Our objective is to provide the highest level of professionalism, normally only available at an institutional level, combined with superior common sense education that our clients truly understand. We apply a McKinsey-style discipline in helping our clients manage their investments while using a rigorous review process on a quarterly or semi-annual basis to evaluate each portfolio in detail. We believe in full disclosure in all aspects of our client relationships and we pride ourselves on fulfillment of our fiduciary responsibilities.
Transparency:
“Whatever the level of financial and investing knowledge of a client, from novice to expert, our goal is to continue to educate and increase every client’s understanding of what we do, how we do it, and why it’s done.” –Hadley Williams, Founder & CEO
We believe it’s imperative that every client have real understanding, in common sense terms, of everything we work on, recommend, and implement. As a “fiduciary” firm (legally), we are beholden solely to the interests of our clients.
Total transparency in every aspect of our services is a fundamental philosophy of the firm. Our tools, disciplines and practices are geared to work very closely with each client to understand and define, clearly, the most reasonable and best alternatives for investing for the long-term.
We have a “non-discretionary” relationship with all our clients, meaning you, as our client, must approve each investment strategy and every transaction. Assets are owned and controlled exclusively by the client in an account with a qualified custodian. Client assets are not co-mingled in an account controlled by our firm.
Detail and Discipline:
Effective, Results-Driven Investing: The Campbell Williams Way
Every investment advisory firm has its own methods and tools for supporting its clients to build successful investment strategies. CWI distinguishes itself from the competition by adhering to a level of client engagement, investment strategy customization, and impartial analysis and proprietary research of managers that is rare in the industry. What are the components our signature approach?
A Thorough Assessment of Your Circumstances and Needs Using Business Planning Tools
Working with the client, CWI uses its strategic planning models to create a range of possible business-type plans that cover different sets of assumptions: testing various future savings, expenses (budgets), real estate or other investments, with different diversification possibilities (strategy allocations).
Every CWI relationship with each client begins with a detailed review of the client’s current personal and financial circumstances. After covering assets and investments, debts and liabilities, current and expected income, regular expenditures, and any exceptional expenses, we then ask important questions which enables business-style forecasting that helps quantify your desired lifestyle, testing further possible lifestyles.
- What is your ideal lifestyle?
- What do you value and why?
- What level of financial resources do you need pre- and post-retirement to live comfortably?
- Do you foresee large or irregular expenditures in the future?
- Who do you support or depend on financially?
- What would you like to leave to your heirs?
These discussions allow us to arrive at a long-term, “big picture” scenario with a clear understanding of the structure for future liquidity needs.
A Big Picture Investment Strategy that Satisfies Your Priorities
- Each client is walked through multiple scenarios that are forecasted through age 100.
- During the strategic planning process, the client is educated on the characteristics of each investment type: asset classes, fund management styles, risk/return profiles, total return metrics, and liquidity reserves for cash distributions, among others.
- By the end of the strategic planning phase, the client has a solid understanding of different investment possibilities and can confidently choose investment strategies that will meet his or her financial goals. We say “strategies” plural, because most clients have different strategies: for a taxable portfolio, one or more qualified portfolios (IRS’s, 401K’s, etc.) and possibly a strategy for a trust for benefit of grandchildren or other very long-term goals.
Management
Using the Best of the Best Managers to Invest Your Resources to Optimize Results with Your Strategies
In order to optimize the performance of each client investment portfolio, CWI employs a rigorous screening process to ensure that client resources are only invested in the top performing funds of each asset class and management style. We research and review the performance of thousands of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (“the managers”) on a quarterly basis. Each manager is measured against a comparable peer group of managers using total return, only for the history of current management with a minimum history of three years’ performance.
In a “McKinsey-type” approach to management, a “manager” is a person or team responsible for expertise and management actions/decisions in its area of responsibility. A good manager is responsible for long-range strategy, researching everything applicable to its area of responsibility, all decision-making, team staffing, operational efficiency, internal controls, etc.
- With this research, we prepare detailed recommendations quarterly or semi-annually for each client portfolio, to encourage our clients to ‘actively manage’ the managers in their portfolios, thereby removing and replacing managers whose performances are deteriorating or have deteriorated.
- On a quarterly basis, we evaluate recommending “Tactical Strategies”, considering both the performance history of the best managers and where the markets are and might be heading in the next few quarters.
- An integral part of our management process is aggressive expense management-no front loads, no distribution and no transaction fees wherever possible. By saving money through our attention to expense management, our clients may re-invest those savings to produce significant wealth over time.
- Through this process of actively ‘managing the managers’ on an ongoing basis and using only the consistent top-performers, our clients can rest assured their money is working for them in the best way possible.