Before you invest (with anyone), explore the big questions below.

A DOZEN BIG QUESTIONS

If these questions puzzle you, you are not alone... and you have come to the right place. Our investment solutions plan for resilience in diverse and unexpected economic scenarios.

Is an active or passive investment strategy best for this uncertain economy?
What is a good rate of return for the decade ahead? Is 5% too low? Is 15% possible?
Are Emerging Markets a sure bet or over-hyped? Is the US economy stuck in a low growth trap?
Can the bond market rise further? Will stocks revisit the lows of deadly 2008?
Will we suffer inflation (like US in 1970s) or deflation (like Japan in 1990s) or neither?
Should you buy gold now? How much commodities should you own?
Will the US Dollar decline? Will the Euro collapse? How will it impact you?
Which investment products have merit? Are top-rated mutual funds any good?
Are index or exchange traded funds always the superior low cost solution?
Do hedge funds and private equity funds live up to their tall promises?
Are derivative-based "structured products" too good to be true?
Do illiquid alternatives earn a premium? How much portoflio leverage is prudent?

HOW WE DO IT

We follow a disciplined and rigorous investment strategy which is based on the leading academic and professional investment research, including the work of leading Nobel Laureates. We aim to maximize your long-term success in both good and bad economic scenarios by using alternative or traditional asset classes, or a judicious combination of both, and balancing four critical investment objectives:

we maximize your risk-adjusted Return which grows your wealth with the highest efficiency.
our minimum-Risk approach ensures the only risks you take are those that you will be paid for.
we maximize your portfolio's Resilience by stress-testing it, to prepare for adverse economic economic conditions which inevitably recur very few years, resulting in an "all weather" portfolio.
we minimize your investment Cost. By cutting cost proactively we boost your net return.

Of course, all this is easier said than done. What makes us confident we can deliver?

We have more than a decade of high caliber investment experience working in big banks and two decades of personal investment experience. Plus a deep understanding of leading academic and professional research. Combining these we artfully balance the four investment objectives above as detailed in our upcoming book The Alternative Advantage.

SIMPLE YET SOPHISTICATED

The Smart Alternative min-max investment strategy is surprisingly simple yet sophisticated.

We are strictly research-led investors, not speculators, nor forecasters. We carefully apply leading academic and professional research that has validated certain successful investment strategies across both bull and bear markets.

We are particularly indebted to the work of eminent researchers like Harry Markowitz, Robert Merton, Robert Shiller, Eugene Fama, Ken French, Rob Arnott, and others who collectively proved to the industry the wisdom of combining efficient market theory with behavioral finance to invest wisely. These time-tested research findings can help you achieve your wealth goals regardless of which direction the financial markets move.

As detailed in Investment Choices, we use a combination of the smart passive and semi-active approaches to investing depending on which portfolio type you select. We avoid the hyper-active and speculative strategies promoted by many banks and advisers since, in our extensive experience, they do not work often enough to be worthwhile, and are sometimes downright dangerous. The industry promotes such strategies since many in the industry are commission-driven and benefit from a hyper-active management, even though there is abundant evidence that it does not result in higher risk-adjusted return after adjusting for transaction costs and taxes.

We believe the only risks you should take are those you will be paid for with high probability. Our expertise allows us to maximize risk-adjusted return, which means return generated per unit of risk, while simultaneously cutting your cost of investing.

BALANCING MIN AND MAX

We simultaneously optimize your portfolio across four essential dimensions: Return, Risk, Resilience and Cost. Only by carefully balancing all four can you achieve an excellent investment portfolio that will stand the test of time. When one of the four is neglected, investors inevitably suffer, sooner or later. We use an iterative optimization process to achieve this balance. We firmly believe that achieving a stable balance between these conflicting goals is the key to maximizing your wealth in the long term.

Most investors pay too high a total investment cost, often far more than they realize. We help you minimize it, since every percent of cost reduction directly leads to higher returns. We believe there are many low cost ways to invest which offer just as much benefit as glamorous higher cost strategies. By eliminating both visible and hidden fees, you can directly boost your portfolio's return. And we believe cost cutting is easily achieved for most investors even after accounting for our low fees.

UPCOMING

The Smart Alternative min-max investment strategy will be featured in a book scheduled for publication later this year.