AdviserReport™

Your Searched Adviser

Adviser

Margaret L. Holcomb

850 Penn Avenue, Suite 1200, Pittsburgh, PA

CRD #5847291

Registrations

IAR

Summit Peak Financial Partners, LLC

Investment Adviser Representative

Summit Peak Securities, LLC

Registered Broker of a Broker-Dealer

Experience

14 yrs

3 firms

Your searched adviser’s firm, Summit Peak Financial Partners, LLC, received a Transparency Grade™ of B

Professional Designations

This representative has reported 1 professional designation(s).

Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®)

Please check with the appropriate designation authority for verification that the designation is still in effect. The contact information for these professional designation authorities can be found on the website for the North American Securities Administrators Association.

How can this adviser earn revenue for their firm?

An individual’s registration dictates the revenue they can generate for their firm – via fees or commissions – but their personal compensation structure may vary based on how their employer approaches adviser compensation. This could alter their incentives, regardless of the registrations they may hold.

IAR BR

Dually Registered

This individual holds two registrations and can make recommendations in two capacities: as either an Investment Adviser Representative (IAR) or a Broker (BR). The standard of care you are owed, how they are compensated, and the conflicts that apply all depend on which capacity applies at the time of any particular recommendation — and while always disclosed, it is not always stated explicitly at the time the advice is given.

IAR

In their capacity as an investment adviser, this individual is compensated through fees: hourly, flat fee, or a percentage of assets under management. They are not permitted to charge commissions for advisory services. In this capacity, they act as a fiduciary.

In their capacity as a broker (registered representative), this individual operates under FINRA’s Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) standard, which requires recommendations to be in the client’s best interest at the time they are made. Compensation in this capacity is typically commission-based, meaning the broker earns revenue when you buy or sell investment products.

INS

This adviser holds an insurance license. In that capacity, they may recommend insurance products and receive commissions when those products are purchased. Because the same adviser may be compensated by advisory fees in one capacity and by commissions in another, a conflict of interest exists between this adviser’s interests and yours.

Professional History: Disclosures

Registered advisers are required to report certain events from their professional and personal history. The presence of disclosures on an adviser’s record does not mean they have done anything wrong — many involve disputes that were denied, or matters resolved years ago. The list below shows the year, category, and current status of each reported event. For details on any specific event, see the adviser’s IAPD report¹ or ask the adviser directly. View this adviser’s full IAPD report

Customer Dispute 2019 Settled

Your Searched Firm

Summit Peak Financial Partners, LLC

RIA

CRD #287454 · SEC-Registered · Headquartered: Charlotte, NC

Report generated April 28, 2026

Firm scored April 6, 2026 · Scoring Engine v1.7

View on SEC IAPD

Transparency Grade™

This firm is a Registered Investment Adviser RIA and in that capacity will act as a Fiduciary.

Employees

8 investment adviser representatives (IARs)
9 employees performing advisory functions
1 registered reps of a Broker-Dealer
1 insurance licensed

Assets Under Management (AUM)

$810M

Client Focus

Individuals High Net Worth Individuals

Client Relationships

Clients

3,215

Individuals and high net worth (HNW) individuals only.

Clients per Adviser

401 clients per adviser

Approximate; rounded down. Based on state-registered IARs and individual client counts reported on the firm's annual filing.

Avg Client Size

$252K

Regulatory AUM ÷ (individuals count + HNW count).

Financial Planning Clients

3,000 clients

Exact count reported (500+). May include one-time engagements.

Services Offered

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Financial Planning

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Portfolio Mgmt — Individuals

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Portfolio Mgmt — Businesses

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Portfolio Mgmt — Pooled

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Portfolio Mgmt — Institutional

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Pension Consulting

–

Selection of Other Advisers

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Market Timing Services

✓

Seminars / Educational

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Publications / Newsletters

Possible Compensation Methods

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% of Assets Under Management (AUM)

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Fixed Fees

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Hourly Fees

–

Commissions (as a Registered Investment Adviser)

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Commissions (affiliated Broker-Dealer)

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Commissions (firm has insurance-licensed advisers)

–

Performance-Based Fees

–

Subscription Fees

–

Other / Non-Standard

Transparency Grade™: Summit Peak Financial Partners, LLC received a grade of B

Summit Peak Financial Partners, LLC is a fee-based firm. The firm’s Form ADV discloses a handful of structural factors across 5 categories. The more notable include advisers who are also registered with a broker-dealer or insurance-licensed; an affiliated broker-dealer and insurance company; and discretionary authority over client accounts, including which broker executes trades and the commissions paid. Although the firm itself is compensated through advisory fees, the person advising you may also be able to earn commissions through brokerage and insurance channels — compensation that falls outside the advisory relationship. Several of these compound: broker-dealer activity combined with related broker-dealer affiliation.

Grading Methodology

How This Firm Compares — All Scored Firms

A−

B−

C−

Compensation Structure

Advisory firms can earn revenue in several ways. What methods can this firm use to earn revenue?

Revenue Model Fee-Based with Broker-Dealer and Insurance Affiliations

Fee Calculator

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Percentage of Assets Under Management (AUM)

If the firm manages investments on your behalf, it earns revenue based on an agreed-upon percentage of those investments. This means the firm earns more when your account balance grows and less when it shrinks. This creates a general alignment of interest, but also an incentive to gather and retain assets rather than recommend alternatives that might reduce the firm’s fee.

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Hourly Fees

The firm charges by the hour for advisory services. Your cost is based on time spent, not products sold or assets managed. This creates no product-sale incentive, though costs can vary depending on the complexity and duration of the engagement.

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Fixed Fees

The firm charges fixed, predetermined fees for defined advisory services — such as a set dollar amount for a financial plan, portfolio review, or consulting engagement. Your cost is agreed upon in advance and is not tied to product sales, transactions, or asset levels.

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Commissions — Broker-Dealer Registered Advisers

This firm reports that 1 of its advisers are registered representatives of a broker-dealer. While the firm itself does not report earning commissions directly, its advisers may earn commissions through the broker-dealer they are registered with. This creates a compensation channel that operates alongside — and in addition to — the advisory fees you pay. Ask your adviser if they are registered with a broker-dealer and if so, what that means for how they interact with you.

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Commissions — Insurance Licensed Advisers

This firm is registered as an insurance broker or agent, and 1 of its advisers hold insurance licenses. They may earn commissions when recommending insurance products to you. These commissions are separate from the advisory fees you pay. Ask your adviser what insurance products they are licensed to sell and how they are compensated for those recommendations.

Understanding Compensation Types

There are three main types:

Fee-Only: A "fee-only" adviser is compensated solely by clients (hourly, flat/fixed fee, or AUM) and receives no commissions, trailing commissions, or compensation from third parties for product sales.
Fee-Based: A "fee-based" adviser combines direct fees (hourly, flat/fixed, or AUM-based) with commissions, trailing commissions, 12b-1 fees, or other sales-related incentives — or operates with affiliated broker-dealer or insurance channels through which commission compensation can be earned, even where the advisory firm itself charges only fees. This is the most common model by adviser compensation industry-wide (Cerulli Associates, 2024).
Commission: Compensation is generated from the investment products you buy. The compensation may include upfront sales commissions (loads), 12b-1 fees, trailing commissions, surrender charges, and contingent deferred sales charges.

Brokerage & Trading Practices

Proprietary Interest in Client Transactions

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Personal Trading in Recommended Securities

This firm’s advisers may invest in some of the same securities they recommend to clients. This is a common and heavily regulated practice — firms are required to have compliance policies in place to manage it.

Investment or Brokerage Discretion

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Discretionary Account Authority

This firm has discretionary authority over client accounts, meaning it can buy and sell investments on your behalf without requiring your approval for each transaction. This is a standard arrangement for managed accounts but means you are relying on the firm’s judgment for day-to-day investment decisions.

Broker Recommendations

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Recommends Brokers or Dealers to Clients

This firm recommends specific brokers or dealers to its clients for executing trades and holding assets. This is standard practice for investment advisers and typically reflects the firm’s choice of custodian bank.

Business Activities & Affiliations

Advisory Services Offered

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Portfolio Management for Individuals

The firm provides ongoing investment oversight and decision-making tailored specifically for individual clients or small business accounts.

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Portfolio Management for Businesses or Institutional Clients

The firm provides investment management services to large organizations such as corporations, pension funds, or non-profits, in addition to individual client accounts.

Affiliations

Investment advisory firms often operate within a broader business ecosystem — either by holding additional licenses themselves, or by being connected through shared ownership to other financial services businesses. Both situations are disclosed to you and in the firm’s SEC registration filing. What those disclosures typically cannot tell you is the precise dollar value of revenue flowing through those additional channels, or how often those arrangements influence the advice you receive. The sections below identify what those businesses and connections are.

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Broker-Dealer: Affiliated

This firm’s advisers hold broker-dealer registrations, and the broker-dealer they are registered with is a related entity — meaning it is connected to the advisory firm by common ownership or control. This creates a two-channel revenue structure within the same organizational family: advisory fees flow through the registered investment adviser, and transaction-based compensation flows through the affiliated broker-dealer. When operating in a broker-dealer capacity, the fiduciary standard that applies to investment advice does not apply. The two entities are legally separate; the economic incentives are not.

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Insurance

This firm is licensed to sell insurance products, which may include life insurance, annuities, and other insurance-based investment vehicles. These products typically carry embedded compensation paid by the product provider — it does not appear on your advisory fee statement. A recommendation to purchase an insurance product carries a financial incentive to the firm that exists independently of your advisory relationship.

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Accountant or Accounting Firm

This firm is also registered or licensed as an accountant or accounting firm. Tax preparation, bookkeeping, and related services are typically billed separately from investment advisory fees. The same firm managing your investments and handling your tax work has visibility into your complete financial picture from both sides — including how investment decisions affect your tax outcomes and vice versa.

Custody

No custody-related conflict disclosures reported by this firm. Client assets are held by an independent qualified custodian.

Disclosures

No disclosures on file for this firm.

About This Report

This report is generated from publicly available regulatory filings submitted by SEC-registered investment advisory firms. The primary source is Form ADV Part 1A, a structured disclosure document that firms are required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission upon registration and update annually — or more frequently if a material change occurs. Additional firm information is drawn from FINRA BrokerCheck where applicable.

Grades reflect the firm’s disclosed business structure and the potential for conflicts of interest between the firm’s revenue model and a client’s interests. A lower grade does not indicate poor investment performance, regulatory violations, or bad advice — it indicates greater structural complexity that a client should understand before entering into an advisory relationship. The full methodology is available at adviserreport.com/methodology.

A note on data currency. Because Form ADV Part 1A is typically filed once per year, some data points — including employee headcount, the number of registered investment advisers, and other workforce figures — reflect the firm’s most recent annual filing and may not match the firm’s current staffing. For most firms, the filing date is displayed in the report header. If a material change occurred after that date, it may not yet be reflected here. The SEC’s full, current Form ADV filing for any firm is available at adviserinfo.sec.gov.

FINRA BrokerCheck Disclosure. On a real report, broker-dealer and registered representative data — including individual adviser professional history and disclosure details (if any) — is sourced from FINRA BrokerCheck (brokercheck.finra.org). Use of BrokerCheck data is subject to FINRA’s Terms of Use. The factual content of BrokerCheck data is not altered or modified. The adviser shown on this sample page is fabricated; no BrokerCheck data has been displayed.