We believe simple beats complex. Holding illiquid securities with stale pricing, leverage, high fees, and black box strategies invites outside risks into an investment plan. Complex problems such as the financial markets don’t require complex solutions to survive. Portfolio complexity can lead to unintended consequences, so we prefer simplifying the process. But simple does not mean easy or thoughtless. A simple approach just requires more work up front to build in the right systems, processes, guidelines, and plans. Successful long-term investing can be accomplished through a straight-forward, uncomplicated, operationally efficient investment program. We believe asset allocation trumps stock-picking and a constant search for alpha. We build globally diversified, low-cost portfolios across asset classes, strategies, market caps, and risk factors using a behaviorally aware investment methodology where the focus is on getting the most out of your resources. While most investment organizations focus exclusively on “beating the market” we feel the most important tenets of the investment process are portfolio construction and risk management.
We believe in both strategic and tactical asset allocation. Markets generally “work” over the long-term so a strategic asset allocation utilizing broad diversification helps reduce risk and protects against outlier events. Long-term returns are the only ones that matter but thinking and acting exclusively for the long-term will feel uncomfortable and even appear careless at market extremes. While the long-term is the only time frame that truly matters, we recognize that organizations are forced to make financial decisions in the short-to-intermediate terms. This is why we created a proprietary, low-cost, systematic risk management strategy to ensure that investors can handle periodic volatility without abandoning their investment plan. We believe you must invest in the markets as they are, not as you wish them to be. Risk and return are attached at the hip so no matter how you invest, risk never completely goes away, it just changes shape. In the current low interest rate environment, this means investors must be willing to accept some form of volatility to achieve returns above the rate of inflation. Therefore, it’s our job to help clients gain exposure to those areas where they are being paid to take risk.
