"At Tricord Investment Advisors we believe that a disciplined risk reduction strategy is critical to the success of any financial plan, and your ability to enjoy a comfortable and worry free retirement."   

Wealth preservation is every bit as important as wealth accumulation. We are firmly committed to a process that navigates the markets and moves with them. Although risk is inherent in most investments, subjecting a portfolio to significant downturns as you remain fully invested is simply not prudent-in fact it can be devastating. If your portfolio is always standing still it will eventually get run over.  A 20% loss requires a 25% gain just to mitigate the loss and break even.   

Disciplined Risk Management In Action

So just how does that translate to how we manage your investments--by staying out of the market when it makes sense. We track the market on a short, intermediate, and long-term basis, and react to what the market gives us (again, not by trying to predict what will happen) and adjusting stop-loss sell points and delaying new purchases when the trend is negative. Reinvestments are made when the trend is favorable. The graph below illustrates this process.

Each of our equity baskets, called Folios, fully invested will hold ten equities, which will vary given market conditions. The graph illustrates the amount of equities each Folio held each day during the period 1/1/2000 to 12/31/2002. For reference, during this period the Nasdaq was down 73%, the S & P 500 was down 38% and the Dow retreated 27%. Each of the three equity folios-Aggressive (illustrated in burgundy), High VST (illustrated in green), and Core (illustrated in blue), had positive back tested returns each year during this period because we were out of the market the majority of the time.

Very few days illustrates a full 30 equity positions because it just didn't make sense to be there. When we were in the market it was generally with the stocks that were holding up best during that period. Ironically, the Aggressive Folio was out of the market the most but had the best return because that's what made sense for that folio given its investment criteria. After preserving capital during one of the worst market corrections in decades, look at the end of the graph where we committed fully during the end of '02 and were ready to participate in the strong bull market in '03. All this to say that regardless of what happens in the future, our system makes so much sense because it takes what the market gives us and works to make the best of it-not simply endure it. Contact us to see how our Better Way of Investing, and a disciplined risk management approach can help you "imagine a financial future beyond all expectations."