Looking Toward the Future, Not the Past

Historical performance has long been a primary driver in decision making for many investors.  We believe that this practice by itself can lead to excessive risk and potential future disappointment. There are no managers that consistently beat the market or receive returns without taking on their fair share of risk.  Markets look toward the future and can’t be replicated according to past performance.  Selling performance is Wall Street’s way of creating a Pavlovian response to buy a specific fund for investors.  At Advanced Planning Solutions, we believe that a well-rounded portfolio with steady long-term performance is the path to reaching your end goal.

Behavioral Finance

At Advanced Planning Solutions, our investment philosophy is focused on taking the appropriate amount of risk to drive performance while taking your goals, tax situation and time horizon into consideration.  Having said that, markets have their fair share of challenging periods so part of our job is to keep you calm and on track during turbulent times.

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Periods of heightened volatility can occur at any time, as we remember from 2008.  It is during these times where many investors make rash decisions due to fear and try to time the market, but this can create a ‘whipsaw’ event.  A ‘whipsaw’ is where you sell when the market is down, and then buy back when the market starts to recover, compounding already large losses.  We want to make sure that you are invested properly so you are comfortable and we can increase the likelihood of achieving your long-term goals.

Building Custom Client Portfolios

Proper portfolio construction starts with a conversation where we address four pillars.  Once we uncover the necessary information, we will filter through our institutional managers to determine which ones fit your specific situation.

1. Goals & Objectives – We first need to understand what you’re trying to accomplish.  A person who needs income throughout retirement is going to have much different portfolio than a person who is looking to leave their assets to a beneficiary.    

2. Taxes – “It’s not what you make, but how much money you keep.” -  Robert Kiyosaki.

3. Risk vs. Reward – We provide the education to guide our clients to a proper risk adjusted portfolio.

4. Diversification & Performance – These two aspects seem like the most important from an investor standpoint but are really just the result of a properly built portfolio.  Diversification and performance will follow according to the outlined topics above.