Investment management is a paradox; a proverbial “catch 22”. It is everyone’s desire to achieve the highest possible rate of return with the least amount of “risk”. Meanwhile, the right side of our brain impulsively tries to force us to sell if investments have decreased in value, and buy when investments are doing, or have recently done, very well. All the while our left-brain is resisting these emotional reactions, fully understanding that investments that provide higher long-term rewards go up and down in the short-term. At Everhart, we believe that investment management is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Effective management of wealth begins with a well thought out, written plan that seeks to minimize risk, or volatility, while maximizing the future returns expected from certain investments. This written plan is governed by an investment policy statement which governs what investments are chosen, when and why changes may be recommended, and who is responsible for making these changes. Investments are then monitored to ensure adherence to the values of the client, as well as adherence to the various decision rules that are established by the investment policy statement. All of this is done in consideration of the emotions that can render a plan ineffective. It has been said that it is more important to manage emotions than it is to manage investments.

Additional attention must be given to the effects of taxes on buying, selling, gifting, inheriting, and consuming assets, with the ultimate goal being the preservation of assets for later use or bequests.

Your investments may include your personal accounts, employer sponsored retirement plans, and the real estate that you own. An effective investment management plan will consider how all of your investments correlate to each other, and will account for the tax treatment and tax efficiency of your investments.

Building wealth is more about discipline than it is which specific stock you own. With that being said, it is important to align your investments with the goals that you have set through the financial planning process.

We can evaluate your portfolio (represented by the red dot above) to determine whether it is efficiently positioned, or not. That is, are you exposed to unnecessary risk? If so, we can recommend adjustments to your portfolio that may either increase your expected return, while taking the same amount of risk, (point A below) or reduce risk while keeping your expected returns the same (point B below).

Depending on your choice (point A or B below), we can show you what allocation of your investments is most likely to provide you with the favorable risk-return tradeoff that you desire.