I’m John Conte, a certified financial planner based in Concord, Massachusetts. I’ve been practicing wealth management for over two decades. At my firm, Oliver Capital Management, we empower our clients with knowledge and tools that foster confidence and financial independence. It’s not complicated. It simply takes time and willingness to understand the foundations. 

While daily reporting presents a fast-paced, ever-changing financial environment, full of acronyms and fancy lingo, the fundamentals of sound investing stay the same. 

man sitting on top of coins

Investment management, at its core, is about making your money work for you. It’s a process that involves strategically buying and selling financial assets (stocks, bonds, index funds, etc.). We follow a simple four-step process:

  1. Discovery: This is where we learn all about what you have done up to this point and your vision for the future.  We dig into short/long-term financial goals, risk tolerance and time horizon. Your advisor will also outline expectations and fees so you have full transparency.
  2. Proposal: Data collected during discovery is uploaded to our software so that we can tailor a portfolio around what is important to you and your family. Proposals conclude with a list of recommendations and how they can positively impact your financial life.
  3. Implementation: Should you decide to move forward with any/all recommendations, a member of our client onboarding team will walk you through paperwork, initiate contributions and coordinate transfers from other institutions.
  4. Review: Having a plan is a great first step but monitoring and tracking over time is significantly more important.  We make sure to conduct regular reviews with all of our clients to see what has changed and adjust the plans when necessary.

What Are the Different Types of Investment Management?

While the fundamentals may be simple there are a few different types of investment management available.

  • Active Management: This approach involves professional fund managers actively making decisions about buying and selling investments within a fund. It’s usually for investors who prefer expert guidance and believe in the potential of beating the market. No matter where your portfolio lands in relation to the overall markets, an active strategy will generally have higher expenses.
  • Passive Management: In contrast to active management, passive management aims to mirror the performance of a market index, like the S&P 500. This approach involves less buying and selling, which can lead to lower fees. It’s a good fit for investors who prefer a long-term “set-and-forget” strategy. 
  • Discretionary Management: With this type, you entrust your investment decisions to a professional manager. They handle the day-to-day decisions on your portfolio based on your established goals and risk tolerance. It’s ideal for those who prefer to delegate investment decisions to an expert.
  • Non-Discretionary Management: Here, the investor remains involved in every decision. The financial advisor provides recommendations, but the final call is always yours. This approach is great for investors who want professional guidance but also the ability to direct their investments.
  • Robo-Advisors: These digital platforms provide automated, algorithm-driven financial planning services with little to no human supervision. A typical robo-advisor collects information from clients about their financial situation and future goals through an online survey, then uses the data to offer advice or automatically invest client assets. Like passive management, it’s a cost-effective approach for those comfortable with technology and a more hands-off approach.
  • Socially Responsible Investing (SRI): SRI involves choosing investments based on ethical, social, and environmental criteria in addition to financial return. For many clients, it’s not simply about making as much money as possible. They desire to leave the world a bit better than how they found it for their children and grandchildren. Socially responsible investing can be a marketing term to attract your money but with some research, where you put your money can make an impact.
investment management

Investment Management Services

Just as there are many types of investment management, there are also different investment management services. Here’s how an investment management firm like Oliver Capital Management can help you:

Asset Allocation

Distributing your investments across various asset classes like stocks, bonds, and cash to align with your risk tolerance, timeline, and financial goals. Your asset allocation should be tailored to your individual needs and adapt to those needs over time. Diversification helps to minimize risk due to a decrease in the value of an individual stock, industry, or region.

Financial Statement Analysis

Understanding your financial position is essential in making informed investment decisions. The first step in our process is to review your current assets, liabilities, and expenses.  This will help us determine areas of opportunity and potential future “landmines.”

Investment Monitoring

In the financial markets, change is a certainty. Monitoring and reviewing your investments regularly is key to ensuring they continue to align with your goals. Monitoring provides ongoing oversight of your portfolio. As your financial advisor, I can track performance, assess the impact of market changes, and make adjustments as necessary. 

Advisor meeting to review investment strategy

Conclusion

Effective investment management is crucial to your financial well-being. I understand that you will have questions, and every investor’s goals are unique. This wealth management guide is the first step to helping you attain your financial goals. Whether you need help with asset allocation, seeking in-depth financial statement analysis, or are looking for investment monitoring, I am here to guide you.

My firm’s focus is service, first and foremost. I’m only a phone call or text message away. Your money and financial future are my priority.

Ready to take the first step toward financial confidence? Reach out for a personalized financial planning consultation. Let’s turn your financial goals into reality together. 

Cheers,
John

Diversification, Asset allocation, Tactical Allocation and Rebalancing are strategies designed to help manage investment risk. It does not guarantee a profit or protect against investment loss in declining markets. No strategies assures success or protects against loss.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing refers to a class of investing that is also known as“sustainable investing.” This is a term for investments that seek positive returns and long-term impact on society, environment and the performance of the business. There are several different categories of sustainable investing including, impact investing, socially responsible investing (SRI), ESG and values- based investing.  The performance of an ESG fund may not match or correlate to that of its Index, either on a daily or aggregate basis due to factors such as fund expenses, imperfect correlation, rounding of share prices, changes to the composition of the Index, regulatory policies, high portfolio turnover and the use of leverage (if any). ESG investing carries unique risks and under certain market conditions, the fund may underperform funds that do not utilize a responsible investment strategy.

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