Spears Abacus Advisors LLC (New York)


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.

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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.