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Est. 2026The front page of wealth managementNew York

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Wealth manager, public-company owned · Cedar Rapids, IA

BFC Planning, Inc.

SEC-registered investment adviser · CRD 119682 · SEC 801-67427

At a glance

BFC Planning, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with $3.8B in regulatory assets under management as of its Form ADV filed March 27, 2026. It reports 11,327 individual clients, 574 of them high-net-worth, holding an average of about $0.3 million each, and 200 employees. That ranks it 288th among the nation’s 5,657 independent wealth management RIAs and 3rd of 47 in Iowa.

Main office 319-447-5700bfcplanning.comLinkedInAs filed on Form ADV

Regulatory AUM
$3.8B
Rank among independent wealth managers
#288 of 5,657
Rank among all SEC RIAs
#2,469 of 17,210
Rank in Iowa
#3 of 47
Individual clients
11,327
High-net-worth clients
574
Accounts
13,174
Discretionary
84% of AUM
Employees
200
Advisory staff
200
Offices
136

Owners and executives on its Form ADV

Custody and brokerage

Custodian

BFC Planning, Inc.’s Form ADV lists no custodian for separately managed accounts. Firms report one only when they manage $10 million or more in those accounts.

Broker-dealer

Hybrid RIA

BFC Planning, Inc. is a hybrid RIA: 200 of its employees are also registered representatives of a broker-dealer. It names affiliated broker-dealers: Berthel, Fisher & Company Financial Services, Inc. and Securities Management and Research, Inc..

Its Form ADV brochure (filed March 2026) names Berthel, Fisher & Company Financial Services and Securities Management and Research as the broker-dealer its advisers are registered with.

Your IAR may be affiliated in a separate capacity as a registered representative with our affiliated broker-dealers, Berthel Fisher & Company Financial Services, Inc. or Securities Management and Research, Inc.

Other hybrid RIAs

Who it serves

Client typeClientsRegulatory AUMShare
Individuals10,753$2.4B61%
High-net-worth individuals574$1.3B35%
Corporations or other businesses78$93M2%
Pension and profit sharing plans34$32M<1%
Charitable organizations9$25M<1%

Disciplinary disclosures

BFC Planning, Inc. answers yes to 1 disclosure item in Item 11 of Form ADV (criminal, regulatory or civil matters involving the firm or its advisory affiliates). Read the details on the SEC’s adviser search ↗

Services

  • Financial planning
  • Portfolio management for individuals and small businesses
  • Selecting other advisers

How it’s paid

  • A percentage of assets under management
  • Hourly charges
  • Fixed fees
  • Other

Form ADV and brochures on the SEC’s adviser search ↗bfcplanning.com ↗

AtlasMembers

The full record on BFC Planning, Inc.

Ten years of SEC filings, its owners and contacts, and how it stacks up against its peers. Atlas members see all of it.

Assets, accounts, clients and staff, ten years of filings
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Growth over one, three and five years
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Rank against 1,067 peers of its type and size
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Owners and executives, with titles and stakes
9 namedLocked
Main office, fax and compliance officer
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Filing changes this year, with alerts
1Locked
Open Atlas free

Free while Atlas launches: create a free account and confirm your email. Every figure comes from SEC filings.

Similar-size RIAs in Iowa

All of Iowa →
FirmRegulatory AUMClients
Avantax Planning Partners, Inc.Dubuque$7.6B7,515
Foster Group, Inc.West DES Moines$4.8B1,956
Steele Capital Management, Inc.Dubuque$3.5B1,521
Accel Wealth ManagementWaverly$1.1B1,290
Northwest Wealth Management, LLCSpencer$1.0B2,085
Legacy Financial GroupDES Moines$1.0B1,450

Background

Questions

How much does BFC Planning, Inc. manage?

BFC Planning, Inc. reports $3.8B in regulatory assets under management across 13,174 accounts, 84% of it on a discretionary basis, on its Form ADV filed March 27, 2026.

How many clients does BFC Planning, Inc. have?

It reports 11,327 individual clients: 574 high-net-worth individuals and 10,753 other individuals. Individuals account for about 96% of its regulatory assets.

Where is BFC Planning, Inc. headquartered?

Its main office is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It reports 136 offices in total and 200 employees, 200 of whom perform investment advisory functions.

How does BFC Planning, Inc. charge clients?

On Form ADV it lists these forms of compensation: a percentage of assets under management; hourly charges; fixed fees; other. Fees and minimums are set out in its Form ADV Part 2A brochure, available on the SEC’s adviser search.

Is BFC Planning, Inc. a hybrid RIA with a broker-dealer?

BFC Planning, Inc. is a hybrid RIA: 200 of its employees are also registered representatives of a broker-dealer. It names affiliated broker-dealers: Berthel, Fisher & Company Financial Services, Inc. and Securities Management and Research, Inc.. Those representatives can also earn commissions on brokerage business through the broker-dealer, where different rules apply than for advisory accounts.

Is BFC Planning, Inc. a fiduciary?

As an SEC-registered investment adviser, BFC Planning, Inc. owes its advisory clients a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which includes duties of care and loyalty. 200 of its employees are also registered representatives of a broker-dealer, where different rules apply to brokerage recommendations.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure is BFC Planning, Inc.’s own answer on its latest Form ADV, from the SEC’s registered-adviser list as of October 1, 2026: regulatory assets and accounts (Item 5.F), clients by type (5.D), employees (5.A and 5.B), compensation (5.E) and services (5.G). Custodians come from Schedule D 5.K(3) of its latest filing (2026-03-27), which lists those holding 10% or more of separately managed account assets and the amount at each. “Hybrid” means some employees are also registered representatives of a broker-dealer (Item 5.B(2)); affiliated broker-dealers are the related persons it lists in Item 7.A and Schedule D. Firm type comes from its own answers: broker-dealer firms are registered broker-dealers themselves (Item 6.A); private fund advisers manage mostly private funds (Item 7.B, 5.D); wealth managers manage at least half their assets for individuals (5.D). Its national rank compares it with every US-based independent wealth management RIA, the same field as The Largest RIAs. Figures are as of the firm’s last annual update, so they can lag recent deals and market moves. Regulatory AUM counts assets the firm continuously supervises and can differ from what a firm markets.

Not an endorsement or a recommendation. Before hiring any adviser, read its Form ADV Part 2A brochure and check its record on the SEC’s adviser search. How to check a financial advisor →