Our services

Investment Management

Wealth
Accumulation

Retirement Income Management

For most, investing is at the heart of what we do.

Our philosophy and principles guide our counsel no matter the client's stage of life.

We have six primary investment principles that guide us in our ongoing recommendations and management:

1. Faith in the Future

Must be optimistic; the anecdotal evidence all around us keeps us positive in spite of the circumstances at times.  We live in a wonderful country that offers tremendous opportunities for those who seek them.  Each of us is a beneficiary of the hard work, innovations, inventions and contributions made by prior generations as well current ones.  We feel these contributions to the betterment of all will continue indefinitely.

2. Patience

  • The core holding in most of our portfolios are common stocks.  Over time, the stock market tends to perform in line with the growth in earnings.  Over the short term, the market is volatile due to problems of the day, psychology and headline risks.  In the past 32 years, the S&P 500 has had 25 positive return years.  However, in 18 of the 32 years, there were market declines of 10% or more, the average of which was a -14.3% decline.  And yet, over that period the S&P 500 generated an annualized rate of return in excess of 10% per year.*
  • For long term funds, we feel one must have a long term perspective.  Stocks fluctuate a great deal in the short term; high quality business can get more valuable with time as they grow.  We can use the volatility to our advantage.

3. Discipline

We have to have the fortitude to implement and stay with the plan.  A major part of our role is proactively working with our clients to help them follow through with their decisions in a timely basis.

4. Asset Allocation

The major determinate of investment results is the allocation across cash, bonds and stocks.  It is not the only determinate – just the major one.

5. Diversification

  • We feel we should have multiple holdings across small and large companies, different industries, different venues.
  • We don't own enough of any one holding to make a “killing”; we also don't own enough of any one holding such that we would get “killed” if that holding suffered a significant permanent loss.
  • We use mutual funds primarily.  We can and do use individual securities at times in portfolios to a lesser extent.

6. Rebalance Periodically; Make Adjustments

  • As part of our ongoing calls and meetings with clients, portfolios get reallocated in accordance with cash flow needs and prudent financial management.
  • Life is dynamic; changes do occur that may necessitate changes or adjustments.

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*Source: Standard & Poor's.  The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market.  Inclusion of this index is for illustrative purposes only.  One cannot invest in an index, and index performance does not include transaction costs and other fees, which affect actual investment performance.  Individual investor's results will vary.  Past performance does not guarantee future results.  Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.  Dollar-cost averaging cannot guarantee a profit or protect against a loss, and you should consider your financial ability to continue purchases through periods of low price levels.

Most of our clients need a wealth accumulation strategy in place.

Even our retired clients need to accumulate wealth to maintain their purchasing power throughout retirement.

For those who are in the midst of their careers, four basic behaviors are necessary to be a successful accumulator:

  1. Setting goals for specific dollar and date specific terms, e.g.: “to create a $100,000 pool of funds by my daughter’s senior year of high school to finance her college education.”
  2. Establishing a plan for achieving those goals, assuming a specific rate (or rates) of return.
  3. Investing regular dollar amounts at regular intervals across appropriate investment accounts.
  4. Monitoring and making periodic adjustments if needed due to a change tax laws, assumed inflation, portfolio manager issues or something else (good or bad) that requires an adjustment to the plan.

This synopsis greatly simplifies what we do.   Establishing the plan or strategy requires us to look at many tools and to understand the client’s financial picture. Then we must devise the appropriate strategy or series of strategies to offer the most efficient means of reaching the ultimate goal.   For example, it may take some analysis to determine if a Roth IRA or a 401k Plan is better to accumulate wealth for retirement.

As your advisor, we educate you on the available and most appropriate options then coach you along the way to  give you the best opportunity for reaching your accumulation goals.

We utilize a variety of investment tools and products to assist you.  The core of our client investment holdings are diversified portfolios of mutual funds.

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A substantial part of our practice is on the design and implementation on income planning strategies to create the lifestyle retirees desire.

Today’s retirees face a number of major issues over previous generations:

Longevity

The number of Social Security recipients over the age of 90 is approaching 2 million people.   We feel it is important for most to plan on a 30-year retirement.

Lack of pension

Each year, more organizations are dropping or modifying their pension plans.   Individuals have more of the responsibility to create a pool of reliable income to maintain their lifestyles.

Health care

Increasing longevity leads to increased health care costs.   Given the state of Medicare and health care in general, we feel that these costs will continue to exceed the rate of inflation as they have for the past 20 years.

Inflation

In the short term, the impact of inflation can be modest.   But over a 30-year retirement, a 3% rate of inflation will erode the purchasing power of a $1 by 60%.

Working alongside clients, we develop and implement investment strategies to address to not only address these challenges but to also enable clients to enjoy their goal years in the way they desire.

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Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected.

Raymond James does not offer tax or legal advice.