We’ve developed a custom investment process we call our “Eight-Spoked Wheel of Smart Investing”. We keep it simple to understand — so you know what we do, what to expect, and how we leverage advanced strategies to maximize your investment success.
Successful investing is built on a personalized process that prioritizes research and logic, over emotion and speculation. By focusing on evidence-backed principles that drive growth and manage risk, we help you understand and feel confident in the direction of your financial future.
As an independent, family-owned fiduciary firm, our only loyalty is to you. This freedom is what allowed us to create our own custom approach: a process we call the “Eight-Spoked Wheel of Smart Investing” that we personalize entirely to your needs.
This proprietary framework also integrates our core investment philosophy pillars — proper asset allocation, proper diversification, cost reduction, tax efficiency, long-term discipline, and evidence-based methods — so you know what we do, what to expect, and how we leverage our expertise and experience to drive your financial success.
1. Knowing You: Your Unique Investor Profile & Financial Plan
This is where you come in! This first and most important step is all about you, your finances, and your life. We consider your current situation, risk tolerance, and investment timeline as a first step in crafting your personalized strategy. We learn about your spending, taxes, family, current goals, future goals, and more. Our uniquely comprehensive approach ensures your investment plan has a clear direction and aligns with your overall finances and life.
After this, we take care of the rest….
2. Big Picture: Economy & Market Assessment
We zoom out to analyze the broader economic and market landscape, evaluating inflation, interest rates, and the current economic cycle to determine how these factors influence various investments and asset classes. This macro view helps us make informed decisions when constructing your portfolio, balancing potential returns against underlying risks while informing key pillars of our philosophy, like proper diversification.
3. The Mix: Crafting Your Asset Allocation
Informed by your investor profile, financial plan, and our research, we design your custom asset allocation roadmap: your ideal mix of asset classes, such as cash, equities, and fixed income. Rather than relying on a ‘one-size-fits-all' approach that looks at isolated pieces, we focus on deep personalization, cohesion, and intention to connect your money directly to your life. Your allocation is created for your near- and long-term goals, while preparing you for both the expected and the unexpected.
4. Picking the Right Investments
We carefully choose the investments that best align with your goals and financial plan. As an independent and fee-only fiduciary firm, we aren’t beholden to any products or financial companies, and we never earn commissions or kickbacks on the investments we select. This gives us 100% freedom to choose investments purely based on things like high quality, low cost, and what’s truly in your best interests — keeping your financial well-being first, while honoring the pillars of our foundational investment philosophy.
5. Putting It All Together: Implementing Your Investment Plan
To ensure understanding and transparency, we'll walk through your portfolio implementation plan together: the expected timeline, mechanics, and your personalized investment and tax strategies. Then, we carefully and precisely put your plan into action in your portfolio. We also handle your ongoing contributions or withdrawals, as needed.
6. Driving After-Tax Growth: Initial & Ongoing Tax Strategy
Taxes matter! After all, it’s the money you get to keep that counts, right? Beyond our initial implementation, we continuously leverage advanced strategies like asset location, tax-loss harvesting, and others to unlock tax savings and drive greater after-tax growth. We actively manage your tax strategies throughout the year with the continuous goal of maximizing your net returns.
7. Keeping an Eye on Things: Continuous Monitoring & Evaluation
Your portfolio is not static. We monitor its performance and evaluate your investments to ensure they remain aligned to your needs and goals. Market changes, new opportunities, or cost savings might prompt adjustments to your portfolio. Our strategy balances a long-term view grounded in established principles with the flexibility to make informed adjustments to your portfolio when necessary.
8. Staying on Track: Periodic Rebalancing & Cash Flow Management
Over time, market fluctuations can cause your portfolio's target allocation to drift, making it either too aggressive or too conservative for your risk tolerance and objectives. To fix this, we strategically rebalance your portfolio back to your desired targets, a disciplined approach designed to help your money weather all kinds of market conditions, including downturns. Additionally, when new contributions come in or withdrawals are needed, we strategically manage the cash flow (directing cash into, and pulling from, the right investments) to keep your target allocations on track.
Keeping Your Investment Wheel On Track
Successful investing is a continuous journey. It’s important that we regularly review your financial goals, personal circumstances, and life changes against your investment plan. As your needs evolve or the market landscape shifts, we adjust your strategy accordingly to keep your “investment wheel” on track.
The investment world doesn’t have to be intimidating. By combining a personalized approach rooted strictly in your best interests with core pillars like proper asset allocation, proper diversification, cost reduction, tax efficiency, and long-term discipline, we can help you navigate your future with confidence, clarity, and peace of mind.
