FAQ's 

The Spaventa Group ("TSG Invest") is a financial firm that operates multiple lines of financial services businesses via wholly-owned subsidiaries and affiliates. We provide financial planning and investment advisory services through TSG Alpha Partners, a registered investment advisor; insurance and annuity products through TSG Insurance Services, a licensed insurance agency; private placement opportunities through TSG Capital Advisors, a broker-dealer; and alternative investment opportunities via our pooled investment vehicles. At TSG Invest, we are committed to delivering exceptional service and innovative financial solutions to help our clients—individuals, families, and institutions—achieve their financial goals.

At TSGA, we prioritize relationships and take pride in our team approach to client management. Each of our clients is partnered with a dedicated team to assist with their financial and investment needs. As forward-thinkers, we strive to understand and implement innovative and alternative assets and strategies that other money managers may overlook or be hesitant to adopt due to a lack of understanding or complacency.

You may lack the expertise, time, or desire to actively plan and manage certain financial aspects of your life, or perhaps you simply need help getting started. If this describes your situation, you could benefit greatly from an objective, third-party perspective on your financial plans. In today's hectic world, having a financial planning expert help you stay focused and follow through with your financial strategies can be invaluable. At TSG Alpha, we take pride in our ability to work with you and assist you with these crucial life decisions.

Yes! Be cautious of individuals (Investment Advisor Representatives) who call themselves financial planners but seem more focused on selling specific financial products rather than addressing your unique needs and goals. Instead, seek a qualified financial planner who is ethically and morally bound to act in your best interests, known as a fiduciary. A fiduciary can help you address a wide range of financial needs. At TSG Alpha, we provide each client with a dedicated fiduciary, ensuring that your interests always come first.

No!  The main goal of many Registered Investment Advisors is to SELL you an investment, whether it be a managed cookie-cutter investment portfolio or a life insurance product. They often simply ask you to complete a questionnaire that is inputted into a computer to generate an investment recommendation. In contrast, at TSG Alpha, we endeavor to know and understand your financial situation, goals, and objectives, as well as getting to know you personally. This allows us to create a customized financial plan first and then develop an investment plan to help you achieve the objectives outlined in the financial plan.

TSGA offers an extensive suite of programs and services, including comprehensive wealth management, retirement planning, estate planning, tax planning, asset management, portfolio management, and risk management. Schedule a complimentary consultation to speak with an Advisor here.

TSGA employs a tiered fee structure based on assets under management (AUM) and the specific solutions provided to each client.

We suggest you schedule a complimentary consultation as a first step so we can learn more about each other. 

We take pride in the wide range of assets available to our clients. Traditional assets offered include stocks, bonds, money market funds, annuities, and insurance products. Additionally, we provide access to alternative and unique investments such as venture capital, private equity, real estate, precious metals, and structured investments.

Our approach integrates a range of disciplines, considering various factors such as asset management, risk mitigation, your tax status and liability, and your retirement and estate planning needs. We align our strategies with your unique goals, objectives, and lifestyle to create a comprehensive, personalized financial plan.

Our firm offers access to a range of alternative investment products, including:

• Affiliated and non-affiliated pooled investment vehicles (holding assets including private equity, venture capital, real estate, etc) 
• Real assets
• Direct shares of private companies
• Physical metals 

Access to our alternative investment opportunities is provided via either our affiliated broker-dealer or registered investment advisor, depending on the type and structure of the product. We suggest completing our consultation form to be directed to the appropriate entity based on the criteria provided by you. In the event that a specific offering requires accreditation, we reserve the right to make efforts to verify your accreditation prior to or during an initial conversation and reserve the right not to move forward with doing business in the event we deem you are not accredited.

Unless otherwise noted, most investors must be either institutional investors or accredited investors. 

To qualify as an accredited investor, an individual must meet at least one of the following criteria:

1. Have an individual net worth, or joint net worth with their spouse, exceeding $1 million, excluding the value of their primary residence; or
2. Have an individual income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years, or joint income with their spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years; or 
3. Hold a Series 7, 65, or 82 license in good standing.

Investment minimums are dependent on the type of offering, with some offerings commanding higher investment minimums than others. 

We typically provide information for affiliated funds to investors via a secure data room. This data room includes the PPM, concise fund fact sheet, FAQs, and Investor Memorandum relevant to the assets held within any pooled investment vehicle.

"Pre-IPO" is an industry term that refers to investing in a private company, usually venture capital-backed, before it goes public or experiences another liquidity event. Private companies considered "Pre-IPO" are typically in the later stage of their venture capital lifecycle, having usually raised at least a Series C round of financing.  Although this is the term used in the industry, we prefer not to use it as it may falsely give the impression that a company is bound to go public. It is important to note that just because a company may be deemed a "Pre-IPO" opportunity, there is no guarantee that the company will ever go public or have another liquidity event, such as a merger or acquisition.

Pre-IPO, Angel Investing, and Venture Capital are subsets of Private Equity, reflecting a private company at a specific business stage. In essence, there are public equities (stocks) and private equity (private). Industry insiders view private equity as investing in large, established private companies, while venture capital involves investing in startups that are expanding their businesses. Angel investing is the field of investing in a startup at the "idea" phase. Pre-IPO investing refers to investing in venture capital-backed companies that are in the later stages of their business lifecycle.

Arriving at appropriate valuations for private companies involves several metrics and is more art than science, combining primary fundraising, secondary pricing, fund marks, financials, and public comparables. In primary financing rounds, companies raising money to fund operations strive to raise capital at higher valuations to limit dilution for existing shareholders.  On the other hand, investors aim to invest at lower valuations so they can own a larger percentage of the company.

Within the private market, there often exists a secondary market for certain companies, which can deviate, sometimes substantially, from the valuation set during a capital raise.  Funds also mark their investments based on their own parameters, and some companies, depending on supply and demand, can see large fluctuations in secondary market valuations based on several factors, including the size of the investor's investment and the time needed to acquire shares or interest. Depending on the opportunity, there can be a sizable difference between primary valuations, secondary valuations, fund marks, and public comparables. As such, investors should conduct their own due diligence in tandem with utilizing a reliable source.

No, you do not have to invest via a pooled investment vehicle. You can buy shares of private companies directly through our affiliated broker-dealer. However, access to direct shares is highly dependent on supply and the size of your investment. Our sponsored pooled investment vehicles focus on holding only companies we believe offer the best opportunities in the market, providing a simpler way to acquire interest in private companies.