Fiduciary Acknowledgement

Our Role and Fiduciary Acknowledgement for Retirement Accounts:

This notice is being sent out on behalf of The Retirement Group LLC (herein after, “TRG”). We are providing you with the following acknowledgement for purposes of complying with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 (“PTE2020-02”), where applicable. This acknowledgement applies when we or one of our representatives provides nondiscretionary investment advice or recommendations to you regarding retirement and other tax-qualified accounts (including workplace retirement plans, IRAs, SEPs, SIMPLE IRAs, educational savings accounts and other similar accounts), which for purposes of this acknowledgement will all be called “Retirement Accounts.”

Fiduciary Acknowledgement of TRG

When TRG and its advisors provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual retirement account, we are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. The way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a special rule that requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours.

Under this special rule’s provisions we must:

• Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give prudent advice);
• Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations (give loyal advice);
• Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
• Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
• Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.

(“Advisers Act”). The Advisers Act standard and Retirement Account standard do both require that we act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours when we are providing you with investment advice as part of an advisory relationship.

Limitations to Our Acknowledgement of Fiduciary Status Under Retirement Laws

This fiduciary acknowledgment does not create an ongoing duty to monitor your accounts or create or modify a contractual obligation or fiduciary status under any state or federal laws other than the retirement laws. Not all services or activities that we provide to your Retirement Accounts constitute fiduciary investment advice subject to the provisions above. As examples, we are not fiduciaries under the retirement laws when we provide:

• General information and education about the financial markets, asset allocations, financial planning illustrations, and the advantages and risks of particular investments;
• General information and education about issues and options that should be considered when deciding to roll over or transfer Retirement Account assets to us;
• Recommendations about investments held in accounts that are not Retirement Accounts (i.e., taxable accounts) or held in accounts at other financial institutions and for which we do not act as broker of record;
• Recommendations that you execute at another financial institution;
• Transactions or trades you execute without a recommendation from us (e.g., unsolicited trades) or that are
  contrary to, or inconsistent with, our recommendations; and
• Recommendations that do not meet the definition of “fiduciary investment advice” in DOL regulation
  section 2510.3-21. For your information, fiduciary investment advice means investment advice for a fee or
  other compensation rendered on a regular basis pursuant to a mutual understanding that such advice will
  serve as a primary basis for your investment decision, and that is individualized to the particular needs of
  your Retirement Account.

This fiduciary acknowledgment applies only to your Retirement Accounts and does not limit or modify our obligations to you under rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for non-retirement brokerage or advisory accounts.

Rollovers and Transfers From an Employer-Sponsored Plan

Our representatives may provide (1) general information and education to you about the factors to consider when deciding whether to move retirement assets to us or (2) a recommendation that you move your retirement assets to us. You understand and agree that our analysis of the costs and services of your current retirement plan, as compared to the costs and services that we provide, depends on the information you provide to us (or in certain circumstances, information we obtain from third parties about the plan [or similar type plans]). You are responsible for updating us if your investment objectives, risk tolerance or financial circumstances change.

Transferring IRA Assets From Another Financial Institution

If one of our representatives makes a recommendation that you move assets from an IRA at another financial institution to us, they are required to consider, based on the information you provide, whether you will be giving up certain investment-related benefits at the other financial institution, such as the effects of breakpoints, rights of accumulation and index annuity caps, and to determine that the recommendation is in your best interest for these reasons:

• Greater services and/or other benefits (including asset consolidation and holistic advice and planning) can
  be achieved with the IRA at our institution;
• The costs associated with the IRA at our institution are justified by these services and benefits; and
• The benefits of an enterprise-wide relationship, including the ability for us to advise on, recommend or offer a more robust set of product offerings (e.g., alternative investments and investments in equities,
  options, bonds and structured products).

Notwithstanding whether a recommendation has been made, you understand and agree that with respect to any assets you decide to transfer / roll over from a qualified plan or move from an IRA at another financial institution now or in the future, you must: (1) evaluate the investment and non-investment considerations important to you in making the decision, (2) review and understand the fees and costs associated with an IRA at our institution, (3) recognize that higher net fees (if applicable) will substantially reduce your investment returns and ultimate retirement assets, and (4) understand the conflicts of interest raised by the financial benefits to us and our employees resulting from your decision to roll over or transfer assets to an IRA with us.

More Information Regarding Fees, Services, and Conflicts

For a description of our fees, services and conflicts of interest, please refer to our Form CRS and ADV Disclosure Brochure, each as applicable and each available at: www.theretirementgroup.com