Investment philosophy
My investment philosophy: low-cost, diversified, and built around your plan
What I recommend
I normally recommend low-cost, globally diversified, passive ETF portfolios. How much goes into stocks versus bonds depends on your risk tolerance and what your plan needs the money to do.
What I focus on
Your time horizon, meaning when you'll need each part of the money.
Asset location
Which investments sit in which accounts, set up for the long term.
Reducing concentration risk, like too much in one company's stock.
Managing the tax impact of changes in the short term.
Avoiding emotional and impulse decisions.
Lining up your investments with your goals and values.
Why boring works
Nobody knows what the market will do next, including me. What I can control is cost, diversification, taxes, and keeping you from making a big decision on a bad day. Those are the parts of investing that make a difference over decades.
Nobody controls
What the market does next
What I can control
- Cost
- Diversification
- Taxes
- Big decisions on bad days
Where your money lives
Your accounts are held by a separate, independent custodian, in your name, and you can always access them. I'm not paid by the custodian, and I don't sell any funds of my own.
Three ways to be an ongoing client
Which one fits depends on whether you want me to manage your investments, and how much you have invested.
Planning only
Comprehensive or retirement income planning, without investment management.
For you if you don't have investments, or you manage your own.
Planning fee from $5,000 a year, paid monthly
Hybrid: planning plus investment management
A monthly planning fee plus an investment management fee.
For you if you want me to manage your investments and you have less than $500,000 invested.
Planning fee plus investment management fee
Investment management, planning included
I manage your investments, and your financial planning is included.
For you if you have at least $500,000 invested.
0.55% to 1.15% a year of assets managed
Many clients start with planning only and move to investment management once they feel comfortable. It often takes a couple of months, and that's totally fine. Handing over your life's savings is a big deal.
My portfolios use low-cost, diversified funds, so your plan doesn't depend on any one company.
Market timing means being right twice, about when to get out and when to get back in. I build portfolios that don't depend on either guess.
We start by looking at what you own, what it costs, how it's taxed and whether it fits your plan, then decide what to keep and what to change.