This step essentially consists of learning as much as we can about the client to determine what kind of risk they can subjectively withstand and what kind of risk they objectively should take on.

In order to build appropriate asset allocation for the amount of risk with which the client is comfortable, an investment manager needs to make assumptions on how the various asset classes will perform in the future. Believing it is important to have an objective, outside source to provide these assumptions so as not to infect that part of the process with bias, we rely on a highly respected, objective, outside source to provide those capital market assumptions.

Using “mean variance optimization”, after assessing risk and plugging in the capital market assumptions, we will find the allocations that should optimize the expected return at the client’s risk level.

Using the wide variety of tools at our disposal, we research the universe of fund managers and other investment vehicles to find the right investments for each portion of what we believe are a client asset allocation.

This is where having a highly professional and credentialed investment committee really shines. We have all learned in various environments, but we have also been highly trained in investment processes at places such as the CFA Institute, the CFP Board and others. We test our processes against the results they create. We also review our processes against industry best practices. The goal is a process that creates and maintains portfolios that should serve you well.