Investments
At Strategic Wealth Partners, our conservative philosophy emphasizes limiting volatility.
At Strategic Wealth Partners, our goal is to seek out and research investment managers and strategies that are truly independent and unique. By employing complete open architecture we are not constrained by specific investment platforms when exploring new managers and strategies. Every investment opportunity is evaluated on its merit – not on how we are compensated.
At the start of every manager search, we perform a detailed quantitative screen to narrow the investment universe. The focus of this quantitative screen includes statistics that primarily focus on risk and consistency. Pure performance is secondary. After narrowing the universe of prospective managers, we contact each manager to do a thorough review of qualitative issues such as strategy, management and health of the overall organization. We place a greater emphasis on the qualitative assessment. Due to the critical mass of our firm, our dedicated research resources and our custodial relationships, we gain direct access to most managers and have one-on-one conversations with members of their investment team. It is uncommon to find such thorough due diligence from other advisors.
The Investment Committee at Strategic Wealth Partners gathers for a standing weekly meeting to discuss the current investment environment, new manager searches and performance of current managers and strategies. Often these sessions are punctuated by spirited, healthy debate. The open dialogue of these weekly meetings is a critical part of idea sharing and generation at our firm.
We are constantly reviewing different investment strategies. In general, clients are not aware of the number of strategies that are evaluated and removed for further consideration because they failed to meet our standards. We believe controlling portfolio volatility is critical to successful long-term investing. We work to accomplish this by selecting managers and strategies based on risk and consistency of performance – not just returns.
At Strategic Wealth Partners all decisions, including those made by the Research team, are made with a primary objective foremost in mind – drive consistent returns for our client with limited volatility.
Just as the planning process is individualized, so is the portfolio construction process. Every situation is truly unique. Two people with the same amount of savings and wealth can have vastly different circumstances and objectives. One might be extremely conservative while the other could be far more aggressive. One could be in wealth accumulation mode while the other is in wealth preservation mode. Off-the-shelf, packaged, “cookie-cutter” solutions are inadequate solutions for high-net worth individuals.
These are critical factors to consider when customizing an individual portfolio for a specific client. It is essential to understand the client’s unique circumstances and objectives before recommending specific allocations for cash, fixed income, traditional equities and other alternatives across an overall portfolio. The planning process drives exactly what percentage of assets belongs in each of the different buckets.
Our recommendations are comprehensive. We consider taxes, trading costs, expenses of managers – all is factored into the portfolio construction process. Our drive and determination to study and understand the detail of each individual situation is how we deliver long-term customizable solutions for our clients.
