Our Services
There are 2 primary services offered at Triangle Wealth Management: Investment Management, and Financial Planning.
Investment Management
Investment Management is ongoing / continuous monitoring and managing of investments. Investment management may sometimes be called asset management.
Triangle Wealth Management offers clients a selection of several model portfolios. The models are not static, but are subject to regular minor modifications based on economic data and earnings prospects. In other words, we do not subscribe to a buy & hold investment philosophy.
An Investment Policy Statement (IPS) governs each client account / portfolio. The IPS describes the objective of the investment model, and sets expectations for volatility as well as the flexibility to vary proportions of a given investment in the model.
Successful investors realize that high risk-adjusted returns are the objective. An example is as follows.
- Investor A realizes an average 6%/year return over a 5 year period. During this timeframe they saw their account fluctuate by as much as 10%.
- Investor B realizes an average 6%/year return over a 5 year period. During this timeframe they saw their account fluctuate by as much as 20%.
- Result: we say that Investor A had superior risk-adjusted returns because they achieved the same return but did so with half of the risk / volatility of Investor B.
Triangle Wealth Management’s model portfolios seek superior risk-adjusted returns in this manner.
It is not uncommon for model portfolios to have a small (up to 8%) component that is used either for hedging or short term opportunistic gains. Hence the majority of assets held in the model are planned to be held as long as the asset class has a favorable return / risk profile. This may be 1 year, or several years. Also note that the size of a given asset class allocation in a model portfolio is subject to minor changes.
Client accounts are titled in the name of the client, and held at Charles Schwab Institutional. Clients may login to view their account balance and positions at any time.
Model portfolios are constructed of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and to a limited extent no-load mutual funds. ETFs fulfill several objectives:
- Exposure to an asset class or sector.
- Low costs. This enables our portfolios to be less expensive than many others.
- Liquidity. We can buy or sell our position at any point in the day like a stock.
- Transparency. In this post-Madoff world, it is important to be able to see your investments and understand their holdings.
No hedge funds are used. They continue to have several attributes we view as unattractive:
- Lock ups. You can’t get your money out if you want to / need to.
- High fees. Frequently, 1% + 10% of the gains.
- Low transparency. The value of the hedge fund manager is in the secret sauce, so they can’t show you what they’re doing.
Clients are charged a flat fee on a quarterly basis for investment management service. There is a new client minimum fee of $1000/quarter for clients in the Raleigh area, and $2000/quarter outside of that area.
Financial Planning
Financial Planning service is offered on a project basis (not ongoing). Clients may wish to have a comprehensive financial plan or sections thereof. A comprehensive financial plan will contain analyses of:
- Investments
- Retirement planning.
- Education planning
- Cash flow & budgeting
- Insurance planning
- Estate planning
- Tax planning
- Asset protection.
This service may involve working with your CPA or attorney.
NAPFA
