Most corporate bond investors follow a buy and hold approach. They do well when bond prices are flat or rising, but can suffer the loss of principal when interest rates rise, or economic weakness causes bond prices to drop. The goal of the Managed High Yield program, which is sub-advised by Kensington Analytics, is to invest in a diversified portfolio of high-yield bonds using traditional or exchange traded mutual funds when market conditions are positive for bond investments, and then move into money market funds or government bonds during unfavorable market conditions.

The objective of the Conservative Growth program is to provide investors with a positive rate of return every year regardless of market conditions. This strategy is ideal for investors seeking a moderately conservative investment that is typically weighted 70% fixed income and 30% equities.

If market conditions warrant, this strategy maintains the flexibility to overweight or underweight either portion. The equity portion of the strategy is a non-diversified strategy that invests in style and sector specific mutual funds that have the potential to outperform similar investments over an intermediate-term basis. If there are not any favorable investments this portion may use “bear” funds or move to cash. The income portion has the flexibility to be allocated into any taxable fixed-income asset class which could include; high yield corporate bond funds, government bonds, domestic and international bond funds, TIPS, and others. In negative market conditions the fixed income portion of the portfolio can move to cash or utilize inverse bond funds.

The goal of the program is to provide clients the ability and opportunity to participate in the various financial markets and to provide that participation with a reduced level of risk. The program is based on a disciplined risk reduction strategy of dynamic asset allocation/modeling. Utilizing a proprietary model that is trend following in nature and based on technical indicators, the program looks to put capital at risk only at appropriate times. The model used in this program is 90% mechanical and allows for the manager to override the model 10% of the time. This component allows for flexibility during unusual catastrophic events. Using a large universe of mutual funds, the program looks to capitalize on positive movements of different types of funds. Both short and intermediate time frames are capitalized on. Equity, bond, domestic and international funds are all options to be used within this program. Position size will vary accordingly with money market positions being taken as a defensive stance.

All investments assume some risk. It is not feasible to expect that risk to principal can be completely eliminated from any investment, including mutual funds. This program seeks to have a high reward to risk ratio. Capital preservation and consistent returns are the major driving forces behind the program.

This program is suitable for individuals whose primary objectives are to preserve capital and enhance returns of a comparable buy and hold bond portfolio through regular monitoring and adjustments to the asset allocation. The Income Plus program strives to provide growth and income through a portfolio primarily composed of high yield corporate bond mutual funds. Income Plus also has the flexibility to allocate money into other bond categories and income oriented asset classes. The other asset classes will include all categories of bonds and equity based income classes such as REIT’s, utilities, and preferred stock. Having access to bonds through mutual funds provides broad diversification and trading flexibility with little or no transaction fees. Purchasing mutual funds also minimizes the default risk of individual bonds. Management of the Income Plus programs relies upon investment models that are primarily trend following systems which will seek to capitalize on intermediate price analysis. In addition, some relative strength models are used to evaluate the attractiveness of one bond sector in relation to another.Because of the active management, the models will seek to identify times when market conditions are determined to be generally unfavorable to be invested in bonds. The program then has the ability to move 100% to money market funds to preserve capital, or to use inverse bonds funds and other defensive mutual funds that have the ability to capitalize on market declines.

This program is designed for investors where income and preservation of principal are the primary investment goals. This portfolio, sub-advised by Brian Carruthers & Associates is a tactically managed bond portfolio which invests 100% in bond mutual funds, primarily using high yield corporate bonds with the ability to utilize other bond categories such as US Government bonds, investment grade corporate bonds, and international bond funds. Money market funds may also be utilized during defensive periods.

The Strategic Income program is a tactically managed, fixed income strategy. It is designed to generate current income, with growth as a secondary objective. The portfolio can utilize all fixed income asset classes. It looks for opportunities in segments of the fixed income markets that may have been adversely impacted by temporary setbacks, but have good recovery potential. We believe that as we move through economic cycles, that different types of fixed income asset classes become more attractive than others, and we look to allocate the portfolio to various bond asset classes as economic conditions change. When market conditions are generally unfavorable for bonds, the program may shift into money market funds, rising-rate bond funds, and other defensive funds designed to preserve purchasing power and promote stability within the portfolio.

The Tax Aware Fixed Income program is a tactically managed, fixed income strategy. It is designed to generate income, with growth as a secondary objective. The portfolio primarily concentrates its assets in tax-free municipal bonds funds and ETFs. Taxable bond mutual funds and ETFs are utilized in the portfolio when they are viewed as providing better total return potential than tax-free municipal bonds. During various stages of the economic cycle, we may utilize higher quality bonds to diminish credit risk. At other times we will look to utilize high yield municipal bonds when we believe that taking on additional credit risk is likely to be rewarded. The programs tactical nature allows for us to adjust investment holdings quickly when needed, and can move fully to cash and rising rate bond funds if defensive positions are warranted.