Direct owners and executive officers

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
Spears & Co. Llc	Member	1 Nov 2006	25% - 50%	20-5909012
Kathryn Payne Beller	Chief compliance officer	1 Nov 2006	Other	5072413
William Gerli Spears	Chairman, chief executive officer, portfolio manager, and manager	1 Jan 2007	Other	431579
Llc Abacus And Associates Holdings	Member	1 Jan 2007	25% - 50%	20-8116239
Robert Michael Raich	President, portfolio manager, manager, and member	1 Jan 2007	Other	5281752
Margaret Mary Maclennan	Principal and chief financial officer	1 Jan 2007	Other	5281784
Frank Alan Weil	Manager	1 Jan 2007	Other	461592
Robert Michael Raich	President and manager	1 Apr 2007	Other	5281752
John Raggio	Principal, portfolio manager, manager, and member	1 May 2008	Other	4970916
Paul Frank Pfeiffer	Principal, portfolio manager, manager, and member	1 Jul 2009	Other	4358178
James Ernest Breece	Principal, portfolio manager, manager, and member	1 Jan 2010	Other	5788435
Nora Amelia Seoane Jobson	Chief operations officer	1 Jan 2010	Other	5752513
Paul Frank Pfeiffer	Equity analyst	1 Jan 2010	Other	4358178
Stephen Hamilton Frank	Managing director	1 Oct 2010	Other	1504321
Frank & Company Llc	Member	1 Oct 2010	Other	27-3583131
John Raggio	Principal and member	1 Apr 2011	Other	4970916
Robert Pattridge Morgenthau	Principal	1 Jul 2011	Other	1216047
Robert Pattridge Morgenthau	Principal, portfolio manager, manager, and member	1 Oct 2011	Other	1216047
Michele Dayle Cleary	Principal and director of operations and administration	1 Apr 2013	Other	6191125
William Walker Marden	Principal and portfolio manager	1 Sep 2014	Other	1609284

Indirect Owners

The SEC currently registers 6 indirect owners.

Name	Entity	Date acquired	Ownership	Employer ID
William Gerli Spears	Manager & member	1 Nov 2006	50% - 75%	431579
Frank Alan Weil	Manager	1 Dec 2006	Other	461592
William Sylvan Weil	Manager	1 Dec 2006	Other	1970954
Abigail Norman	Manager	1 Dec 2006	Other	5281862
Stephen Hamilton Frank	Member	1 May 2008	75% - 100%	1504321
Honor (Nmn) Lassalle	Manager	1 Mar 2009	Other	5656285

Based in New York

The principal office where Spears Abacus Advisors LLC performs its advisory services is located at 147 East 48 Th Street, New York, NY 10017, which is also the mailing address of the firm. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 212-230-9865 or by fax 212-230-9861. The normal business hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at spearsabacus.com.