Investment Philosophy

Whether we acknowledge it or not, each one of us is the CFO of our own financial life. We have an implicit responsibility to run our lives in a way that helps us achieve our financial goals. 

Your partnership with AV Wealth Advisors will be centered on figuring out what’s most important to you and defining a plan customized to help you achieve your personal financial goals.

I will work to reduce the noise around your financial life and give you the ability to ignore the daily drumbeat of market gurus. In partnership, we will consolidate your accounts, construct an investment portfolio that is research based, low-cost, diversified, takes into account your goals & risk tolerance, and puts you in a position to capture your fair share of market returns.

I will always explain things to you in plain English and answer your questions in a straight forward way. With AV Wealth Advisors, you'll always understand what your financial plan is and where you are headed.

Paraphrasing the cat from Alice in Wonderland, “if you don’t know where you want to go, it doesn’t really matter what path you take”.

Through directed interviews and custom surveys, I will help you articulate what is most important to you in your financial journey; starting with a clear understanding of your values, goals, risk tolerance / risk capacity, and any constraints you may have that can impact your financial plan.

It is important to understand that your financial plan need not be perfect - no plan is, but it should be flexible - so it can adapt to the changes you will experience over time.

Compounding can be your best friend or your worst enemy. As a best friend, compounding can do wonders to your investment portfolio over the long term.

• If you invested $100 in the S&P 500 at the beginning of 1995, you would have about $1,607.06 at the end of 2023, assuming you reinvested all dividends.

• If you invested $100 in the S&P 500 at the beginning of 2005, you would have about $537.01 at the end of 2023, assuming you reinvested all dividends.

• If you invested $100 in the S&P 500 at the beginning of 2015, you would have about $255.28 at the end of 2023, assuming you reinvested all dividends.

All you had to do was stay invested to get the extra returns. Just being in the market longer led to a return of $1,607 versus $255!

Moral of the story: AV Wealth Advisors will help you invest for the long term, think about buy-and-hold and put you in a position where compounding works for you and not against you.

In the words of Vanguard founder, Jack Bogle, “Fund performance comes and goes. Costs go on forever.” 

At AV Wealth Advisors, we  focus on using low cost index ETF’s and mutual funds from Vanguard (which is widely known to be among the lowest-cost providers of investment options) to form the core of your investment portfolio. These low cost funds have three great advantages: low annual expenses, zero or tiny transaction costs and low taxes paid.

In addition, we will encourage you to use a long term investment philosophy, dollar-cost-averaging and a buy-and-hold strategy to further reduce costs.

Our philosophy is intended to ensure that you are well positioned to grab your fair share of stock market returns.

Taxes are another form of costs. Keep an eye out for how much you pay in taxes and minimize how much you pay.

I will partner with you to let you take advantage of tax-free or tax-deferred investment accounts - e.g., Roth IRA's, Health Savings Accounts (HSA's), 529 plans, 401(k), 403(b), 457 retirement plans to grow your savings in a tax efficient manner. 

We will use efficient asset location strategies, monthly checks on asset allocation drifts combined with regular rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting to minimize how much you pay in taxes.

Markets are efficient for the most part. Few professional investors do better than the market over time.

Instead of trying to time or beat the market, I will use data and research based investing to fully capture what the market has to offer. I will help you diversify broadly based on your individual goals and risk tolerance, use low-cost and tax-efficient passive/index ETF’s and mutual funds to keep expenses and taxes low, and use dollar cost averaging plus systematic rebalancing when you invest your money.

Best of all - I will do all of this for you. So you can focus on living your life.

You have worked hard for your money. Don't lose it on a trend or a "tip" from your neighbor or golf partner. Going two steps forward and one step back is not a good strategy to reach your financial goals.

I will help you invest in a way that is in line with your goals, risk tolerance, and any constraints you may have. Use data and research to guide your investment decisions. Losing a bit here and there will happen and is OK. But you don’t want to lose everything on risky bets.