Many people confuse what we do with what a broker does. In general, a broker is an intermediary who facilitates securities transactions and as such, gets paid a commission for each transaction he or she initiates. While many brokers provide a wide range of valuable services for their clients, their business model is essentially a sales-driven model.
Conversely, we manage investment portfolios with the primary goal of delivering superior investment performance, and more attentive service to any client need. Our business model is essentially one of stewardship; we seek to help clients reach wealth and retirement goals and we benefit if our clients do.

Our firm is independently owned and operated which we believe gives us the best chance to make the best possible decisions for our clients. We have no outside owners which may have interests that could conflict with the interests of our clients. Some industry experts consider independence to be a competitive advantage.

Long Term Focus

Some firms rely on short term focus, often trying to guess the “unguessable”. We cannot afford to be so cavalier with clients’ life savings. Explosive, alluring short term trends that tease investors into disasters.

We use enduring economic laws, accepted by science and academics, as fuel to drive wealth and value growth. Always avoid speculative, short term trends that can be misleading, vacuous, costly, and fundamentally unpredictable.

Our research focuses on long-term insights, not on short-term noise and trends. We know that over longer periods of time, asset returns migrate toward their intrinsic equilibrium norms. During shorter, interim periods, however, the numerous and diverse effects on trading activity make it excessively difficult to for individuals to see through the veil of confusion and doubt.

Mutual funds can offer many advantages to many people. Most funds tend to be very accessible in that they have low minimum initial investment requirements. Many are widely advertised and distributed so it is easy to find information about them. There is also an enormous variety of mutual funds that can suit virtually every investment need.

The risk that many mutual funds pose to individual investors is that they may not offer a very good value. Many fund companies are much more oriented to the marketing and distribution part of the business and much less focused on delivering superior investment strategies, and thus, performance. In fact, research has shown that inflows and outflows to a mutual fund can substantially impair the ability of the fund manager to outperform regardless of his or her ability. These and other issues help explain why so few mutual funds outperform their benchmarks. And why selecting funds on the basis of track record can lead to disaster.

Clients have access to the investment decision maker, his thoughts and rationales, not a mere representative. We do not have allegiances to any particular fund or investment strategy. Client portfolios are tailored to meet their individual financial goals.

We minimize or eliminate all but the most essential costs. Using low turnover (lowers unseen transaction costs and taxes), rock bottom fees (index funds), so there is no additional charge for us and a fund management company. Where fees are necessary, they are structured to insure that they are covered by superior results.

We also specialize in making sure our veteran clients receive the full benefits they deserve. In many cases this means thousands of extra dollars each month.

While there is no minimum size, there is a $3,000 minimum annual fee. This tends to work best with accounts $300,000 and above. We believe that is the optimal balance between being able to offer our services to as many investors as possible, while still providing quality individual attention.