1. Clarify Expectations and Portfolio Objectives

    • Portfolio Objectives: We provide investment strategies for all phases of life, best defined through the financial planning process. We model our advice through four primary objectives; Capital Preservation, Income, Growth, and a more balanced approach called Growth & Income, each with different risk and reward characteristics.
    • Riskalyze: Riskalyze seeks to quantify one’s ability and willingness to accept losses by helping understand, in real dollars, what a devastating loss would be in one’s planning process. It uses quantitative measurements in an effort to ultimately find a comfortable risk reward profile that fits one’s investment expectations and gives them the best chance to stay disciplined in their approach through both the good and the difficult times.
  2. Determine Asset Allocation

    • Asset Allocation:  We don’t believe in putting all our eggs in one basket. Rather, we follow the process of dividing an investment portfolio among different asset categories that move up and down under different market conditions in an effort to protect against significant losses. The appropriate mix in each asset class should balance one’s time horizon (expected duration of investing to achieve a particular financial goal) and risk tolerance (willingness to accept losses).
    • Risk vs. Reward: When investing, risk and reward are entwined. All investments involve some degree of risk. Our process understands degrees of risk and return to allocate the appropriate amount of money to risk assets. We are aiming to pick a mix of assets that has the highest probability of meeting your goal at a level of risk you can live with.
    • Asset allocation does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.
  3. Construct Portfolio

    • Six “P”s of Security Selection: Each security should serve a specific purpose, whether that is for return or to help mitigate against risk. We vet the people managing the company or the fund, to ensure their track record meets our expectations. Similarly, we compare each security in question against its peers. Because we are not affiliated with any one investment firm, we look to find best of breed in each asset class. We expect each manager to stay pure to their purpose and after vetting the fundamentals of each security, also seek to buy at appropriate prices by following our disciplined process of buying low and selling high.
       
  4. Make Tactical Shifts

    • Value Add: We believe in tactical portfolio shifts in response to the inefficient pricing of assets across markets caused by either investor fear or greed. Through our ongoing forecasts and analysis, we will often overweight or underweight specific asset classes in an effort to bring additional value to the portfolio. We refer to this as a core and satellite approach, where we stay true to our long-term fundamental analysis (core) but look for additional value (satellites) based on short-term market conditions.
  5. Ongoing Portfolio Management

    • Team Approach: We use a team approach to our portfolio management with multiple layers of portfolio, asset allocation and manager review.
    • Rebalancing: You’ll find that some of your investments grow faster than others. We rebalance when appropriate. By doing so, you’ll ensure that your portfolio does not overemphasize any one asset category and return your portfolio to a comfortable level of risk.
    • Benchmarks: Important to performance review is finding an appropriate benchmark. We believe investing comes full cycle back to one’s financial planning objectives and their personal expectations of risk and return. We will provide performance analysis on an annual basis and adapt portfolio objectives through all your phases of life.