Successful investing is simple, but not easy. It requires us to control our human impulses, filter the noise, and be humble enough to acknowledge what we don’t know. Our investment philosophy not only includes how we manage finances, but also risk and behavior.
Decades of research on investment performance has taught us that managing diversification, investor behavior, and risk are the greatest contributors to long-term success. The investments that we select for our clients use a defined process that is disciplined and simple to understand.
We perform three roles to help improve our clients’ odds of investment success:
- Portfolio Manager – We orchestrate the asset allocation, or the balance between investments, in response to market conditions and family goals. At all times, we should be aware of what we own and why we own it.
- Behavioral Coach – We help clients maintain focus during periods of turmoil or euphoria. The “behavior gap” is the term given to the dramatic impact that emotional trading has on an investment portfolio. Our focus on client goals is long-term, by necessity. Short-term market performance can be a distraction and a lure away from good discipline. The way we talk to clients and report on progress is designed to shrink the behavior gap and make our portfolios purposeful, not reactive.
- Risk Manager – As a family wealth firm, our clients do not have the luxury of an infinite time horizon. They have defined plans for their wealth. Plans that balance their current goals with those that will define their legacy. We help to define risk in a way that goes beyond market volatility and addresses obstacles specific to a family’s financial plan.
Each of these roles are interrelated since the greatest risk to any investment plan is to abandon a well-reasoned strategy in favor of fads or false promises.
Our investment philosophy is aligned with each family’s unique financial plan. Our success is not determined by beating an arbitrary index or by winning in the short-term. We define the success of each family in the financial planning process and we pride ourselves on developing an investment strategy that is responsive to those unique needs.