We believe the best way to maximize the probabilities of attaining one’s goals while minimizing their risk is to implement Markowitz, Sharpe and Miller’s Nobel Prize winning investment methodology called “asset allocation.”  We utilize state of the art software to mathematically calculate how to allocate investments and the software tells us how much of each investment class we should select by percentages.

We use the best professional money managers we can find, or we purchase the index through exchange traded funds.  We rebalance the portfolio annually, and sometimes more frequently depending on market changes.

We specifically utilize a type of investment style called “tactical asset allocation” that was developed at universities by finance professors.  The reason we do this is:

Out of tens of thousands of mutual funds sold today, according to Morningstar, only 5 have been able to beat the S&P 500 for the last 5 years and only 1 has been able to beat the S&P 500 for the last 6 years.  If that is the case, isn’t it more prudent to purchase the S&P 500 than to hire a manager to beat the S&P 500, since saving for retirement typically takes more than five or six years.

Jack Meyer, the money manager at Harvard and David Swensen, the money manager at Yale University beat the S&P 500 for 20 years by a sizeable amount using “tactical asset allocation” according to an article printed in Fortune Magazine in 2005.

Click here to read the article, The Money Game, copyright 2005, in Fortune Magazine.

We do not house money in our firm, but we clear through one of several large brokerage firms.  We try to select the best investments at the lowest possible price, while keeping the money in large and safe brokerage firms, like TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab or Fidelity among others.  Our ability to select specific funds and investments is practically unlimited.  Our CFP®s analyze and select what we believe are the best investments we can find for each class the computers select for our clients to purchase.

“Abstract:

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded to three Americans, Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller and William Sharpe, whose work revolutionized the way that investment portfolios and corporate finances are managed:

…the work by the three men has more direct practical applications than work by previous Nobel economists.  ‘Widows live safer lives because their portfolios are invested according to the diversification principles developed by Markowitz and elaborated by Sharpe,’ said Harvard economist Lawrence Summers.  ‘Miller’s contributions changed what every business school student learned and the way every corporation thinks about financing itself.’”

Wall Street Journal, New York; October 17,1990; Three U.S. Economists Win Nobel Prize.