OUR INVESTMENT POLICY


Modern day investment strategies attempt to increase return and decrease volatility.  The “Great Recession” of 2008-09 humbled most strategists and created a whole new set of fail-safe ways to invest our money. Why waste all of that academic knowledge and computing horsepower?

We believe most of us are emotional with regard to our investments.  We fear losing our money but don't want to be left behind when everybody else is making money.  This battle between fear and greed causes us to sell when markets are low and buy when markets are high.  Isn't that the opposite of what we should be doing?  Shouldn't we buy low and sell high?  Can speed of light technology correct our natural instincts with regard to our money? 

So what can we do?

We believe it makes sense to tier our investments.  We suggest less volatile investments to fund the first 12-13 years of retirement income.  The remainder may then be broken into two additional tiers.  More volatile investments are used in the second tier to replenish the first and even more volatile investments are utilized to fund the third tier for income or a legacy after 25 years. 

More volatile investments tend to provide higher returns over longer periods of time.  But can we let them fall in value if we're worried about our income?  Probably not!  If we're assured of income during bad markets it may make sense to increase our volatile holdings in the second and third tiers after markets fall.  Wouldn't that be buying low?  How may we make that happen?

We like to own businesses that provide products that most of us use during both good and bad financial markets.  We like to own higher rated intermediate term notes and bonds for income.  Combining these two in varying proportions will lower or raise volatility and return expectations necessary to fund the three tiers we recommend for retirement income. 

History doesn't guarantee future results but it does illustrate the benefit of buying low and selling high.  We think that is more likely to happen if we use methods to help us overcome our emotions.  We call that Realistic Retirement for Realistic People.

We encourage everyone to review their retirement income strategy for both historic validity and emotional impact.  Reliability of Income may be the first step toward increasing Return on Investment 


Please contact us at (614) 486-5386 if you desire a complimentary meeting to further explore how our investment policy may help you plan for retirement income.