At Wellspring, our investment advisory and risk management process starts by getting to know our clients, their families and their unique situations. We ask many questions, some which might seem unusual coming from a financial advisor. We develop a strong and thorough understanding of the things that are important to our clients today as well as their goals for the future. Throughout our relationship, we remain good listeners and work closely with our clients to adjust their investment plan as their life transitions and their goals evolve.
We subscribe to an Open Architecture investment philosophy. This means we have no compensatory relationships with any external investment providers. Our loyalty is to the client, not to investment managers. We only recommend investments that make sense for the client. Therefore, our clients can rest assured that all of our recommendations, as well as the design and implementation of their investment plan, are completely objective. We can also tailor our investment services to consider the needs of their future generations.
We believe keeping focused on a long-term horizon is the best way to approach capital markets. Occasionally adopting a contrarian point of view, while difficult, is consistent with our belief that booms follow busts and that markets invariably revert to long-term mean valuation. Periodic portfolio rebalancing to align asset allocation with a client’s objectives, risk constraints, time horizon and the market’s relative valuation is the greatest source of value added.
We feel there is a place for both active and passive management. We use active management when our expectations about our clients’ prospective returns exceed the certainty of their higher cost. Transaction costs, taxes and fees all conspire to reduce investment returns. Understanding this equation and balancing its impact is a meaningful source of additional return.
We recognize that every individual, family and client’s business is different in its own unique way. We deal with different strengths and challenges. This means we need to employ unique solutions to managing each investment risk scenario. We consider every aspect of our clients’ situations—financial and otherwise—to provide investment plan recommendations that fit each client’s needs.
We communicate with our clients regularly on marketable securities, private placements and other alternative investments. Additionally, we facilitate access to investment opportunities that otherwise would remain unknown or unavailable and assist our clients with weighing the risks versus the rewards of these same opportunities. We work to ensure that all investments are understandable and as transparent as possible to our clients.
We recognize all too often there is a significant difference between what an investor “makes” and what an investor “keeps.” We strive for tax efficiency and attempt to minimize investor expenses in order to maximize after-tax returns. Our focus is on the long-term quality of an investment.