Investment Process:

The first step in creating a client portfolio is to clearly define the client’s profile and investment objectives, which is accomplished through designing a unique financial plan with specific, defined investor goals.  As a second step, we determine if a passive or an active approach for each asset class should be used within the clients’ risk parameters.  The passive approach usually refers to purchasing index funds or exchange traded funds.  The aim is to keep expenses low and buy a small piece of the whole stock market.  With the active approach, a higher fee is paid to a manager, who will buy what he thinks are the best stocks rather than the whole market. While there are many asset classes available to investors, some may not be suitable, while others may not be transparent enough.  The third step is selecting these active managers, finding the best passive solutions or, more often, a combination of the two.  Lastly, we monitor and rebalance the portfolio as markets move or the client’s profile changes.  As part of the monitoring process, we make tracking client’s performance simple and easy to access and understand.

Investment Philosophy: It is important to note that in order to identify what makes active managers successful; one must have an extensive background and understanding of corporate financials.  How can someone pick a mutual fund, with hundreds of companies without being able to dissect essential information contained in even one balance sheet?  This acquired core-competency has frequently enabled Defender Capital to avoid poor individual investments and, more importantly, prevented us from chasing products that Wall Street constantly invents—usually for their own benefit.  Simply stated, as a wealth management firm, our focus is the preservation of capital in the fixed income classes, and a value bias when evaluating equity investments.
Investment Caveat: Any discussion about investments that does not include a cost analysis of all fees should quickly be dismissed.  While some fees are obviously necessary, excessive fees can dramatically reduce your investment performance and ultimately, your nest egg.