Equity Services, inc.

ESI Financial Advisors (doing business as EFA) serves individuals (including high-net-worth), corporations, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and retirement plans with financial planning, consulting, and asset management services. The firm operates as both a federally registered investment adviser and a broker/dealer, and its brochure reports approximately $1.9 billion in non-discretionary assets and $527 million in discretionary assets as of 12/31/2024.

The firm delivers investment management through a mix of proprietary and third‑party platforms—including an Envestnet-powered ESI Illuminations platform and programs with AssetMark, SEI, Saratoga, and American Funds—using client profile questionnaires to determine asset-allocation models and allowing either discretionary or client‑approved (non‑discretionary) trading. Recommended strategies emphasize long‑term allocations and manager-driven model portfolios, while also permitting short‑term trading, options, margin, SMAs, UMAs, and client‑imposed restrictions where applicable.

Compared with many peers, EFA combines advisory services with broker‑dealer product distribution and receives transaction‑based compensation in addition to asset‑based advisory fees, including sales of mutual funds, annuities, and insurance products; the firm discloses revenue‑sharing, promoter arrangements with third‑party managers, and platform pricing structures while noting that certain trailer (12b‑1) fees on its Illuminations platform are credited back to client accounts. The firm is affiliated with National Life and related affiliates, its representatives are often dually registered as insurance agents, and it routinely acts as adviser or co‑adviser to programs that use multiple third‑party managers—features that shape its product mix and conflicts‑of‑interest disclosures.