Our Services

About the Burns Investment Group of Stifel Nicolaus

We are a full-service financial firm committed to helping people pursue their financial goals. We offer a wide range of financial products and services to individuals and business owners. We believe you will be better able to identify your goals and make sound decisions to help pursue them by our providing sound financial information.

Through Stifel Nicolaus we offer a full range of financial services, including:

  • IRA Rollovers 
  • Tax-Free Investing 
  • Investment planning 
  • Retirement planning
  • Financial planning
  • Risk management
  • Executive compensation
  • College funding
  • Charitable giving
  • Estate conservation
  • Business planning
    • Qualified Retirement Plans
    • Executive Compensation
    • Business Succession Planning
    • Business Insurance
  • For corporate executives, Stifel Nicolaus offers the following services:
    • Sales of Control and Restricted Stock
    • Rule 10b5-1 Plans
    • Lending
    • Stock Option Financing
    • Reinvestment Opportunities

Please call us if you have any questions about our firm or the range of financial products and services we provide.

About Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus is a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm established in 1890 and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.  The company provides securities brokerage, investment banking, trading, investment advisory, and related financial services to individual investors, insititutions, corporations, and municipalities. 

The company operates more than 280 offices in 40 states and the District of Columbia.  Stifel is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and the New York Stock Exchange, Inc., as well as the American, Chicago, and Philadelphia Stock Exchanges, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp.  Stifel Financial Corp.'s publicly traded stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SF."

Our Services

We serve individuals and businesses in all areas of financial management, including:

  • Retirement planning
    Making the most of your employer-sponsored retirement plans and IRAs. Determining how much you need to retire comfortably. Managing assets before and during retirement.
  • Tax management
    Making sure you don't pay a penny more than the law requires. Looking for ways to help reduce your current and future tax burden. Coordinating with your tax professional. Referring you to qualified tax specialists.
  • Estate planning strategies
    Reviewing your wills and trusts. Helping preserve your estate for your intended heirs. Helping with beneficiary designations. Reducing exposure to estate taxes and probate costs. Coordinating with your tax and legal advisors.
  • Risk management
    Reviewing existing insurance policies. Recommending policy changes when appropriate. Finding the best policy for your situation.
  • Education funding
    Recommending investment and accumulation strategies to help you pay for your children's education.
  • Investment Planning
    Determining your asset allocation needs. Helping you understand your risk tolerance. Recommending the appropriate investment vehicles to help you pursue your goals.
  • Employee and executive benefits
    Helping your business attract and retain qualified employees through benefit packages.

The Investment Process

The Roadmap

The road to attaining your long-term investment goals should begin with the identification of your objectives and a commitment to strategies designed to help meet your specific needs. With the assistance of the Burns Investment Group of Stifel Nicolaus, you will complete a confidential assessment questionnaire, which will enable you to describe factors that are unique to your particular situation. Through this process, we can help you to develop a statement of objectives and provide you with an asset allocation recommendation that matches your investment goals and risk tolerance, time horizon, and liquidity needs. Asset allocation does not ensure a profit or protect against loss.

A Customized Strategy

As an investor, you have a wide range of investments from which to choose. Each type of investment offers a different level of risk and potential return. While diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss, the history of capital markets shows that combining certain types of investments can potentially enhance returns and reduce portfolio risk. This is due to the fact that adequate diversification within and among different types of investments reduces the effect that any one individual investment or type of investment can have on the total portfolio.

Based on the information you provide, we will work with you to develop a custom investment strategy for you. Typical portfolio considerations include a mix of stocks (domestic and international), bonds (government, corporate, and municipal), and cash equivalents, and will incorporate the investing style or styles most appropriate for your unique financial situation.

Periodic Reviews

Systematic, ongoing monitoring of your portfolio’s progress is another valuable component of the Burns Investment Group's services process.

On a quarterly basis, we will provide you with a performance report that we  review to monitor your portfolio’s performance. This performance report will also include a market overview prepared by Stifel Nicolaus Investment Strategists showing an objective analysis of the prevailing market conditions during the quarter.  Written confirmations will notify you of any and all trading activity taking place in your account. On a monthly basis, Stifel brokerage statements will identify and update all contributions, disbursements, dividends, interest earned, purchases, sales, and total value of your portfolio. In addition, Stifel will provide you with a detailed year-end capital gains and losses report (realized and unrealized) to help you with tax planning and preparation.

We will be readily available to assist you in analyzing your quarterly performance report, answer any questions you may have, help you take action when necessary, and most of all, guide you toward your long-term goals.

Rebalancing Your Portfolio

Periodic rebalancing of your portfolio is an integral part of the process. Since over time, a portfolio’s asset allocation can deviate from its target asset allocation, rebalancing is used to return the weightings of the assets in your portfolio back in line with the target allocation.

Over time, the asset weightings in your portfolio may deviate from their original allocation. If left unchecked, certain assets may become underweighted or overweighted, making your portfolio too risky or too conservative.

Rebalancing not only helps to control risk but can also enhance performance through the active management of transferring funds between underperforming and overperforming asset classes. Since rebalancing may have tax consequences, you should consult with your tax advisor regarding you particular situation.

Professional Money Management

In the midst of unusual market levels and investor uncertainty, the need for a professional portfolio manager may now be greater than ever.  An important result of the recent volatility in worldwide financial markets is that the individual investor is realizing they may no longer be equipped to adequately monitor economic trends and developments on an international scale.  In light of recent trends, we firmly believe that professional money management is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. 

Stifel Nicolaus has designed a number of comprehensive money management programs which provides the individual investor with an effective and efficient way to facilitate what we see as a new era in the financial marketplace. 

As your financial advisor, the Burns Investment Group of Stifel Nicolaus will work directly with you to identify the appropriate program which would be most appropriate for you.