Why Portfolios vs. Individual Stocks and/or Bonds?

For the majority of investors, the knowledge, time and energy it takes to research a great company to invest in, probably won’t happen. Rather, we all tend to go with what’s “hot”, based on what we see in the media or hear about from others. For some people, this has turned out great, but for many many others, the horror stories are endless. Believe it or not, this is true with many investment companies as well. Some companies have large research teams who then pass on their “buy/sell” decisions to the individual advisors. In some cases, they even encourage non-fiduciary advisors to sell certain stocks/bonds because of the fees they can generate as a result. We don’t do that!

Our portfolios are made up of mutual funds, exchange traded funds and index funds that are selected by Ben Scellick, CPA, many of which use quantitatively‐driven investment systems that allocate funds between different stock sectors or capitalizations, bonds, money market, or other asset classes. . This provides diversification and low costs for our clients, We intentionally don’t trade very often, which is another way we save our clients money and try to pass on as much gain as possible.

Here is a list of our current portfolios:

Short-Term Portfolio

The Short Term Portfolio is designed for funds with a five‐year or greater investment time horizon. This portfolio seeks to minimize volatility and provide a rate of return better than bank Certificates of Deposits. Although this portfolio is a short‐term in duration it may have losing years and protection of principal is not guaranteed.

Conservative Portfolio

The Conservative Portfolio is designed for funds with a ten year or greater investment time horizon or individuals with a conservative risk tolerance. This portfolio will vary its allocation to various asset classes based on market conditions in order to achieve its goals. Although this portfolio is conservatively allocated it is expected to have years with negative investment returns.

Long‐Term Balanced Portfolio

The Long‐Term Balanced Portfolio is designed for funds with a twenty‐years or greater investment time horizon and individuals with a moderate risk tolerance. This portfolio will vary its allocation to various asset classes based on market conditions in order to achieve its goals. This portfolio is targeting a medium amount of volatility and is expected to have years with larger negative investment returns than those of the Conservative Portfolio.