The foundation of the relationship we establish with each of our clients is one based on trust, and trust must be built over long periods of time through demonstrating both high levels of integrity and competency. Along these lines, we believe that experience matters. Just as passengers of a cross-country flight would expect their pilot to be well versed in all weather conditions, we believe families should demand highly experienced financial professionals as well. Because of this, we offer a team of seasoned and competent professionals with decades of experience, working in the best interest of our clients.
Our investment strategies harness the leadership and investment ideas generated by our 5-member internal Investment Committee. Our committee meets every two weeks for a deep dive on all our investment portfolios and positions owned by our clients. This allows us to be dynamic whether that means working to allocate to areas of the market where we see opportunity or being timely in raising and investing cash for clients.
We build all our investment recommendations from the foundation of a long-term personalized plan. It has been said, “failing to plan is planning to fail” and we wholeheartedly believe this applies to investing. In the business of wealth management, it is our goal to align the long-term outcomes of the portfolio with the objectives of our clients. As a result, we aim to establish a personal connection with our clients, so our team can construct the best financial plan possible.
Our commitment to Goals-Based Planning drives our primary investment focus: Long-Term Strategic Asset Allocation. Research shows that one’s asset allocation chosen across stocks, bonds, cash, and alternative strategies matters much more to returns than individual security selection. Because of this, we dedicate significant time to identifying a suitable asset allocation and risk exposure for each client.
Through the decades, our team has found that alongside asset allocation another primary driver of returns is an investor’s emotions and behavior throughout time. In fact, buying and selling at the wrong times has been shown to cause a nearly 3% annual gap between mutual fund returns and the returns of mutual fund investors.*
We believe the solution to this problem is investor education, and therefore we work with our clients to identify potential behavioral pitfalls before they occur. We also customize our portfolio solutions because every client is different. Even though client goals may be the same, the “volatility”, or change in value, they are willing to accept may vary widely. Combined, we believe these strategies have the ability to close the gap between client portfolio and market returns over time.
Finally, while we are predominantly long-term asset allocators, we believe that the market makes many of the same behavioral mistakes as individual investors. As a result, we aim to establish market dislocations as an opportunity to buy into undervalued asset classes whose higher return potential can help work toward the long-term goals and objectives of our clients.
February 2015
*Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior by Dalbar, Inc. (2017)
**Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. No strategy assures a profit or protects against loss. Investing involves risk including loss of principal.**
*DALBAR’s year Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB) study examines real investor returns from equity, fixed income and money market mutual funds from January 2007 through December 2016. The study was originally conducted by DALBAR, Inc. in 1994 and was the first to investigate how mutual fund investors’ behavior affects the returns they actually earn.
