Office Updates and Events
It’s been a busy start to the year! Please join us in welcoming Justin Hanson, who joined the team in April. Get to know him by reading his full bio on the website.
Congratulations to Nick for passing both the Series 7, and Series 66 exams all in the first quarter!
A big thank you to Anna (8 years) and Daniel (5 years) for their continued dedication to the Atlas team.
Spring cleaning: “Shred Month” – during the month of May, if you have sensitive documents that need disposal, feel free to drop them off at our office. We'll store your documents in our secure, locked file room until Pellitteri picks them up at the end of the month.
Account Security
Expanding on last quarter’s idea of having “trusted contacts” on file with us, we wanted to touch briefly on protocols we use to ensure your accounts are secure:
Where funds are sent
When requesting a distribution, there are only two options that do not require a signature from you:
- A check sent to your address on file, made payable to the account owner.
- EFT disbursement to your bank account on file.
In the event we are contacted to update either of these (bank link or address) for a distribution, there is a required waiting period before any funds can be sent out, during which we would confirm these with you verbally.
Verbal authorizations for withdrawals
All distributions out of your account (whether IRA or brokerage) require your verbal authorization before we can send this out. While it is helpful to inform us of a planned distribution in writing ahead of time, we always need to speak with you before disbursing.
- Along with this, do not be surprised if we strike up a conversation regarding a distribution so that we are able to note the purpose for our records and potentially your future reference (like those “what was this transaction for again?” moments.)
Additional optional precautions
If you would like an extra layer of protection in this ever-evolving world of AI and fraud, you can request a “key/code word” be put on file to authorize distributions. This is certainly not a requirement and could even pose issues down the road if you were to forget this, but it is an option if you are interested.
Cambridge Annual Mailing (Information Updates)
In March, Cambridge sent out their annual mailing which included their privacy policy notification, required disclosures, and client-specific information for your review. If you noticed any information on this that is out of date or incorrect, please let us know so we can make the necessary updates on our end!