Investment Strategies and Affiliates

Investment (as opposed to savings and protection) strategies utilized by our firm fall into two primary categories - Active Portfolio Management and Alternative Investments / Direct Participation Programs.  You can learn more by viewing the E-Seminars titles linked below.

Active Portfolio Management

E-Seminar - "The Value of Active Management"

Successful investing in the stock market requires a significant commitment of time, energy and attention. While most investors manage their investments part-time, Portfolio Management is a means of hiring a team who spend their entire careers researching the markets and managing portfolios.

Most people don't fix their own cars, or learn to perform heart surgery. They hire people who spend their lives focusing on these skills. The same can be said for money managment. As an investor, you MUST stay the course to be successful. While returns on stocks and bonds have been very rewarding over the better part of the last century, the majority of investors have not been successful at growing their wealth in the stock and bond markets, especially since 2000.

Time and time again, we hear, "I bought at the top and sold at the bottom." Emotion and not following a disciplined, systematic approach is the primary reason most investors fail to match the general stock market indexes.

With the real posibility we are in a another extended bear market which began in 2000 and may last for a through 2015 to 2025, the need for managers who have demonstrated the ability to perform in sideways markets is crucial.  Both of the Active Portfolio Managers have significantly outperformed the market indices since the beginning of 2000, and merit a closer look if you looking for a more stable and productive approach to navigating the choppy waters of an extended bear market in equities.rket in equities. approach to navigating the choppy waters of ann 

Alternative Investment Strategies (Direct Participation Programs)

E-Seminars - "Guide to Direct Investments" - PART I - ALLOCATIONS    PART II - ALTERNATIVES

The most common DPPs are non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), equipment leasing corporations, and energy exploration and development limited partnerships.  One way to invest in tangible assets is through investment programs called direct participation programs (DPPs). When you have a direct investment in tangible or real assets, such as real estate, leased equipment, and energy resources, you own a share of the actual assets of an operating company and may benefit from the assets' value, typically the income they produce.

Investing through a DPP gives you partial ownership of actual physical assets. For example, if you invest in a non-traded REIT, you're a part owner of the real estate holdings of the REIT. If you invest in an equipment leasing corporation, you're part owner of the actual equipment offered for lease by the corporation. And if you invest in an oil development corporation, you're part owner of the corporation's wells and the proceeds of oil sales.

The pooled investment structure of DPPs is sometimes described as a way to provide the average investor with opportunities previously available only to the wealthy. Because you invest as part of a group, you don't need the means to acquire a large percentage stake in the venture or fund your own start-up company to invest in new businesses.

In each case, the sponsors who offer DPPs pool your funds and the funds of other participating investors, typically a thousand or more of them, to make investments they have identified as appropriate to the program's investment goals. The sponsors are responsible for managing the assets of the program as long as it continues to operate and for devising an appropriate strategy for ending it.

The legal structures that provide the foundations for different types of direct investment programs vary. REITs are a special type of corporation. Equipment leasing businesses are structured as limited liability corporations (LLCs). Corporate Debt investmetns are pooled within Business Development Companies (BDCs). Energy ventures are formed as limited partnerships. In practice, however, the investments behave as limited partnerships, regardless of their differing legal structures.

In brief, a limited partnership has a general partner, in this case the sponsor, who runs the business and a number oflimited partners who invest but aren't involved in the partnership's operation or liable for losses beyond their own investment.

DISCLOSURE: These investments are non-traded, and therefore lack the liquidity associated with a investments that are listed on public exchanges (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, etc.). These investments may not be suitable for all investors. Individual states and the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) have developed specific standards for investor accrediation. To learn if you meet the accreditation standards of your state or an SEC-registered DPP, please refer to the Offering Memorandum or Prospectus for specific language and speak to your financial professional.

Accreditation Categories:

• General Investment (GI) - while these investments are available to most investors with low minimums, suitability evaluation is still required.
• State Accredited Investors (SAI) - In Texas, net worth requirement of $250,000, or net worth of $70,000 combined with income of $70,000, is required.  Accreditation standards differ from state to state.
• Accredited Investors Only (AI) - As defined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an accredited investor is someone who has a non-residential net worth of at least 1MM, or income of $200,000 for individuals / $300,000 per married couple.

Where available, links to the sponsors websites are provided.  Program Prospectus / Private Placement Memorandums are available through our office in conjunction with a meeting to determine suitability specific to your needs and circumstances.

Investment Sponsors - OPEN PROGRAMS