Core Philosophy

Investors fall into two basic categories: active investors or passive investors. Active investors believe in trying to time the market and pick winning stocks. Passive investors believe in capturing the returns markets provide and doing so in a low-cost, tax-efficient manner.

BAM Network advisors adhere to an investment strategy that is based in more than 50 years of research by Nobel Prize-winning and top academic researchers studying the world's markets.¹ This research shows that financial markets perform well over long periods of time, even though there will be times of volatility. In addition to evaluating your total financial picture, BAM advisors design a custom investment portfolio using these core strategies for their clients seeking long-term growth in a tax-efficient manner.

While few (if any) would argue that markets are perfectly efficient, we believe that markets are largely efficient. We believe there is no feasible way to determine which stocks will rise, nor is there a way to identify managers who can.

Instead, we believe that the most prudent way to build client portfolios is to tailor a portfolio to match an investor’s ability, willingness and need to take risk. We construct these portfolios with emphasis on controlling overall costs and maximizing tax efficiency.

We subscribe to Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), which has four basic concepts:

1. Markets process information so rapidly when determining security prices that it is extremely difficult to gain a competitive edge by exploiting market anomalies.
2. Over time, riskier assets provide higher expected returns as compensation to investors for accepting greater risk.
3. Adding high-risk, low-correlating asset classes to a portfolio can actually reduce volatility and increase expected rates of return.
4. Passive asset class fund portfolios can be designed with the expectation of delivering over time the highest expected returns for a chosen level of risk.

Modern Portfolio Theory also shows us diversification within and across asset classes is of utmost importance. Investing can be risky enough. Taking additional risk by placing assets in just a few investments is not a prudent way to achieving financial goals (especially since undiversified risk has not resulted in superior expected returns). We build portfolios that diversify within and across asset classes to lower the risk of portfolios while maintaining similar (or even the same) expected returns.

We believe our approach fosters a relationship grounded in fiduciary obligation, while effectively incorporating academic evidence to pursue financial independence.

If you would like to talk to a BAM Network Advisor about customized wealth management strategies that can help you reach your financial goals, please call us at (866) 417-2211 or submit our inquiry form by clicking here: Find a BAM Advisor.

^{1 Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller and William Sharpe. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1990," Nobelprize.org.}