Our Philosophy…
of Service:
As your advisor, we want you to have a voice in planning. Our approach is collaborative, involving you in each phase, from goal-setting to final plan approval and adoption. When presenting our recommendations we include alternatives that allow you to fine tune the plan. Our pledge (the old English word “Covenant”) is to build the relationship upon mutual trust and confidence. It means we place your interests first. In fact, we are required by law to have this fiduciary responsibility on behalf of clients. Not all financial planners have this legal obligation, only Registered Investment Advisers. Furthermore, we understand your time is valuable, so we strive to simplify our interactions using timely, concise reports and correspondence. Finally, we include our privacy policy in the written service agreement to ensure protection of your personal financial information.
of Markets:
Our approach is to acknowledge that the market is very hard to outsmart. Therefore, the best strategy is to take advantage of the inherent growth character in asset investing. Simply stated, just allow the market to carry you to your goal. This is founded on over 50 years of academic research that has shown that capital markets provide long-term growth and produce the best returns for investors who follow sound principles. It is understood that their will be periods of losses. But a well-planned portfolio can reduce your risk to most of the factors that can hurt investors. As a guiding principle, we apply the fundamentals of Modern Portfolio Theory to design your portfolio. We select a combination of passive mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to allocate across multiple asset classes to meet your individual goals. This takes advantage of growth in one segment when a different segment is declining, to reduce volatility and maintain more consistent portfolio returns. We strongly believe in this approach because it serves you, the client, best.
of Retirement Planning:
Our vision of Retirement Planning is more than numbers. We discuss all aspects of living in retirement. We continually research the latest information for all the topics of interest to prospective and active retirees. When is the right time to retire? What are the trends in retirement living? How do you prepare for healthcare costs? What are the current options for Long Term Care and who needs it? We provide resources to help clients with taxes and insurance. This can include referrals to other professionals, if needed (we do not accept remuneration for referrals of our clients).
of Fees:
A founding principle of Covenant Advisors was to provide unbiased client-focused financial planning at reasonable costs. We designed a flat fee structure for many services that allows you to get what you need at the time you need it. Why pay for complex financial planning, when only limited advice is really needed. If you just want a plan for funding college education for your children, we offer a flat-fee service for you. For those that need ongoing investment management or comprehensive retirement services, then we use a standard fee schedule. In all aspects, we are open about the fees you pay for services. That’s how we work.
So what will you not get from us? Free box seats at sporting events, dinning at classy restaurants or the traditional Christmas basket. These are either part of (a) a marketing strategy or (b) a client retention plan, both used by many investment management firms. We believe you would prefer to pay less in fees for straight-forward advice and use the savings to select your own entertainment.
of Christian Business Principles
- Hard work (Proverbs 14:23),
- Superior service to customers (Mark 9:35),
- Excellence and taking pride in work (Colossians 3:17, 23),
- Faithfulness (Luke 19:17)
- Perspective on possessions (Luke 12:15-21) and
- Generous giving (Acts 20:33).