The team of five financial advisors say their high-net-worth clients will benefit from Ameriprise’s innovative and fully integrated digital capabilities
MINNEAPOLIS, August 13, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Q5 Wealth Management, a financial advisory team managing $1.5 billion in client assets in Beaumont and Houston, Texas, recently joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) from UBS Financial Services, Inc. Financial advisors Omar Bitar, Jeremy Saba, Mike Persia, Ed Persia, and Brad Klein conducted an extensive search for a new broker-dealer and chose Ameriprise for the firm’s robust resources to elevate their high-net-worth clients’ experience and significantly scale their practice. Specifically, the advisors were energized by Ameriprise’s innovative and fully integrated digital capabilities that will make it more efficient to consistently exceed clients’ expectations.
Reflecting on the move, Mike Persia said, “Clients are the core of everything we do, and they trust us to provide advice that propels them to reach their unique goals in life. Our team continually evaluates the way we’re doing business to ensure we’re delivering them the highest value. We saw an opportunity with Ameriprise to enhance our client offering and better position our practice for future growth.”
Q5 Wealth Management serves high-net-worth clients across the United States. The team specializes in advising on complex financial situations for individuals planning for retirement, families and business owners. “It’s our job as advisors to make it as easy as possible for clients to manage their financial lives in a comprehensive way,” JeremySaba added. “Ameriprise has leading capabilities that create efficiencies for clients and our team, as well as a sophisticated wealth management platform equipped with the products and services our clients want and need.”
The team chose to join Ameriprise’s independent channel because it offered the right balance of tenured support from leadership and flexibility to run their practice their way.
“We’re excited to welcome Q5 Wealth Management to our Ameriprise network,” said Ameriprise Field Vice President Logan Clipp. “Ameriprise is very thoughtful about the advisors we choose to partner with because we put significant time and resources into helping each one grow and serve clients exceptionally well. Omar, Jeremy, Mike, Ed, and Brad exemplify what it means to run a growth-focused, client-centric practice.”
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Ameriprise Regional Vice President Tres Rouquette also supports the team.
The team includes their supporting staff, Investment Specialists Kevin Wagner and Ashley Carter, Client Service Managers Sherri Thompson, Brandy Head and Taryn King, and Client Concierge Dena McNiel.
Ameriprise has continued to attract experienced, productive financial advisors, with more than 400 advisors moving their practices to Ameriprise in 2023 and approximately 1,700 joining the firm in the last 5 years.1 To find out why experienced financial advisors are joining Ameriprise, visit ameriprise.com/why.
About the Ameriprise Ultimate Advisor Partnership
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The Ameriprise Ultimate Advisor Partnership offers a differentiated experience for advisors that helps them accelerate growth while delivering an excellent client experience. Combined with the company’s culture of support and independence, the Ultimate Advisor Partnership enables advisors to scale their businesses, deepen client relationships and drive referrals for future growth.
About Ameriprise Financial
At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for 130 years. With extensive investment advice, asset management and insurance capabilities and a nationwide network of approximately 10,000 financial advisors2, we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of individual and institutional investors’ financial needs.
Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Investment products are not insured by the FDIC, NCUA or any federal agency, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value.
Securities offered by Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.
Reader question: My spouse has little interest in our financial position. As we age, this concerns me. I try to share some basic information (income, spending, account balances, debt, and so on) each month but rarely get a response. I think graphs or charts might be of more interest to her than a bunch of numbers. What recommendations would you have for illustrating our financial position so that I am not the only person aware of how we are situated? Thanks!
Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.
Online tools and mind maps
Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s Portfolio X-Ray tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.
A mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various softwaretemplates for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.
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Other ways to communicate about money
A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.
I like the idea of putting together a net worth statement that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.
Many couples also put together a binder (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.
A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap
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Finally, you could consider working with a good financial adviser, who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.
Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.
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Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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If you have ever taken out a mortgage, you’ll know there are a lot of requirements to meet. You may need to put down a certain amount and have a debt-to-income ratio below a certain threshold. You may also run into limits on how much you can borrow or what sources of income the lender will count.
These rules do not apply to all mortgages — just to conforming mortgages, which is what the majority of borrowers take out. However, mortgage lenders are increasingly offering what are known as nonconforming loans, or mortgages that do not “comply with every one of the strict standards put in place after the housing crisis,” said The Wall Street Journal. While “still a small portion,” the “share of mortgages using alternative lending practices” has “doubled in size over the past three years.”
What are nonconforming loans?
A nonconforming mortgage is a “type of home loan that doesn’t meet some or all of the guidelines that make them eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Bankrate. These are the government-sponsored entities that “support much of the secondary mortgage market in the U.S.,” meaning they often purchase resold mortgages.
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have “federal rules that limit the purchase of loans deemed relatively risk-free,” said Investopedia. Loans that meet these guidelines are conforming loans; loans that do not are nonconforming. To be a conforming loan, a mortgage must fall under a certain loan amount, and the borrower must meet specific criteria when it comes to their credit score, debt-to-income ratio and loan-to-value ratio.
Effectively, any home loan that does not align with these stipulations is considered nonconforming. Examples include jumbo loans, government-backed loans, bridge loans and interest-only loans.
Why do people get them?
There are a wide range of reasons people may opt for a nonconforming mortgage. For one, “you may have no choice but to choose a nonconforming jumbo loan if you want to buy an expensive property,” said Rocket Mortgage. These loans can also provide more flexibility when it comes to the type of property you purchase, your credit score and your down payment amount.
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Nonconforming loans additionally “offer an opportunity for home buyers who might not otherwise qualify for traditional loans because they are self-employed or hold their wealth in assets such as real estate,” said the Journal.
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What are the drawbacks?
For starters, there are fewer lenders offering them “since they pose a higher risk to the bank or mortgage lender,” said Yahoo Finance. That said, availability can vary depending on the specific type, as “some nonconforming loans (like FHA mortgages) are common, while others (like USDA loans) can be harder to find.”
Nonconforming loans also “generally carry a higher interest rate for the borrower,” said the Journal, given the increased risk to the lender. Still, this can vary by loan type. For instance, “FHA, VA and USDA loans usually have lower interest rates,” while “less common nonconforming loans, such as bridge loans, often have higher interest rates,” said Yahoo Finance. There is also the possibility that a nonconforming loan “could have an unusual repayment schedule or other features that make it harder to repay,” said Bankrate.
