Simply stated, we strive to generate the best return with the least amount of risk.

It is our firm’s investment philosophy to invest with a long-term outlook. When an asset is purchased, it is expected to be held longer than three years. Based on this outlook we are not quick to sell a security unless conditions have deteriorated so rapidly that quick action is required. A byproduct of this investment process is low turnover in our accounts.

After researching trading practices, we concluded that high trading activity does not contribute to outperformance, and many times it is associated with underperformance.

Thus, we strive to invest in companies that have bright short-term as well as long-term potential. Growth stocks at a reasonable price fit these criteria rather well. For both liquidity and risk management purposes, we primarily focus on large-cap domestic equities, though we consider mid-cap, small-cap, and international funds in all of our Worldwide Templates.

Our basic investment style is bottom-up fundamental analysis. We utilize fundamental analysis screens to focus on a manageable group of stocks. We then carefully analyze this group using quantitative and qualitative factors, producing a final set of candidate firms for inclusion in our portfolios.

Fixed income investments are used in all Moderate, Conservative, and Ultra Conservative accounts. U.S. and International fixed income instruments are not highly correlated to U.S. stocks and, therefore, provide additional diversification and buoyancy to accounts during market downturns.

We tend to hold higher quality, shorter duration bonds and use both corporate and municipal depending on the types of accounts. Our most conservative accounts will be overweighted with U.S. Treasuries and Government Agency issues.