Portfolio Management
“Portfolio management is the central work of investment management, and it is only in the context of a particular portfolio - and the realistic objectives of the particular portfolio beneficiary - that individual securities and specific investment decisions can be fully and correctly understood. And it is in the portfolio context that investors have learned to appreciate that their objective is not to manage reward but to control and manage risk.”
John Maggin & Donald Tuttle , Managing Investments Portfolios, 1983.
This quote captures the true essence of what the process of portfolio management really encompasses. It is often misunderstood that it is the only activity that financial advisors engage in, and achieving the highest return is always the ultimate goal. However, while we would agree that it is important, in our view your money is meant to “serve" you.
Too often when someone is asked how much is needed for retirement or to fund their child’s education, they indicate that they simply don’t know. One may believe that the only path to success is to subject savings to the highest level of risk in order to achieve the highest level of return possible when, in fact, the amount they are currently saving and a modest low-risk return might be sufficient.
As mentioned above, ultimately the true management of a person’s portfolio of assets is first built on an understanding as to their financial goals and the financial needs to reach those goals. Only when these goals are known can the level of “risk” required to achieve the “return” necessary to achieve these goals be identified.
By joining forces with you we are able to better understand your current and future needs. We can then define financially what’s required and what it will take to achieve those needs. At this point we are then able to understand what level of risk is required to achieve the needed return and what investment strategies should be considered for implementation.