Our Asset Management Services
Taylor & Associates is a FEE-ONLY Investment Adviser Firm. Most people are interested in having their investments managed in a fiduciary relationship for a fee. THAT is what we do! HOWEVER, some go a step further in California and offer insurance advice for a fee and nearly all of them violate California law because they don't have any kind of license from the Dept. of Insurance. Our principal Mr. Taylor does not do that. He has an insurance license and receives commissions on insurance products. Just remember though, this is completely separate and distinct from the activities of Taylor & Associates, a fee-only investment advisory firm, which offers NO insurance services. Don't be fooled into working with a fee-only planner who breaks the law in the name of being "unbiased"... You'll pay twice for the advice! First, his/her illegal fees and a second time as he sends you to a commission insurance agent to buy the insurance. So if you never want to discuss insurance as part of your financial plan, you never have to... If you do need help in this area, Mr. Taylor has been LICENSED to offer competent and ethical advice for over three decades.
Before employing any firm to manage your assets, it’s a good idea to more fully understand the methodology behind their decision making process.
In consultation with our clients we develop a strategy and allocation based each individual clients objectives, tolerance to risk and and time horizon. It's important to establish reasonable objectives, expectations and guidelines, and creates the framework for a long-term asset allocation strategy with a level of risk suitable for the client.
We then evaluate the client’s current investment portfolio to establish how it differs from the proposed investment allocation and how much risk is unnecessary or un-rewarded within the current portfolio. In consultation with our clients, we then decide which investments and asset classes to retain and which assets classes and investments to add or delete, at the same time coordinating and integrating all client accounts into one larger portfolio as part of an overall asset allocation strategy.
From our perspective, the purpose of allocation is to seek to reduce risk, not necessarily to increase return.* Investments that are concentrated in specific sectors may often add risk with no additional expected return. This is also true of national economies. While America slipped into recession in 2000 until 2003 and again in 2008 and domestic portfolio returns suffered, many other nations around the world were not as severely impacted. A global asset allocation strategy invests a portfolio in carefully defined proportions across different sectors and throughout different economies in order to reduce overall economic risk.** Investing globally helps reduce risk even if return is not increased. This is because the reliance on the U.S. economy alone for portfolio growth is reduced. Wherever possible, we utilize U.S. domiciled foreign and global no-load funds, as well as exchanged traded funds, individual stocks and bonds and some ADR’s (American Depository Receipts) as an integral part of our diversification strategy.
As asset classes change enough to become inconsistent with the client's tolerance to risk or allocation strategy, the portfolio is rebalanced in consultation with our clients. Generally, decisions regarding rebalancing are discussed with clients at regular meetings or as necessary if the client’s circumstances change.
We believe asset allocation and a more dynamic approach to investing is the essence of portfolio management. As fiduciary advisers we also listen to our clients and seek to understand their desires, their expectations and their tolerance for risk in order to design and implement strategies consistent with their expectations, not ours.
Our more conservative clients are educated to understand that their projected portfolio returns may not be as stellar as other more aggressive clients. They also understand that their projected portfolio losses in any market downturn may generally be lower because of adequate diversification among asset classes that are not correlated with the stock market. Our more aggressive clients on the other hand, fully understand that in seeking higher expected returns over time, they must be willing to bear a far greater level of risk. Greater risk generally requires an adequate timeline for investing, a much higher discipline in investing and a willingness to "ride out" market fluctuations that often produce considerable losses as well as, potentially, superior gains in volatile markets. The portfolio structure decision is among the most important decisions our clients make in their asset management plan. The client’s understanding of their exposure to risk, what overall asset classes the plan holds and in what proportions, may well determine how well the plan performs relative to the overall markets and most importantly, relative to our client’s expectations. We ask a LOT of questions when we first decide to accept a new client. Understanding our methodology in portfolio construction and overall management will quickly lead to an understanding as to why we ask so many questions.
If you are interested in becoming a client of Taylor & Associates, please call 310. 260. 1126 and thank you for your interest in our firm.
* Investors need to be aware that no investment plan/asset allocation can completely eliminate the risk of fluctuating prices and uncertain returns
** International investing entails special risk considerations, including currency fluctuations, lower liquidity, economic and political risks and differences in accounting methods.
*** An index is a hypothetical portfolio of specific securities (Common examples are the Dow Jones industrial, NASDAQ 100, Russell 2000 and the S and P 500) The performance of which is often used as a benchmark in judging the relative performance of certain asset classes. Indexes are unmanaged portfolios and should only be compared with securities with similar investment characteristics and criteria. Investors cannot invest directly in an index. Past Performance is not indicative of future results.