FAQ's
What types of investment instruments do you use?
The equity securities we use are domestic or foreign common stocks, preferred stocks, hedge funds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts, and bonds, depending on needs of each individual client. The fixed income securities shall be comprised of U.S. Treasuries, agencies of the United States Government, domestic and international corporations, domestic banks, other US financial institutions, and other sovereign government issues.
Does your firm offer environmentally conscious and socially responsible investment options?
Yes. Because each client’s account is managed individually we can tailor an investment program for you that respects your environmental and social goals. In the past we have invested heavily in wind and solar power and upon request have avoided companies that make money from alcohol, tobacco, firearms and oil.
How are you compensated, and when do you get paid?
We charge a management fee based on a percentage of assets under management. We accept no commissions or other forms of compensation. Our fee is quoted as an annual percentage, and is billed quarterly in arrears. For example, if our annual fee is 0.85%, then 0.2125% is applied to each ending quarter account balance. The fee is normally deducted directly from the client's investment account(s).
What is the process to start working with you?
We recommend starting with a brief phone call to understand what your overall goals, objectives and needs are and, if appropriate, to plan the first meeting.
Our primary goal in the first meeting is to gain a better understanding of you. Your goals, objectives, time horizon, personal beliefs, investment experience, and willingness and ability to take risk are our chief concern. Our knowledge and understanding of you and your needs are critical to the successful development of your investment plan.
During this meeting, we will also introduce you to our investment team, discuss our investment philosophy and reasoning behind it, and describe how we believe our approach might best be applied to your situation.
If you make the decision to hire us, we take you through the steps of establishing our advisory relationship and the specific implementation steps for your investment program.
