Our View
Enter Your Email To Receive Our Weekly Commentary & Quarterly Newsletter
Managing Money For You and Your Family
Our Approach
Managing personal or family finances is more complex today than ever before. There are more demands on capital, more options to evaluate, and more pressure to invest wisely. Many people believe they need assistance, but don't know where to turn for helpful, unbiased advice. Stockbrokers, bankers, and insurance agents compete to sell products, but often don't spend enough time considering an individual's or family's needs and desires. Garrison: Private Investor was formed to remedy this situation. We are a fee-only advisor focused on our clients' interests, not sales commissions. We listen attentively to obtain a thorough understanding of our clients' financial situation, goals and aspirations. Then we work with them on an individual basis, to help them achieve their financial objectives.
Garrison: Private Investor is the division of SEC-registered Garrison Asset Management that helps individuals and families build wealth and create multi-generational financial legacies. We offer private investors the sophisticated investment management services normally reserved for large institutions and the very wealthy, and combine them with a dedication to the highest quality personal service.
Our Commitment
We established Garrison: Private Investor because we believe families need more than just knowledgeable and impartial investment advice. To be truly successful, they also need access to the sophisticated investment management services we have provided for many years to our large institutional clients: municipalities, banks, insurance companies, corporations, pension funds, foundations and endowments. When we formed our private investor division, we made a commitment to give individuals, families, businesses and professional practices the same opportunities as our institutional clients to accumulate, protect and grow capital. And it's been rewarding. We are helping our private clients build wealth and financial security, and create legacies benefiting future generations.
Investment Strategy
At Garrison Asset Management, we take the time to get to know our clients. We review their current assets and expectations and assess their long-term financial requirements and sensitivity to risk. Then we develop personalized investment strategies and create customized stock and bond portfolios to help each client build and protect wealth within comfortable risk parameters.
Garrison: Private Investors' principals are experts at investment planning. In initial meetings, we analyze a client's current and future financial requirements for such objectives as funding retirement, or children or grandchildren's education. We then determine the client's investment time horizon and sensitivity to risk. Together we generate a joint Investment Policy Statement that drives our investment strategy. Each client's portfolio is carefully tailored to balance the client's growth requirements and risk tolerance with an appropriate mix of equities and fixed income securities.
Equity & Fixed Income
We tend to favor a balance of growth and value stocks, especially if we can purchase them below intrinsic value. We believe great fortunes are made from owning great companies - the innovators that solve problems, create new markets, and improve our world. But success requires rigorous research, careful risk management, and the patience to hold through market cycles.
Depending on each client's time horizon, tax situation, and risk tolerance, we add an appropriate mix of fixed income securities to help mitigate market risk by providing stability and income. We select high quality corporate, municipal, and government bonds and diversify holdings by maturity and issuer class.
Stock Selection Process
Our research-driven investment process includes both traditional fundamental analysis and quantitative metrics. The firm focuses its efforts on identifying high quality companies whose financial strength and strategic vision provide maximum potential for long-term growth. We evaluate a company's prospect for earnings, revenue growth and margin expansion, and its track record for meeting or beating expectations. We analyze management's ability to adapt to shifting market conditions, instill tight internal controls and build shareholder value. Using quantitative metrics, we assess the stock's performance relative to others in its industry group and to the market as a whole. Our objective is to purchase high quality companies trading below projected value and hold them until their value is fully realized.
Bond Selection Process
Garrison's fixed income objective is to maximize income without jeopardizing capital. We select high quality bonds and seek to build portfolios with varied issuer classes and diverse maturities. Our proprietary analytics alert us to possible changes in ratings characteristics, before the agencies take action, which provides an added measure of protection.
Risk Management
We believe that risk management is as important as selection. Garrison's investment style - buying at a reasonable price or below intrinsic value - provides investors with an underlying margin of safety. Investing in companies with significant tangible assets or strong dividend policies adds further downside protection. We also manage risk through portfolio diversification, position limits and daily benchmark performance comparisons. We hold from 25 to 40 stocks in a variety of industries and sectors, limit initial positions to no more than 5% of equity holdings, and employ programs of phased-in buying and selling.
Disciplined Sell Criteria
We utilize clearly defined sell criteria to realize profits and maintain our portfolio risk profile. On the upside, we generally sell a position when it reaches our valuation target. Conversely, a position is generally sold if there is a major earnings disappointment, a negative change in the company's outlook, or significant deterioration in any key performance measurement. An investment position may also be sold or reduced if a more attractive opportunity is identified.
Copyright © 2006 - 2009 Garrison Asset Management, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.
 | ||||||
