1) We have a very low asset management fee of 0.2%-0.35% and lower depending on your account. Meanwhile, the average asset management fee in the investment industry is 1% and often times much higher.
2) We understand the big picture like few do. Our focus on the macro picture has helped us make countless accurate predictions over the years by focusing on understanding the complexities of the financial system at its operational level. This helps us avoid many of the pitfalls and myths that hurt so many investors.
3) We understand risk. We don’t view risk in the sense that practitioners of Modern Portfolio Theory do (as standard deviation or volatility). We perceive risk as the potential that you won’t meet your financial goals. And we customize that view to your goals and needs based on the understanding that portfolio risk is primarily derived from the risk of purchasing power loss and the risk of permanent loss. These risks are perceived in a dynamic nature by all investors and so portfolios must account for this dynamic risk environment. We apply our unique understanding of risk to client portfolios resulting in a form of diversification that is uniquely customized for our clients.
4) We understand that the financial asset world is dynamic and cyclical. Most asset allocation strategies rebalance portfolios back to some static allocation as the business cycle expands. For instance, a 60/40 stock bond portfolio will tend to become unbalanced as equities outperform fixed income. Traditional portfolio management says we should rebalance the portfolio on a nominal basis back to its prior 60/40 weighting. But this doesn’t account for the fact that, as equities rise, they tend to become more risky relative to bonds and other asset classes. In other words, the risk of the 60/40 is not the same in the early part of the business cycle as it is in the latter portion of the business cycle. To adjust for this, we weight portfolios on a cyclical basis to rebalance for risk. This approach helps to create parity between your actual risk profile and its exposure to asset classes at times in the business cycle. This helps us align our underlying portfolios with the way our clients actually perceive risk.