Managing Your Investment Portfolio
Your wealth and potential for growth is more than the sum its parts…the point isn’t to simply have “more.” The point is to create something of meaning and purpose. That’s where your Monument Private Wealth Design comes in with a custom approach to managing your investments according to our philosophy.
What is Our Investment Philosophy?
- Manage investments in-house – we don’t outsource our core competencies to expensive, outside portfolio managers
- Rules, not hunches – we take a rules-based, systematic approach to portfolio management that removes guessing and emotions
- Custom, diversified portfolios – Portfolios should be diversified according to your unique circumstances, not rules of thumb
- Cash is king – Cash is the cheapest and most flexible hedging strategy, we don’t use exotic, complicated tactics
If this resonates with you, keep reading to learn more about how this philosophy drives our no-B.S. approach to investing.
*Please see Important Disclosure at the Bottom of this Page
We Manage Investments In-House
“All Dry Cleaning Done On-premises.” Why do the owners of some dry-cleaning companies put this sign proudly on their door? Because they want you to know that they’re not handing your stuff off to someone they don’t know and never see. They’re accountable for the service they’re offering you, from start to finish.
Many wealth management firms will dispatch your assets to outside, third-party money managers, costing you extra fees and removing personal accountability.
Not us. Last we checked, having someone else, somewhere else, manage your investments doesn’t correlate with better performance. Our clients are better served by leveraging:
- The expertise of our in-house Team of Portfolio Managers who will always know what you own and why
- A low-cost approach to building rules-based, diversified portfolios consisting of single securities instead of third-party products, knocking out the expense of middlemen
- Our ever-present eye towards tax efficiency, including a systematic tax loss harvesting strategy
*Please see Important Disclosure at the Bottom of this Page
We Are Systematic and Rules-Based
We aren’t stock-pickers or day traders. We build your portfolio using models that rely on various data points to score a universe of potential securities or asset classes to invest in. We combine this scoring system with defined rules for when to buy or sell positions and in certain circumstances, and when to hold or accumulate cash in our models, removing human emotion from decision-making.
We remove the noise, stick to the rules, and prevent the behaviors that can sabotage successful outcomes. This allows us to leverage the power of patience, discipline, probabilities, and time – critical factors that enable your portfolio to succeed in supporting your goals over the long-term.
Here are some things we consider in our models:
- Trend-following: You’ve likely heard the adage “buy low, sell high.” While that’s a noble pursuit, we believe a smarter approach is often “buy in the middle, sell higher.” In this way, we are able to avoid catching proverbial “falling knives” while also participating in major market movements. Learn More >
- Momentum: Often called “the premier unexplained anomaly” and a form of trend-following itself, momentum is the idea that stocks that have risen or fallen in price will continue that trend over the medium term (typically 6-18 months). We utilize a momentum overlay – a filtering, scoring, and ranking methodology – in some of our single stock models to track and follow momentum in the markets. In English, momentum is also called FOMO…the fear of missing out. Learn More >
- Dividend growth: A high dividend yield alone is often a red flag in investing. We believe it is important to identify companies with sustained track records of not just maintaining but growing their dividends, as this provides clients with consistent, inflation-resistant cash flow streams after the sale of a business, or in retirement. Learn More >
*Please see Important Disclosure at the Bottom of this Page
We Build Diverse Portfolios Customized for YOU
We create diversified, multi-asset class portfolios according to your personal Investment Policy Statement (IPS) – something we write specifically for you. While we are rules-based in managing the models that are the building blocks of your portfolio, we rely on your IPS, informed by the unique considerations of your Private Wealth Design, to maintain the appropriate allocation across stocks, bonds and cash. Managing your portfolio to a consistent allocation based on your needs and feelings about risk is another way to remove emotion from investment decision-making when things get volatile in the market. Periodic rebalancing ensures your portfolio remains in line with the allocation detailed in your IPS while keeping tax considerations in mind.
*Please see Important Disclosure at the Bottom of this Page
We Manage Your Cash Needs – with Cash
While we invest for the long term, we also know that gains are not realized until they are turned into cash. That’s why we pay special attention to cash – planning ahead for your short-term needs and using cash rather than expensive, exotic strategies to hedge against the inevitable downturns in the market. You’ll have a sense of security knowing that we’re managing “sequence of return” risk to minimize your portfolio’s downside potential without derailing it.
Want more of our best thoughts on investing? Here’s 10 things we think all investors should know.
*Please see Important Disclosure at the Bottom of this Page
How Your Investment Strategy Fits into Your Big Picture
Your wealth is not a hot streak or the result of some uncontrolled, external factor. The way we build yours is a direct result of a plan we put in place so that you get where you want—with time to spare. How do we do it? By co-creating your very own Private Wealth Design. Investments are just one part of your bigger wealth plan.
Ready to take the next step?
Please Note: Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended and/or undertaken by Monument, or any planning or consulting services, will be profitable, equal any historical performance level(s), or prove successful.