General Approach

Some principles apply to all clients:

Risk Tolerance

Basic financial theory suggests that all investors are risk averse.

This is only true to some degree; some clients are risk averse while others are risk/thrill seeking.  Most are unsure of their risk tolerance and find that it changes depending on market conditions – risk averse in down markets and risk seeking in climbing markets. 

One of our duties is to determine the client’s willingness and ability to take risk. Helping clients understand their risk tolerance is important so that they are comfortable with their portfolio’s volatility while, at the same time, are taking enough risk to earn returns necessary to meet their goals.

When creating our asset allocation models and selecting investments, we seek to maximize risk-adjusted returns or, in other words, maximize the amount of return per unit of risk.

Diversification
Diversification is perhaps the most important principle when investing.  There are two major risks in the market place, single company event risk and broad market risk.  By spreading invested funds across different asset classes and individual securities, it is possible to reduce risk and potentially increase returns.  To limit risk, we diversify at three levels: by asset class, sector, and individual security.

Time Horizon
Before assets are invested, it is crucial to understand the time horizon.  Obviously money that is needed in three months should be invested much differently than money that will be needed in ten years. Each individual and organization has unique needs and factors that are taken into consideration when our asset allocation recommendation is discussed.

Core & Satellite
For Private Clients, we employ a Core & Satellite strategy that uses passively managed investments as the core and individual securities as the satellites.  The core securities allow for an efficient way to broadly diversify at a very low-cost. The individual satellite positions allow us to potentially add value through security selection and manage the portfolio tax efficiently.

Liquidity
Liquidity refers to the ability to sell an investment without affecting the price of the security and to raise cash.  We take liquidity into consideration with every security that we purchase and our objective is to assure a high degree of liquidity in every portfolio.  Of course, under extreme market conditions like the days following 9/11 and the panic during the fall of 2008 any security may become illiquid for a period of time. 

Acropolis Investment Management is a St. Louis based fee-only asset management firm, staffed with dedicated financial professionals ready to work with you to reach your investment goals.  Whether you are looking to start your retirement planning, asset reallocation,  rollover your IRA or 401K or you're an institutional investor looking to maximize returns, we are here to help. To learn more about our financial planning services, please contact us at 1-888-882-0072.