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Advisory Services. Provided on a fee-only basis, you avoid hidden charges and agendas with advisory services from Sampson Investment Management. You pay for management services in a straight-forward, easy-to-understand percentage of your assets under management.
Investment management services, offered to individuals as well as to the pension and profit-sharing plans of small businesses, give you continuous advice and investment implementation based on your individual needs.
Advisory accounts are managed on a discretionary basis only. The recommended securities you receive will generally be limited to no-load mutual fund shares, separately-managed stock accounts, iShares, and alternative investments. However, at times, individual securities, such as stocks and bonds, may be included in recommendations and in your investment portfolio.
Beyond Managing Money. Our job involves much more than just managing your portfolio. As a part of your annual review, we set your assets in the context of the amount of money you are likely to need for a financially secure retirement. This is the "financial planning" part of our work.
For pre-retirees, we set appropriate goals for saving, as well as investing. The kind of monthly saving targets that a person sets for the last 5 to 15 years of employment can dramatically affect the standard of living needed to enjoy retirement.
This planning role includes reviewing and making recommendations about insurance coverage and investments. At times it can even involve the discussion of how to reduce spending to free up money for more important retirement needs.
Baby Boomers… Their Parents… Their Children. For the first time in history, many people will live a third of their life in retirement. People are living longer lives, and many face potential health ailments unique to this generation. As a Baby Boomer, are you prepared should you need long-term care or an assisted living facility? Are you financially positioned to ensure you money lasts throughout your lifetime?
Here are some issues Sampson Investment Management brings to the table—not only for those from the Baby Boom generation—but concerns their parents and their children may have as well.
- Both Social Security and Medicare are at risk in the years ahead. How can these programs be saved, or is this an unrealistic task?
- Up until now, each generation has done better than their parents. For those in the Baby Boomer generation, however, they may need to concern themselves with funding their children beyond the college years.
- Further, many Boomers are entering a period in their lives where they are paying for their children’s education, contributing to their retirement, while also caring for their own ageing parents. How will they survive financially—and emotionally?
- Many large American corporations are failing to meet contractual pension commitments to their employees. For the Boomers just a few years shy of retirement, what are the options?
- A large portion of this generation will have to work longer before retirement, or find new jobs after retirement to make ends meet. How will this change the nature of retirement, and what impact will it have on their children?
- Elder care in America poses numerous questions and concerns. With limited resources for Boomers to understand their rights and options as they move through this chapter of life, major issues arise as to how they can work through a confusing, disorganized, and under-funded system.
A Baby Boomer himself, Scott Sampson understands the importance of not only highlighting the concerns of this generation, but also identifying the strategies that will help Boomers smartly navigate through these myriad issues.
Limited Financial Planning Services. These services, provided in either written or verbal form, target your specific areas of concern:
- Tax Planning
- Education Planning
- Retirement needs and general estate needs analysis
The Investment Process. Although each client's portfolio is unique, the process followed in the development of each portfolio is the same.
- The first step involves the assessment of your resources, goals, objectives, and risk tolerance. Special attention is paid to the assessment of risk tolerance, since your ability to assume risk, particularly over short periods of time, affects your willingness to stick to an investment plan. Being able to adhere to an investment plan over the long-haul is critical to the achievement of your goals and objectives.
- The development of an asset allocation model employs Modern Portfolio Theory principles to achieve "optimized" portfolios. This process involves the development of portfolios that statistically offer the highest levels of return for a particular level of risk, and places great emphasis on the inclusion of numerous asset types within the portfolio to reduce risk, particularly in the short run.
- Once your portfolio is designed, it acts as a guideline for investment decisions. Investment levels in various asset classes are determined, and the portfolio is implemented with appropriate investment vehicles. It is important to note that the "asset mix" in large part will determine long-term returns, as well as risk levels.
- On a quarterly basis, your portfolio is reviewed and fine-tuned to address the financial changes in the economy that can sometimes favor certain asset classes over others. At the time investments are rebalanced, it is important that you know about these changes and are given information to understand the reasons behind the changes made to the portfolio.
At Sampson Investment Management, ongoing education is highly valued. When you understand what is going on in your portfolio and the relationship between risk and reward, you are better able to stick with a plan that leads to realizing your objectives.
A Word About Investments. “Can you double my money... without any risk?” Over the years many clients have asked, usually in jest, some version of this question. Most people understand that any investment that offers substantial return also involves some degree of risk.
- All so-called "riskless" investments, such as CDs or money market funds, essentially have a 0% return once taxes and inflation have been deducted.
- In fact, during some periods the return has been negative when discounted for taxes and inflation.
- Real long-term growth—growth that is greater than the assured losses brought by taxes and inflation—cannot be obtained from bank deposits, money markets, or most bonds.
Investment portfolios are generally implemented with a custom blend of investment vehicles, providing adequate diversification without becoming unmanageable. Recognizing that higher returns only come from owning pieces of healthy, growing companies (stocks and growth mutual funds), the most important advice we offer is how much of and what kind of companies and funds to own. In doing this, our goal is not to eliminate risk, which is impossible, but rather to:
- Understand it
- Manage it
- Minimize its effects
A Word About Fees. The annual fee is based on a percentage of your assets under management, charged quarterly in advance and pro-rated for partial quarters. Please request an ADV for more information on management fees.
- Fees for Limited Financial Planning are charged on an hourly basis, ranging from $150 to $200 per hour, based on your needs and consulting service complexities.
- For each Limited Financial Planning client, a specific hourly rate will be determined and agreed to in writing, with fees due when the service is provided.
On occasion, Sampson Investment Management may suggest to a client certain broker/dealers that provide independent investment advisors with support, trading, and administrative services. The firms generally recommended for custodial, brokerage, and other services are Charles Schwab and Datalynx. Some parameters apply to these recommendations, which will be explained in detail.
It is important to note that J. Scott Sampson is licensed as an insurance agent of various insurance companies. In this capacity, he may benefit if an advisory client chooses to effect recommended transactions through these companies.
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