Our Investment Philosophy

The Risk/Reward Tradeoff  
In general, stocks are more volatile than bonds. However, not all stocks are equally risky. Small-company stocks ("small-caps") are riskier than large-company stocks, and low-priced "value" stocks are riskier than high-priced "growth" stocks. Risk and reward go hand-in-hand. Exposure to small-cap and value stocks can increase long-term expected returns.  These risk dimensions are strong and consistent not only in the US, but also around the globe.

Bonds have two primary risk factors:

Credit Risk:  Lower credit quality bonds are riskier than higher credit quality bonds.

Time Risk:  Longer-term bonds are riskier than shorter-term bonds.

The retail financial services industry has done a masterful job of hiding the true costs of investing. But, costs matter and they are one of the few things we can control no matter what the markets are doing. Because taxes can be a huge drag on performance, we are vigilant about minimizing them. Our team of CPAs, attorneys, and CFPs are expert at minimizing the damaging effects of excessive costs and taxes on your wealth.

These observations are not controversial, yet too often they are overlooked - even though they are fundamental to preserving and growing your hard-earned money. Accordingly, we continually monitor each of these issues to ensure that your wealth is always aligned with your life.