We believe that a thorough financial evaluation and a solid financial plan are essentials. While no methodology can guarantee success, having a financial plan is the most assured way of reaching financial goals. When this is coupled with an implementation strategy that utilizes asset allocation modeling, we believe an investor is best positioned for the type of long term investing which many professionals feel offers the greatest opportunity for success.

As a result, we avoid strategies for investing; which include market timing, industry sector concentration, and "story" stocks. 

The hallmarks of our investment management include:

The steps in developing a solid financial plan include: 

1. Establishing your unique goals. While all of us harbor goals, the proper establishment of goals requires that they be both specific and prioritized. The time frames within which they are to be accomplished must also be considered.
   
2. Gathering data on your current situation. A self-diagnostic is mandatory. The geometric principle that the shortest distance between two points being a straight line is commonly accepted. However, that maxim supposes that one knows the location of the two points. You must identify both the location of your goal as well as your current financial location in order to draw the straight line (your financial plan) between them.
   
3. Creating your financial plan. Evaluating the data collected and fashioning the plan to reach your goals requires knowledge and experience. While a CPA/PFS advisor will help with all of the financial planning steps described here, it is with the analysis of the data and the creation of the plan that the advisors contribution becomes critical.
   
4. Implementing the plan. We feel strongly that all available implementation vehicles must be considered for use in your plan and that they each be judged based on its appropriateness to your risk/reward parameters. It is very important, we believe, to filter out the potential bias of proprietary products. As a result, we are an independent SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) utilizing Schwab Institutional as a custodian of our clients’ assets rather than being a Registered Representative of a broker/dealer. Accordingly, we do not have internally created products. We remain free, therefore, to search out the most appropriate fit of products and services for your needs as discovered through the planning process.
   
5. Monitor your plan and investments. Regular statements, intensive quarterly evaluations, comparisons to appropriate indice benchmarks, and a review of specific investments are all provided so that an investor can know how well his or her portfolio is performing relative to established objectives. Changes can then be made as necessary. However, if the proper plan was put into place originally, necessary subsequent changes are then kept to a minimum.
   
6. Continue to educate yourself. By means of periodic newsletters, special mailings, client educational seminars, and regular contact, we advise our clients of new investment opportunities, undue risk situations, market and interest rate trends, and pending financial legislation, which might impact their investment portfolio.

The resulting financial plan will include an analysis of:

	Taxes (how do they impact your investments and vice versa)
	Net worth (assets and liabilities must be managed)
	Cash flow (your earnings are your largest lifetime asset)
	Estate (regardless of age, this is mandatory)
	Survivorship needs (remove the guesswork - know for sure)
	Education funding (use time and taxes for your benefit)
	Retirement needs analysis (you need to know now if you are on track)

It`s your life and the only one you will have. Make sure your finances are positioned to let you live it to the fullest!

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