We’ve been using an index investing approach for more than 20 years. Over time, we’ve refined our methodology to further improve diversification and risk management. The result is Index Plus Investing—an approach built on three key pillars.
1) A disciplined, diversified index core
The foundation of every portfolio is a broadly diversified portfolio of index ETFs. This core is designed to:
This disciplined foundation has historically provided investors with a high probability of long-term success.
2) Carefully selected satellite positions
A limited portion of the portfolio may be allocated to complementary investments that provide exposure to areas of the market that are less effectively represented by broad market indexes. These may include:
The objective is to complement the index core by further improving diversification, enhancing risk management, and providing additional potential sources of return.
3) A disciplined tactical overlay guided by probabilities
When exceptional market conditions arise—for example, unusually large interest rate differentials between countries or historically extreme currency exchange rates—we may make modest adjustments to a portion of the portfolio. We describe this as tilting toward the probabilities. These are never large market-timing decisions. Rather, they are small, disciplined adjustments designed to benefit from the increased probability that markets will gradually return to more normal conditions.
The result: Index-based Management Plus combines:
In short, it’s the discipline of index investing, enhanced with thoughtful optimization.
With thousands of investment products available, every decision deserves more than a single opinion. Our Investment Committee brings together experienced professionals who carefully analyze, challenge, and oversee the selection of the investments used in our clients’ portfolios.
Personal guidance.
Independent advice.
Results that speak for themselves.
