How We Build Portfolios
Your Stock and Bond Mix
We start by sizing risk to your plan. That means modeling what your money must do, when you will need it, and how much volatility you can live with while still reaching your goals. We test several mixes and choose the least amount of risk that supports the plan. Once the target is set, we coordinate across all of your accounts so the entire household adds up to one tailored allocation.
The Equity Building Blocks
Your stock exposure spans U.S. large companies, U.S. mid and small companies, developed international markets, and emerging markets. We keep long-term policy weights for balance and only make measured tilts when the risk and reward tradeoff improves. Think of it as turning a dial a little, not flipping a switch.
United States Large Cap Stocks
Here we do the most hands-on work. We look for strong businesses trading below our estimate of intrinsic value using an Economic Margin lens that focuses on true economic profit after the real cost of capital.
We refresh valuations across our universe each week, add names when price offers a margin of safety and the economics look durable, size positions for conviction and liquidity, and sell when value is realized, the thesis breaks, or a better idea appears.
This approach favors intrinsic value over “cheapness,” which is only a low ratio to one accounting number and often misses the economics that drive long-term returns.
United States Mid and Small Cap
We use low-cost index funds for broad, reliable coverage and add select low-cost active managers only when process, capacity, and after-fee edge are credible. The goal is wide exposure to smaller companies without unnecessary cost or turnover.
International and Emerging Markets
We build a core with low-cost index funds across developed and emerging markets, then layer focused active exposure where market structure is less efficient. Currency, policy, and sector mix inform small tilts. We avoid binary country calls.
Your Bond Portfolio
Fixed income exists to protect capital, fund known needs, and earn a fair return for the risks taken. We keep interest rate exposure in a moderate range, adjust gradually with the rate backdrop, and center credit quality in investment grade. Lower quality exposure, when used, is diversified and only taken when compensated. For higher tax brackets, municipal bonds are considered for better after-tax income. Cash reserves are sized so you are never a forced seller.
Ongoing Management
Portfolios drift as markets move. We rebalance toward target within pre-set bands, place assets in the right accounts for taxes, harvest losses when useful, and monitor distributions and wash sales. We review your plan regularly and adjust the portfolio when life changes.
A Focus on Cost-Efficiency
Our firm incurs the costs of research and analysis on behalf of our clients. We default to our individual stock portfolio and index vehicles where markets are highly efficient and reserve active tools for places where we believe the expected benefit exceeds the fee and tax impact. We are transparent about fund expenses and our advisory fee so you can see the total cost clearly.
Our Process
Our process is simple to understand and rigorous to execute.
We size risk to your plan, set a global mix of stocks and bonds, keep costs low with index at the core, and use a focused intrinsic-value approach for U.S. large caps.
We monitor, rebalance, manage taxes, and report in plain English so you always know what you own, why you own it, and what it costs. You get a transparent, evidence-driven portfolio and clear updates so you can evaluate our service.
Let us provide a
no-cost second opinion analysis
