Willow Creek focuses on your individual needs as we consider the vast world of investments. The complexities, hidden fees, and mysteries of investing are eliminated. In the end, we create a portfolio customized to your individual goals and resources.
We ask you about your values.
And help you clarify your goals—what you want your money to do for you. Together, we create an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) articulating exactly how you will reach your goals, outlining your optimal asset allocation and selecting appropriate investments you are comfortable with.
We advocate diversification and asset allocation.
An important component of successful investment management is reducing risks that do not generate additional expected portfolio return. The key to eliminating these risks is diversification, which is the formal name for the principle: You should not put all your eggs in one basket.
An additional risk that is non-diversifiable is called systematic (market) risk. A number of empirical studies have proven asset allocation or asset class selection – the choice of riskier assets (e.g. stocks) vs. less risky assets (e.g. bonds or cash equivalents), for instance – is what matters most in determining the risk and return of a portfolio. Willow Creek Advisors work extensively with each client to establish a portfolio mix that meets their individual risk/reward profile.
We keep your costs low.
Lower expenses effectively boost your net return. We often choose low-cost index and structured asset class mutual funds for core investment positions to minimize costs.
We employ a proprietary rebalancing methodology.
Enforcing an effective sell high/ buy low strategy is one of the keys to reaching portfolio performance objectives. Willow Creek Financial has developed an effective proprietary rebalancing program - look often, but only rebalance asset classes per defined targets. Academia has recently published several papers supporting the favorable results of this methodology.
We suggest regular portfolio reviews.
Good communication insures your investments stay on track and makes the investing process as stress free as possible. Regular portfolio reviews promote client education and insure a sense of empowerment. Willow Creek finds it is as important to reiterate a disciplined investment philosophy in market upturns as it is in volatile downturns.