Active v. Passive Management

Because each investor brings to the table his or her unique risk tolerance level, financial goals, personal values, and previous investment experiences, we offer the opportunity to choose between active management and passive management styles.

For our active management of large equity portfolios, we look for primarily large cap, blue chip companies with market capitalization over $5 billion and annual sales greater than $1 billion. We screen for additional qualities such as high rankings in safety and in financial strength (indicating strong balance sheets), long term consistent earnings, significant international sales, long history of increasing shareholder dividends, above average five-year growth projections, and the company's demonstrated commitment to buying back its stock. We also favor companies that are leaders in their industry with a track record of outperforming the S&P Index for the last 5-10 years.

To complete the asset allocation across various asset classes, we select no load, low cost index mutual funds and exchange traded funds for domestic small and midcap, and for international exposure.

Our passive investment style portfolios consist of only no-load, low-cost index mutual funds that impose no 12b-1 fees. We also invest in index funds and exchange-traded funds (funds that trade on the market similar to stocks).

By definition, a passive investment style mirrors the market or the segment of its industry, rather than attempting to beat an index. It is the benchmark against which active funds measure themselves.