Investment Philosophy

As investors, we are focused on developing and implementing long-term strategic investment plans consistent with our clients’ goals, risk tolerance, and unique needs.  Our investment beliefs provide the foundation for our processes and decision making.

Properly diversified asset allocation is the most important decision

  • Proper diversification is holding the right kind of assets in the right proportions to efficiently target expected risks and returns.
  • Asset allocation is the primary determinant of performance for a broadly diversified portfolio.

Disciplined portfolio management keeps an investment plan on track

  • Consistent, systematic portfolio rebalancing maintains the targeted expected risk and return profile through time.

Investment-related expenses should be minimized

  • Market returns are uncertain, but expenses are very certain, detrimental, and controllable.
  • Low-cost, indexed strategies will form the core of the portfolio while actively managed strategies may be considered in less efficient market segments.

Independent studies have proven that asset allocation overwhelmingly determines the risk and return behavior of any investment portfolio.1 Its not what an investor buys, its what an investor buys in relation to the other things they buy in their portfolio that matters.

Unfortunately, the asset allocation process receives far less attention as compared to the massive amounts of time and money spent on evaluating individual securities, sectors and geographical regions in the futile attempt to accurately predict where securities, and the markets in general, will go in the future.

A recent study by Vanguard found asset allocation explained, on average, 88% of a portfolio’s short-term return variability and more than 100% of a portfolio’s long-term level of return.2 These findings suggest security selection and market timing were meaningful detractors to a managed portfolio’s long-term performance.

At Seabridge Wealth Management, LLC, we fully embrace the importance of establishing, and maintaining, a properly diversified and prudently asset allocated portfolio.

Why?

This is because that is precisely what decades of objective and independent data – compiled by the world’s leading academics, statisticians and Nobel Laureates – tells us we should do.

 

1 Brinson, Gary P., L. Randolph Hood, and Gilbert L. Beebower. 1986. “Determinants of Portfolio Performance.” Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 42, no. 4 (July/August): 39-48. Brinson, Gary P., Brian D. Singer, and Gilbert L. Beebower. 1991. “Determinants of Portfolio Performance II: An Update.” Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 47, no. 3 (May/June): 40–48. Ibbotson, Roger G., and Paul D. Kaplan. 2000. “Does Asset Allocation Policy Explain 40, 90, or 100 Percent of Performance?” Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 56, no. 1 (January/February): 26–33.
2 Wallick, Daniel W., Julieann Shanahan, Christos Tasopoulos, and Joanne Yoon. 2012. “The Global Case for Strategic Asset Allocation.” (July). The Vanguard Group.