4.
Diversification –
Diversification is key to long term
investing. Sure, everyone wants to hit a
home run – and many forget about the
dogs in their portfolio. But are you
truly diversified? We look at
correlation between different asset
classes to reduce risk and improve your
long term returns. You can never be
"too" diversified, but at the same time,
having too many sectors may not diminish
your risk as much as you think. We
utilize various sectors within your
portfolio, as well as international
equities and fixed income exposure. We
also utilize a wide range of investment
vehicles to deliver solid returns.
5. Portfolio
monitoring – Portfolio
monitoring is a constant process geared
towards ensuring the securities you hold
are the right ones for you. Unlike those
who sell back-end loaded funds (cut and
run type of investing), we monitor,
evaluate, and adjust the securities
based on performance expectations, style
drift, and a number of other factors.
6. Reduction of
emotional investing – No
matter how we invest, everyone has some
type of emotions when investing. This is
one of the hardest things us humans do
in investing. We lessen emotion based
investing and focus strictly on a
disciplined approach. Most investors
agree with the philosophy of long term
investing, but most invest with a short
term mind set. We filter out the noise
of the market and invest based on
fundamental principals, not out of fear
or wanting to chase a return.
7. Rebalancing,
re-appropriation based on opportunities
& threats – Although we take
a buy and hold approach, we also look at
current economic conditions and make the
appropriate changes to our models. For
example, we were bullish on intermediate
term bonds in 2009 and 2010, but moved
toward
other income producing securities in a
low interest rate environment. Also, gold can be
used as an inflation hedge, and would
normally be in our portfolio. However,
when it appears that gold (or any assets)
may have a bubble, we look at other
alternative assets.
8. Diverse
range of investments – It is
our job to be familiar with all types of
investment vehicles, and to know the
risks and benefits of each type. We look not
only at the mode of delivery
(mutual funds, ETF’s, bonds), but also
at the
vehicle itself (market ETF’s, sector
ETF’s, currency ETF’s, inverse ETF’s,
etc.).
9. Performance
Reports and Personalized Account
Statements — Our quarterly
reports are supplemental to your
custodian statements. Performance
reports will show you how your portfolio
is performing vs. various market indexes
and the performance of individual
securities. You’ll know exactly how each
of your investments is performing, and
more importantly, be informed of the
types of investments and how they are
meeting your financial goals. We will
also give you easy to read, client
centric reports that show positions,
transactions, and a snapshot of your
overall portfolios.