What We Believe

1. The only sustainable basis for a successful advisor/client relationship is unwavering mutual trust. We will earn your trust by telling you the pure, undiluted truth.

2. The only rational medium for an advisory relationship worthy of a name is a plan.  

3. The only sane definition of money is purchasing power. Currency loses its purchasing power every day because of inflation.  

4. Equities (stock) have been far more effective than bonds at preserving and enhancing purchasing power. The real return of owning companies (the hedge they’ve provided against inflation) is designed to exceed the return of lending to companies. Therefore, we greatly prefer to be an owner of companies rather than a lender to them.

5. Equities’ long-term returns are a function of their volatility. Volatility is not the same thing as risk because while historical declines may have been temporary, many equity values have still advanced. We believe the risk of owning equities is embedded in the emotions of the investor who fears that a significant decline in the value of equities is the onset of an apocalypse. The dominant factor in long-term, real-life financial outcomes isn’t investment “performance”; it’s investor behavior. This is why our primary value to our clients is the steady hand of long-term conviction and to be there to emotionally support you when the market inevitably declines.

6. The economy and the markets cannot consistently be predicted, much less timed. The only way to capture the full permanent return of equities is to be willing to sit through their full temporary volatility.

7. No one can gain an advantage over the equity market by going in and out because of current events or perceived threats. We will always counsel patiently holding the portfolio which seems best suited to your long-term goals.

8. Our fee for asset management is essentially for planning and behavior management. You must be convinced that behavior advice – against panic in falling market and euphoria in soaring times – is going to be worth multiples of that annual fee. 

9. We believe that uncertainty is the only certainty; that we move from one uncertainty to the next. Thus, we counsel what we refer to as rationality under uncertainty, which means that we believe that while it may not guarantee results, history is our best guide to the long-term future.

10. We believe that long-term optimism is the only long-term realism.