Strategies grounded in
objectivity and independence
Inviting you to ask us "why"
Your investments are very important to you, and may represent your life savings or an organization's assets that are meaningful to you. We take that responsibility seriously.
We understand this is your money, your livelihood. That's why we offer different investment choices to meet your unique needs, risk tolerance and time frame. This is also one of the reasons we personally invest the majority of our client's assets ourselves – we do not outsource this critical function. We know exactly what we buy, why we own specific investments and the reasons we sell them. And, it's why we invite you to ask us questions about your investments and our philosophy. You ask, we'll answer.
The foundation of our investment beliefs:
Markets are dynamic and constantly change, so do investment opportunities and risks. As portfolio managers, we study how emerging technologies, new products and changing demographics clash with existing companies and established ways of doing business. We seek to understand these impacts on your investments.
The companies engaged in the technology industry are subject to fierce competition and their products and services may be subject to rapid obsolescence.
People drive market actions and they often change their minds.
Nobody knows what will happen next, however new information can make us smarter and provides opportunities to take action. We set investment expectations, know they may change, and our portfolios adapt. We believe it is best to focus on current conditions, as they are known, versus projecting the future, which isn't known.
There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don't know, and those who don't know they don't know.
Markets, economies and products all have cycles. They expand and contract. This fluctuating market environment impacts our investment process, and it's why we believe it's important to understand both the macro-condition, such as Federal Reserve policy, and micro-condition, such as the average life of a product. Due to market cycles, we believe a long time horizon offers clients the advantage of allowing for higher returns as we seek to avoid permanent loss of capital while pursuing appropriate returns. Performance requires discipline, and poor investor behavior can substantially lower returns.
You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets.
It is critical to be able to sell. Selling is a differentiating performance factor in regard to portfolio management. However, during times of industry crises, indiscriminate selling should be avoided and can lead to discarding potentially promising investments due to their correlation. In this case, the baby gets thrown out with the bath water. We employ persistent qualitative factors to determine when and what to sell in order to help advance our clients' returns. Cash holdings can potentially keep you from selling at inopportune times and provide us with opportunities to purchase investments at potentially low prices.
There can be good companies, but bad stocks.
Our thoughts align with these words of wisdom:
The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'
You can love your spouse, you can love your children, but you can't love your stocks.
Be fearful when the market gets greedy, be greedy when the market gets fearful.
The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.
Don't fight the Fed.
Focus on what people are doing with real money rather than what people are saying.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
There is no assurance that any investment strategy will be successful. Investing involves risk including the possible loss of capital. Past performance may not be indicative of future results.
