Investing

Investing does not have to be complicated. We first have to understand why we are investing. Is it for the short term, mid term, or long term?  Money that we need soon falls in our short-term bucket and requires a reduction in risk and most likely a reduction in return.  Money that we need to provide for our forever falls into our long-term bucket and allows for more risk and the potential for more return. Money with a finite term or period of need falls into our mid-term bucket and naturally would have moderate risk and moderate return. Many people haven’t coordinated their investment risk/return with the proper time period. 

As we do a comprehensive review of your investments, we’ll discuss the three buckets and managing the risk and return associated with each bucket.

In addition to risk and return, we must understand the cost of investing. What are the fees associated with investing? How are the investments managed - by a computer or by a team of people?  A well-educated and informed client is the best client.  We work hard to help you understand what you have and how those investments help you achieve your goals. We don’t get concerned about daily, monthly or quarterly investment returns, rather we focus on 10 year or longer returns. If we are positioned properly (and we believe our clients are positioned properly), we don’t get bothered by the talking heads on TV but understand our focus and why we invested the way we did from the beginning. Of course, as our lives change, we adjust to the current circumstances. It’s hard when we see large swings (really just the large downs) but working together, we can remember why we did things and allow our long-term plan to work. An important part of our job is to talk clients "off the ledge" when the markets get tough and manage over exuberance when markets are good.