The core of our investment philosophy is based on five key beliefs that allow us to deliver client-focused results.

 

• Markets are efficient. The security markets do an excellent job of effectively pricing in all known and expected information available. We do not time the market or select securities based on “gut feelings” or emotion.

 

• Diversification is key. Diversification reduces the risk associated with specific securities and asset classes. Our portfolios hold roughly 10,000 of the world’s public companies and debt issues across 40 countries.  We can also customize your portfolio and include other assets such as metals, oil services and energy, grains, or other sectors.

 

• Risk and return are purely correlated. The compensation for enduring increased levels of risk is the potential for greater investment returns. Balancing this risk is the art that goes into the science of building your portfolio.

 

• Portfolio structure determines performance. The most important determinant of performance is portfolio structure. We create and manage an investment strategy designed to balance growth and wealth preservation with your personal financial needs in mind.

 

• Rebalancing adds tremendous value. Your investment portfolio’s asset allocation will gyrate with market events. We don’t just build your portfolio and forget it like some financial advisors, picking a random timeframe to review your account and rebalance. We review every client account monthly for rebalancing opportunities. This practice helps us keep your risk level and return assumptions in line with your initial financial plan.

 

Our investment process requires three steps. During step one, we prepare your Investment Policy Statement. This statement incorporates risk considerations, return objective, income needs, tax issues, and other factors specific to you. The statement is the basis of our “North Star,” client-centric approach to investing and is the initial guidepost for your overall investment strategy. It is the basis for determining which strategies are most appropriate for you.

 

Next, we work with you to establish an asset allocation model. Typically, we begin with an asset allocation model that contains a variety of assets in such proportions that it is generally considered risk-neutral for a hypothetical long-term investor who is not actively allocating assets. Asset classes included in the “neutral” allocation for our portfolio strategies contain high-quality bonds, U.S. stocks, international stocks, and precious metals. We move away from the neutral allocation when market opportunities create value in certain asset classes as prices move to unjustifiable extremes. Asset allocation may also be influenced by long-term trends that we are highly confident will have a major impact on the future investment climate. We believe that our ability to identify undervalued asset classes through actively managing your portfolio is an important part of our competitive advantage and ultimately allows you to grow your wealth and weather most market scenarios. 

 

Finally, we can further refine your portfolio of assets by finding specific companies within a given asset class that are undervalued, and in some cases overvalued, based on company-specific public knowledge and changing market conditions. Of course, you are an integral part of the decision-making process as we move away, in either direction, from a risk-neutral portfolio.