Why Us

Our client’s assets are held by Pershing, a division of BNY Mellon. Through its Bank of New York predecessor, it is one of the three oldest banking corporations in the United States, and among the oldest banks in the world, having been established in June 1784 by a group that included American Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr. 

The bank provided the United States government its first loan in 1789. The loan was orchestrated by Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, and it paid the salaries of United States Congress members and President George Washington.

The Bank of New York was the first company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange when it first opened in 1792.

It is by far the world's largest custodian bank and asset servicing company with $1.9 trillion in assets under management and $37.2 trillion in assets under custody as of the second quarter of 2020.

BNY Mellon is the world’s largest custodian for the 8th year in a row.

The approach chosen to manage your wealth is one of the most important decisions to achieve success. We make the investment decisions because we know your financial story.

We believe this really matters.

How did a couple with $3 million of investment assets who averaged 8.1% annually run out of money in 18 years? At another firm, this really did happen!!!!!

Our approach is designed to preserve your wealth, provide a check in your mailbox and help guide you from outliving your wealth.

What we learned over 40 years is so important to you and your wealth during your retirement.

• We are your advisors and we do financial planning. We take an active role in your retirement plan with a focus on the financing of your retirement lifestyle.
• The average annual rates of return do not tell the entire story.
• Once you go into retirement and are receiving investment income, you are in the DISTRIBUTION PHASE of your life and the rules of the game change.
• IT'S NOW ALL ABOUT THE ACTUAL RATES OF RETURN AND THE SEQUENCE IN WHICH THEY OCCUR. WE CALL THIS THE "SINGLE GREATEST RISK" RETIREES WILL FACE.

Why is this important to you and your wealth and what have we done to address this major risk?

The economy follows a familiar pattern of expansion and contraction. These economic cycles vary in length due to a variety of factors. We divide the economic cycle into 4 stages as follows: Early Cycle, Mid-Cycle, Late Cycle and Recession. The four stages are similar to our four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter represent the changes the economy goes through over the economic cycle. If you live in Chicago you may not want to wear shorts and flip-flops during the winter! It is generally also true that during recessions there is often a period of time where stocks go into decline but other investment assets may flourish. This is where we may want to reduce risk for our retired clients to reflect the environment.

There have been 8 recessions in the last 50 years. A number of recessions have been periods of large losses in the stock market. You may recall the last two (2) recent recessions: 2000, 2001, 2002 this was known as the "Dot Com Bust". And the Financial Crisis of 2008 – 2009 known as the "Great Recession". These periods were devastating for many retirees.

We've learned that each phase of the economic cycle provides opportunities and challenges. We may want to own certain investments in a recovery or early cycle that we would not own in a late cycle or recession. We may want to increase risk in the early part of an expansion and reduce it a late cycle or recession.