Managing wealth for people like you who are approaching retirement or already retired provides us with a unique perspective on how to generate low-risk returns for our clients.
The reason is quite simple: When you've worked hard over your lifetime to build your wealth, the last thing you want to do is place your retirement at risk. But you also want your investments to generate the necessary growth so that you can enjoy your retirement and ensure your family’s financial security.
To help you achieve these and other goals, we employ three basic principles when managing our clients’ wealth:
#1: We invest based on your particular needs. For each client, we set up an investment plan specifically to meet your goals and risk tolerance.
Unlike most investment advisors, we do not invest every client’s portfolio the same way--each account is different. Also unlike many advisors, we do not employ rigid asset allocations based just on your age or other overly simple formulas. For example, you might not depend on your investments to pay your living expenses. Or you may need or want significant investment income.
#2: We stick with high-quality investments. We have a growth-oriented, global orientation. Yet we ignore the vast majority of investments that are available to the general public.
Instead, we consider the types of investments, be they stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds or other alternatives, that are suitable for most people who are in or near retirement. We insist on financial strength, good management and proven performance. Our focus on conservative growth, income and selective diversification gives you the low-risk investment returns you want and need.
#3: We respond proactively to changing market conditions in order to grow or protect your retirement wealth. We aim to keep investments as long as possible. But we believe it’s essential to sell investments if their fundamentals deteriorate or even if they simply become too risky to hold because of dangerous market conditions. In our view, this approach is necessary in order to preserve retirement wealth during adverse market environments.
Back in 2000-02 and again in 2007-08, we built large cash positions (as high as 70%) to safeguard our clients’ assets. In sharp contrast to our client-first approach, Wall Street firms and most other investment managers advocated allocations of 50%, 60% or more in stocks throughout the bear markets of 2000-02 and late 2007 through early 2009!
In 2003, as conditions improved again, we steadily increased our exposure to equities as our focus shifted back to prudent, long-term growth and income, with a global orientation.
Again, throughout 2009 and 2010, we gradually moved from capital preservation to making new investments on our clients' behalf.
Now, in 2011, we continue to see opportunities for low-risk "total return”—capital gains, good income and rising dividends. Yet we constantly evaluate market conditions from the perspective of risk control in order to protect our clients' financial security.
We also understand the importance of recognizing key investment trends. In 2001, we began to profit from the big moves in real estate investment trusts. In 2003, we started to raise our stake in smaller-company stocks as they began to outperform the big blue chips. In 2004, we dramatically boosted our stake in foreign equities, which then outperformed U.S. issues for several years. In 2005, we made our first big investment in gold on our clients' behalf, and it's now our largest single holding.
With our focus on client needs, investment quality and market vigilance, we aim to continue generating solid, long-term returns at low risk--with capital preservation and your financial security always foremost in mind.