Despite market volatility throughout the years, we attribute any success we’ve enjoyed to the trust our clients have placed in us. We believe our decades of experience have given us a valuable perspective when formulating strategies and allocating assets in our clients’ investment plans. Our focus is on the longer-term nature of positive investment-related returns.

We have made a deliberate choice to avoid certain types of investments in our practice for a host of reasons – most notably where we have concerns regarding cost structure, inefficient tax ramifications, and overall historical underperformance relative to indices. With that in mind, the non-cash allocations of our discretionary portfolio strategies are comprised exclusively of individual equities, exchange traded funds (ETFs), and fixed income instruments.

We utilize proprietary behavioral finance tools, such as Stifel Financial ID, in our effort to determine an accurate assessment of the risk threshold for each individual who walks through our door.

Additionally, a key component of our process is a review of investment-related expenses. It is important to have a clear understanding of the costs incurred and how they affect the overall risk an investor must be exposed to in order to match or potentially exceed the performance of various market benchmarks. Simply put – we strive to mitigate investment-related costs, which may alone provide additional return without exposure to greater risk.

The investment return and principal value of funds will fluctuate, and an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. ETFs trade throughout the day like a stock and may trade at less than their net asset value. When interest rates rise, prices on bonds and interest rate-sensitive securities will fall. Asset allocation does not ensure a profit or protect against loss. Stifel does not provide legal or tax advice. You should consult with your legal and tax advisors regarding your particular situation..