Got ALPHA? Whether you realize it or not, every day you seek Alpha. Alpha is defined in many ways: it is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, or the highest ranked value. It is the brightest star in a constellation. In finance, it is defined as a positive variance against the market or comparative benchmark. Ken Stern & Associates (KS&A) seeks to add Alpha to you and your family.
In terms of your investments, if you had positive Alpha, your return was better than the average, index, or what was expected. Through KS&A’s proprietary ALPHASYSTEM discipline and intelligence, you can seek to predispose yourself to achieving Alpha and thrive in light of chaos and the unpredictability of life.
The ALPHASYSTEM is a proprietary system that takes a proactive three-pronged approach to investment strategy and wealth management. It is designed to help increase your net worth, protect your assets and provide the tools to create your living legacy throughout varying economies and stages of life. Its three integral components are Alpha Wealth, Alpha Protection and Alpha Legacy.
ALPHAWEALTH Alpha Wealth is designed to create and build wealth throughout varying economies and market cycles. KS&A focuses on its experience of “what works” and what the market is revealing. Meaning, long term (secular) bull, bear, and flat markets must be incorporated into investment strategies not simply “buy and hope”.
CORE
Core seeks to capitalize on both macro trends and deep value strategies both aimed at long term growth with a goal to outperform a broad market index such as Standard and Poor’s 500 Index with similar volatility ratios. These tasks are accomplished through key disciplines. We create Macro Models which are sectors and industries that are most attractive and undervalued based on the economic climate. By over- and under-weighting the sectors, we strive to achieve superior results.Certain industries and business will be essential to the world over the next several years. Tracking population growth, consumer habits, and business trends, we use quantitative analysis to seek rising stars; companies rising above their peer groups measured by many factors including earnings, sales and cash flow.
TACTICAL
Every market cycle creates a situation where the foolishness of the “herd” causes for specific asset classes to bubble or create, what we believe, to be an incredible short-term, mispriced (either upside or downside) opportunity. Panic trades cause assets to often be bid up to potentially unsustainable levels, and/or incredible companies and sectors to trade at deep discounts to what we perceive to be fair value. These windows of opportunity are usually short term, often lasting only a few months. We seek to capitalize on these opportunities.
UNCORRELATED/HEDGE
Not all asset classes move in the same direction at the same time. If two types of assets move in tandem, they are highly correlated; and if they move independently of one another, then they are uncorrelated. This portion of the portfolio seeks to invest in asset classes that have very low, negative or no correlation to the stock market depending on market trends and investment objectives. This could include real estate, market neutral strategies, fixed income, or even private equity. The goal of the uncorrelated allocation is to provide a hedge to the rest of the portfolio and add Alpha during times of stock market declines. Of course, this goal may be realized and often during both the short and intermediate terms, asset classes will revert and move in a direction inconsistent with the stated goal.
ALPHAPROTECTION Alpha Protection is proactive. For successful wealth management, our goal is to help you facilitate your plan for life events, as well as develop a course of action if and when life’s unplanned events do occur, i.e. job transitions, disability, divorce, death, lawsuits, etc. The old adage, “It’ll never happen to me” is a valuable strategy. Consider your children or your grandchildren and the divorce rate national average reported at 50%; or think about escalating health care costs in relation to the life expectancy rate in America hitting a record high of 77.6 years.
KS&A’s five levels of Asset Protection are designed to help protect you from jeopardizing your standards of living and / or compromising your financial freedom. The core strategies on which we focus are designed to help you overcome and triumph over Volatile Economics, Changing Tax Legislation and Improper Planning; Threats, Risks & Scams; Health Care Dynamics; Family Matters; and Legacy Planning.
For instance, have you established your Power Players Checklist? Or, whom have you chosen to represent you should you become incapacitated, and why? Or how have you ensured that your assets will be maintained in the spirit in which you intended? These are overwhelming questions that will help you to potentially achieve KS&A’s five levels of Asset Protection.
ALPHALEGACYYour legacy, it’s more than simple material belongings for your heirs. It’s your life. It’s what you stood for; what you have learned during your life; your memories that you wish to convey to your friends and loved ones (your “stories”); your values and core belief system; as well as your financial interests and bequests. It is commonplace for people to focus on the latter, “What do I give?” or “What do I get?” Legacy planning can be far more involved and meaningful. So to maximize your legacy, begin now, not after death.
KS&A’s legacy planning component of its ALPHASYSTEM provides you with the tools to create your living legacy structure in order for you to pass on your priceless, unmatched gift… your thumbprint on this world.
Imagine that you only had a limited time left to live. A daunting thought. What would you want to impart upon your family and loved ones? Don’t leave with any regrets. Your living legacy gives you the opportunity to share any words of praise and encouragement, forgiveness and apologies, words of wisdom, as well as your hopes and blessing for their future. If you were to become incapacitated or even meet an untimely calling today, would your loved ones know where to locate your important papers? Would they know where to find your passwords (email, on-line accounts, and the like)?
These are very important responsibilities, yet many fail to complete this phase of legacy planning. Understandably, these tasks are daunting, complex and time consuming. But it doesn’t change the fact that one day you may get sick and become incapacitated.
Visit the Special Reports page to find or request these tools to help you get started on creating your Alpha Legacy.
FIVE WISHES . DOCUMENT LOCATOR . LETTER OF INSTRUCTION
Contact KS&A today to learn how to obtain your complimentary Alpha Analysis!