Our Investment Process and Principles

As a firm, Statera Financial Planners has fundamental philosophies that we follow in our investment selection process to building clients portfolios. We look at each fund individually, the manager of that fund, and also how they marry together with other selections we have made.

Here is a simplified methodology and the principles we follow to ensure the investment objectives match up to your financial goals!

1. Fund managers are chosen based on a set of ‘criteria filters’ that allow us to drill deeper into their mandates and performance. Managers are constantly being reviewed throughout the weeks and months and must earn their part of the portfolio on a consistent and ongoing basis. Our portfolio management is ever growing to adapt to new investment concepts.
2. Managers that have historically outperformed their peers over a 10-year period, will likely continue to do so. This does not mean that they have outperformed every year, but we look for 7+ out of the last 10. Consistent outperformance is what we seek ideally, to ensure the manager does not fall into the pattern of only providing value in a certain part of the market cycle.
3. Historically, markets have risen more years than they fall. 72% of the time the markets have advanced, meaning we don’t have to be perfectly right all the time to attract positive movements. However, it’s protecting the 28% of downward markets better than average that provides a true advantage.
4. We favour Active Management to capture more upside of returns and less downside than indexes (like the S&P 500 or TSX). WHAT happens is often less important than WHY it happens. If we know the ‘why’, we understand what value a fund or manager brings to the table on your behalf.
5. We are fee conscientious, as fees detract from returns. However, in the end, price has to be taken in context to the value provided.
6. We are selective on how we add volatility to a portfolio. Volatility is required to create returns, but not all volatility is rewarded by returns. We strive to create ‘lower than average’ volatile portfolios that can still be positioned to capture better than average returns over time.
7. Our focus is on managing assets our clients cannot afford to lose. We are not indulged by the ‘flavour of the month’ investment themes, and we do not try to ‘out guess’ the markets. We use our process and methodology to serve our clients interests for long-term sustainable success.

If you are interested in learning more about our process and how we incorporate these principles for you, reach out to your Statera Financial Planners team!