The Planning Process
The planning process is crucial to providing clients with the greatest probability of achieving their goals. We begin with carefully understanding your aspirations, then we design a mutually agreed upon plan, implement it efficiently, monitor it regularly, and evaluate it over time to ensure that the plan evolves with you.
Design
- Initial Consultation & Questionnaire
- Review Balance Sheet Discuss Goals/Objective/Concerns
- Cash Flow Analysis & Wealth Modeling
- Risk Analysis
- Define Goals & Plan
- Discuss Estate Plan
Implement
- Asset Allocation Determined
- Active/Passive Approach
- Manager Research
- Optimal Investment Structure
- Create Investment Policy Statement
- Invest the Portfolio
- Estate Plan Completed
Monitor
- Daily Monitoring of Portfolios
- Quarterly Review Meetings
- Periodic Market Updates
- Portfolio Rebalancing
- Manager Changes, If Required
- Changes In Legislation & Tax Policy
- Review of Special Situations
Evaluate
- Achieving its Objective?
- Has your Situation Changed?
- Discuss Adjustments
- Implement Adjustments
- Continuous Process
Asset Allocation
Asset allocation is the largest determinant of portfolio returns. Therefore, we invest time to understand your unique liquidity needs, time horizons, risk tolerances, and return expectations. These inputs allow us to segment your investments into four broad tiers that help us develop specific recommendations.
| Asset Tier | Time Horizon |
|---|---|
| I | 0 – 5 Years |
| II | 5 – 10 Years |
| III | 10 – 15 Years |
| IV | Over 15 Years |
Global Investing
Our global investment management approach is driven by our seasoned investment committee. We provide the broadest investment opportunity set for our clients, select investment managers based on proprietary research and experience, and build optimized portfolios to achieve objectives. We manage the portfolios based on global themes and prudent risk management.
| Global Strategy |
Almost half of the investment opportunity exists outside the U.S. therefore, we want our clients to have access to the full opportunity set as investors. |
| Thematic Approach |
We adjust portfolios based on secular market trends, with the goal of maximizing portfolio returns while aiming to mitigate risk. |
| Manager Research |
Our approach to manager research is based on decades of analytical experience, utilizing both qualitative and quantitive methods to evaluate and select managers. |
| Portfolio Construction |
We believe the most efficient portfolios are a blend of active and passive management, where we optimize the alpha generation opportunity relative to low cost indexing. |
| Risk Management |
Risk is thought to be a subjective component to portfolio construction; we consider manager overlap, intended/unintended biases and style purity as we build portfolios. |
Investment Research
Our approach to investment manager research focuses on best-in-class providers that we believe can execute their investment strategy successfully. Active managers are expected to generate alpha over a full market cycle, apply a consistent investment process, and demonstrate organizational stability with reasonable fees. Index/ETF managers are expected to have low tracking error, reasonable liquidity, and low fees. We use industry databases and our significant industry experience to curate our platform of managers.
Qualitative
- Manager/Team
- Ownership Structure
- Investment Strategy/Process
- Competitive Advantages
- Portfolio Construction
- Assets/Capacity
- Fees
Quantitative
- Category/Peer Rankings
- Absolute Return Comparisons
- Benchmark Rank/Analysis
- Tracking Error
- Performance Analysis
- Excess Return
- Style Consistency
- Morningstar Analyst Ratings
Risk Assessment
- Risk/Return Analysis
- Risk-Adjusted Return Metrics
- Beta
- Soft Risk Analysis (manager departure/firm risks)
When analyzed together, Qualitative, Quantitative and Risk Analytics converge to provide what we believe to be is complete assessment of an investment manager. We follow our investment managers on a regular basis to evaluate our thesis over time.