Investments & Asset Management
Whether you are early in the wealth building process or well into retirement, the development, management and preservation of your wealth is an unending challenge. We focus on identifying and analyzing your investment risk tolerance, return objectives, cash flow needs and tax concerns as cornerstones of your unique asset management requirements. This analysis also helps determine where you are in progressing through your own "Investment Management Hierarchy" objectives. Our Investment Process then enables us to determine which combination of asset management methodologies will best meet your unique wealth development, management and preservation goals. Finally, we use our expertise in researching and comparing investment solutions within your chosen methodologies to create, manage and preserve the portfolio which strives to satisfy your financial requirements and exceed your prosperity desires.
Investment Management Hierarchy
Our belief in the value of adherence to the Investment Management Hierarchy shown below (one half of the overall Prioritization Hierarchy which we see as foundational to helping our clients achieve their overall financial needs) is a core element of the Investments and Asset Management services we offer our clients. The Investment Management Hierarchy depicted below shows the various levels of available investments in the marketplace, but most importantly it reflects our belief that all investors should follow a core prioritization process in choosing how and when to deploy their investable resources to the identified investment categories. Our core belief conveyed through this diagram is that every investor should begin addressing investment issues at the base of the Investment Management Hierarchy before moving upward and onward, advising them to have at least considered, if not fully satisfied, one category level before moving up to the next. 
Our Investment Process
Our investment process is a continuous one, constantly being managed, monitored, evaluated and adjusted. We begin any new client relationship with a thorough identification of your goals, priorities and risk tolerances which will shape your asset management methodology destination, but which also provides a base of requirements and expectations from which to evaluate your existing methodology mix and portfolio construction. We incorporate all of your assets into this evaluation process, including both personal and business assets, and covering all taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free resources. Armed with all of that information, we are then well positioned to truly evaluate which methodologies are best suited to satisfy your needs and objectives.
Once your asset management methodologies are identified, then our expertise in researching the best of breed solutions available within each methodology enables us to present you with the most competitive solutions for your selection and implementation. After you make your selections, we guide you through the entire implementation process and then are responsible to you for the ongoing management, monitoring and reporting on your chosen solutions. The process comes full circle when we next reinitiate the affirmation of goals, priorities and risk tolerances, which is typically addressed on an annual cycle, but we are happy to match the process to your desired calendar preference.
Asset Management Methodologies
We focus on adopting the appropriate Asset Management Methodology for each unique client and each different account. The initial determinant of the appropriate methodology is always the taxation nature of the funds to be invested, which are either Qualified (meaning tax-deferred) or Non-Qualified (meaning fully taxable). Two prime examples of this distinction are the University of Texas System’s Employee Optional Retirement Program (ORP) and the University of Texas Permanent University Fund (PUF). The ORP is the retirement program offered to UT employees which allows them to defer and invest a portion of their earned compensation each pay period (it is a 403(b) program). In contrast, the PUF is a fully taxable endowment account managed to provide for the overall needs of the entire UT System.
Comparatively, on an individual/family level, most clients find the taxation nature of their accounts exemplified by their IRA (Qualified) vs their regular Individual or Joint account (Non-Qualified). The below chart shows that there are certain Asset Management options best suited to either Qualified or Non-Qualified accounts, although some options are equally appropriate for either. The other major drivers of this selection process are short-and-long-term client objectives, liquidity and income needs, age, income level, risk tolerance, investment time horizon and income tax bracket. We factor all of these criteria into the equation in identifying and implementing the most appropriate “best of breed” solutions available today to ensure that the best interests of our clients are not only satisfied - but exceeded.
Alternative investments provide investors with exposure to markets and investment strategies that cannot be accessed through traditional fixed income and equity markets. Specific-sector investing such as real estate can be subject to different and greater risks than more diversified investments. Declines in the value of real estate, economic conditions, property taxes, tax laws, and interest rates all present potential risks to real estate investments. Strategies may employ an investment in annuities. Early withdrawals from these long term investments may result in surrender penalties. Withdrawal prior to age 59 1/2 may be subject to a 10% federal tax penalty. Guarantees rates are backed by the claims paying ability of the issuer.