Our Investment Philosophy & Approach
We are dedicated to helping our clients achieve their dreams. We do this by deploying a goals-based wealth planning approach that starts with learning about you and what makes you tick.
Working together, we’ll identify strategies to help grow your wealth, fund your lifestyle today and tomorrow, and facilitate a legacy that you deem worthwhile.
We believe disciplined, model-driven investments helps to generate enhanced risk-adjusted returns. By aligning your personal goals and passions with your financial resources, then building a tangible, dynamic roadmap to guide future decisions, we can increase the likelihood that you can live the life of your dreams.
Life is dynamic, and your financial plan and life plan should align. How your investments, risk-management strategies, and estate structure work are just the mechanics to facilitate the outcomes you desire.
Our Investment Philosophy:
Our model-driven approach allows for measurable analysis, verification, and rebalancing to ensure your financial resources are working for you and earning a fair rate of return for the level of risk taken. As such, we believe:
1. Asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, alternatives, commodities, etc.) have historical expected rates of return.
2. Model-based investing is key; utilizing efficient frontier analysis makes mathematical sense.
3. Diversification of asset classes, investment styles, and investment types are critical components to generate total return in a risk-adjusted way. We evaluate and track how your distinct investments work together and we stay abreast of economic factors that may create portfolio optimization opportunities. We regularly evaluate performance relative to benchmarks and like-kind investments.
4. Utilizing professional managers for specialties within the market can (over time) generate alpha, reduce beta and provide differentiated sources of return within a model allocation.
5. Investment costs matter. We strive to help ensure excess returns are not eaten up by fees. When cost-effective investment vehicles can be used for broad allocations, they are considered.
6. Rebalancing can have value and should be implemented in a disciplined way and in a manner that takes advantage of major market dislocations and/or reduces concentration resulting from market movements.
7. Dollar cost averaging can combat timing risk for new dollars invested and can help maintain a disciplined approach to investing across market cycles.
8. As market conditions change, we keep you informed.
Our Approach in Working With You:
1. We take time to know who you are and where you are going
2. Transparency & trust are paramount. We need to understand your complete financial picture, your timeline, and the outcomes you are looking to achieve. You need to understand our approach, believe we can help you attain your goals, and get direct and complete answers to your questions.
3. Our planning process is dynamic because life is dynamic. Uncovering the appropriate strategies & solutions that are valuable to your total picture is what we do. Wealth Planning is iterative and we will adapt and pivot as needed to help you achieve your dreams and the legacy you envision for generations beyond. Our relationship is long-term; life is not linear; and problem-solving is our specialty.
4. The strategies & solutions we recommend take your complete picture into account: your entire net worth and estate. We collaborate with your estate attorney and CPA or tax strategist as appropriate, to ensure the legacy plan you envision and your current needs are well thought out and executed in-sync.
5. We illustrate and scenario-build “what is” and “what could be” to help you make informed decisions around milestones and big-decisions in your life. Things such as:
- liquidity events
- wealth transfer
- risk mitigation
- business sales, business purchases and start-ups
- philanthropic giving
- asset sales – including 1031 like-kind exchanges, and 1035 like-kind exchanges
- life-insurance for estate liquidity, tax-free cash value, or risk-mitigation
- roth conversions and Mega-Backdoor Roth strategies
- understanding the asset titling structures which legally define how and who owns things under your purview
- how step-up in basis impacts inheritance, etc.
note: we do not give tax or legal advice – we work in concert with those professionals.
6. We guide your investments to align with your wealth plan, your risk appetite and the return necessary to help achieve your goals in your desired timeline. If something about your desired plan does not work, we articulate that, and suggest other solutions which are viable and reasonable for you.
7. We understand forward-looking capital market assumptions and keep abreast of how economic cycles may impact success factors within your complete wealth plan. We make tactical adjustments to your model allocations when necessary, maintaining the overall risk/return parameters established with you
8. We maintain close contact with you– keeping informed of life changes and new goals, then we review your investment allocation and total wealth picture to help ensure your wealth plan aligns that context in mind.
