 |
 |
lost your password?
|
|
We offer sophisticated investment strategies in the form of simple generic Model Portfolios – all of them designed for long term "growth" investors, easy to understand and covering a variety of different investor needs and risk tolerances.
Our strategies aim to help you grow your investment portfolio faster and safer ... in good markets and bad. They may benefit you in the following ways:
The Model Portfolio strategies are driven by a style of active portfolio management called "dynamic asset allocation." The allocations adjust over time to make sure you catch the big upswings in the market and then sit safely on the sidelines in a bond fund or money market fund when the market turns down.Whether you prefer to use Index Funds or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), the strategies can help you manage your portfolio mix nimbly to adjust to changing market conditions.
The models' core trend-following logic has been in active use since the mid-1990's and has successfully captured every major trend change in the stock and bond markets. Today, the original model is offered in four versions designed for different kinds of investors with differing levels of risk tolerance. And each Model Portfolio is designed to deliver very high risk-adjusted returns over the long term (see What are your risk-adjusted returns?).
The models do not trade invidividual stocks or exotic sectors, just the basic stock market indexes and a corporate bond fund. And one model incorporates a handful of "defensive" sectors such as Energy, Real Estate and Precious Metals that represent important alternative "asset classes" and help to diversify the overall portfolio.
To improve performance in "bear market" conditions, two of the Model Portfolios incorporate the ability to invest in an "Inverse Fund" ... also known as a Bear Fund ... that go up in value when the market goes down.
An Investment Newsletter for Busy People: Our approach is designed for people who can't spend a lot of time managing their investments and may not want to pay for a professional money manager. We package sophisticated investment technology in a very simple form -- generic Model Portfolios containing just a few investments at a time. You don't have to do a thing except read the investment newsletter, consider the periodic changes recommended by the Model Portfolios and decide whether to make the changes in your own investment account. Of course, the ultimate investment decision is your own responsibility and we urge you to seek the advice of a licensed investment advisor.
Providing Model Portfolios for Novice and Sophisticated Investors: Our "Benchmark Series" newsletter for $149/year offers generic Model Portfolios that are mainly appropriate for novice investors, as well as for your 401k or 403b plan. Our "Performance Extension Series" newsletter for $249/year offers more aggressive Model Portfolios that may be appropriate for investors with at least a moderate level of experience.
Helping You Be a Disciplined Investor: Our Model Portfolio strategies are designed to provide a disciplined approach for investors and are calibrated to help keep longer-term portfolio volatility to a minimum. Reduced volatility makes it much easier for investors to stay disciplined. And, discipline is a fundamental key to success.
Providing Strategies That Are Easy to Follow and Monitor: Our monthly newsletter commentaries are short and to the point. Investment recommendations are provided in clear and unambiguous language so changes to the Model Portfolio will be easy to understand, consider and implement. And, monitoring a Model Portfolio’s performance will be a snap with our Monthly Tracking Report.
Click here for an expanded discussion of our Investment Philosphy.
Here’s a quick look at how well our strategies have worked.
Chart I below shows you our generic Model Portfolio strategies' estimated performance over the past nine years compared with a traditional investment strategy (based upon a blend of back-tested performance and actual, live results). The chart tracks the growth of a hypothetical $10,000 portfolio invested nine years ago in each of our strategies compared with a traditional "buy and hold" approach.
| Estimated Ending Balance: | |||
| - Buy & Hold (S&P500) | $13,560 | UP 35.6 % |
|
| - Conservative Portfolio: | $ 21,220 | UP | 112.2 % |
| - Growth Portfolio | $ 27,110 | UP | 171.1 % |
| - Performance Xtender | $ 52,200 | UP | 422.0 % |
| - Max Xtender | $ 118,770 | UP | 1087.7 % |
Successful investing is all about discipline and managing risk.
During the recent bear market of 2000, 2001 and 2002, "buy and hold" investors had to watch their stock investments drop in value by 20%, 40% or even as much as 70%. Many had to modify their plans for retirement or even go back to work. Many couldn't emotionally stand the investment losses and sold their stocks at deeply depreciated levels. Then, many investors were so shellshocked by the market volatility, they failed to get back into the market and reap the benefits of a new bull market that started in 2003 ... missing out on 50%-plus gains.
Better risk management would have been very helpful to these investors. They could have locked in most of their profits from the bull market and avoided most of the heartrending decline. Avoiding the losses would have helped them stick with a disciplined investment plan and be positioned to benefit from the new bull market when it started in 2003.
We understand how lower volatility leads to better investment discipline.
Strong risk managment is built into every one of our investment strategies.
