Our Comprehensive Approach to Investment Management

"Times have changed...and we have THE solution to surviving and thriving in all economic and investment conditions."

Times have changed. From 1982 to 2007, investors enjoyed what might best be described as a "multi-asset, mega-bull market". Stocks, bonds and real estate all performed well above average for a quarter-century. It was a time when pros and amateurs alike could succeed despite committing serious investment and financial planning mistakes. Since then, you've likely noticed the change – choppy up-and-down periods that demand great discipline and intestinal fortitude.

We believe this is just the start of a new and more challenging investment climate, where financially weak and unprepared investors will likely suffer. Our strategy is robust: Act decisively to position our clients to survive and thrive in all economic and investment climates. Our approach is threefold:

1. Invest from a position of strength. We are a pioneer in advanced ways of measuring and building financial strength. Our acronym for this approach is SAFE. It stands for Strength, Agility, Flexibility and Endurance. Unlike less sophisticated advisors, our disciplined system and approach seeks to optimize your investment portfolio AND your balance sheet and cash flow to gain these advantages. Behind the scenes, we actually have over 100 standards of excellence used to spot your strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities (and do something constructive about them). Most others fall far short of what is needed...which is probably why you sense a need to upgrade your support.

2. Invest within a platform optimally designed for tactical defensive, neutral or offensive moves. We have a study that shows that 69% of advisors did not make tactical moves for clients during the financial crisis. While the common "story line" is buy-and-hold asset allocation is the way to go, we think most preach this approach simply because they are unprepared to assess market conditions and quickly make tactical adjustments across all client accounts. Not us! We have robust market intelligence capabilities on both fundamental and technical market conditions and an advanced trading system that applies approved tactical portfolio adjustments across all client accounts in minutes. This is all done behind the scenes while clients get informative alerts from time to time so they are informed of our latest thoughts and actions.

3. Invest with comprehensive due dilligence as an ongoing advantage. Given our belief in following a disciplined and unbiased approach, we have contracted with independent experts in security selection due dilligence to consistently examine the people, process, portfolio and performance of mutual funds, seperate account managers, ETFs and alternative investment vehicles we may utilize within client portfolios. Our aim is to invest with managers who have excellent long-term people, process, portfolio and performance attributes (our buy discipline) and weed out those who don't (our sell discipline). As a client of our firm, you can gain this comprehensive capability through us. 

These strategies can help us and our clients manage through both the destructive tensions and creative forces profoundly impacting investment values in today's challenging market conditions (see graphic for details).