Scarsdale's Investment Philosophy
Goals
We believe that individual investors should align their investments with their financial goals and life objectives. While large institutional investors might speculate in risky investments, we believe individuals should focus on generating a predictable and tax-efficient cash flow to fund their retirement and lifestyle.
Safety & Cash Flow
Investments for individuals should provide both relative safety and a predictable cash flow. Your investments should not interfere with your sleep at night. High-quality individual bonds should be considered as an important part of your portfolio because they provide a predictable cash flow, reduce investment risk, and enable a predictable financial plan.
Diversification
High-quality bonds held their value during the market crashes of 2000 and 2008-2009. What percentage of your portfolio should be in high-quality bonds?
After-Tax & After-Fee Returns
All investments should be compared on an after-tax basis and only after all costs of investing are considered. High taxes and high investment costs will always substantially reduce returns.
Stocks Are Speculations
Past investment returns should NOT be relied upon to project future returns. The world has changed and so will investment returns.
Returns on all investments other than high-quality bonds are unpredictable.
High-quality individual bonds will come due at their face value on their call date or due date. High-quality bonds provide predictable returns and predictable cash flow.
All investment returns should be viewed on a risk-adjusted basis.
We consider stocks and other risk aspects to be speculations because their returns are not predictable.
Speculations:
•May or may not outperform bonds.
•Will have more risk and volatility than high-quality bonds.
• May be subject to high taxes, transaction fees, and bad timing.
We believe that the risk of a severe market decline for risk assets increases, rather than decreases, as the investment period lengthens.
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Hildy & Stan Richelson
35
Years