The firm uses mutual funds and low-cost exchange traded funds, among other investments, and manages assets in-house. Fees range from 1.5% to 1%, depending on the size of the account, but no commissions are charged.

Freedom Capital does not have a minimum investment amount, but the typical client is a household with $500,000 in investable assets. Most are business owners or retirees based in New Jersey or New York.

Freedom Capital does not believe in passively riding out a troubled economy, or hiring money managers to deal with the problems. Rather, the advisors take an active approach to dynamically growing and managing wealth, Largo says. Without the bureaucratic overhead and highly paid management that exist in larger firms, funds are used to build an infrastructure to help clients.

Largo recruits new clients and handles the business expansion plans. He arranges the instructional seminars that are held three times a year with about 150 people attending each one. Advisors often gain 20 to 30 new clients from these events, which stress service, not product sales.

"Our approach to investing is very tactical," Largo says. "Last year we saw shifts to international investments and commodities. This year our belief is that small-cap domestic should outperform large cap and we will reduce our international investments. The U.S. dollar has been good the last few months in helping clients' accounts."

But the real key to Freedom Capital's success is more philosophical. "Everyone on staff here is local and part of the team," Largo emphasizes. "Everyone is proactive and specializes in communication. In bigger firms with hundreds of clients, some of the services and smaller clients are shipped to a service center and never see their advisor. We welcome our clients at any time and we keep in touch."

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