Leak #5 in Your Piggy Bank

Is there a leak in your piggy bank?

To summarize, we have identified four leaks in our piggy bank thus far:

1. Not investing sufficiently in growth and investing too much in fixed income.
2. Not earning what we expect. Dalbar studies show how most individual investors consistently earn less than their actual investments because of timing, switching, and selling during times of stress. We describe the behavior as the "buy low, sell high" syndrome.
3. Inflation
4. Timing the market

What is the 5th Leak?

The fifth leak is fees and expenses.

The financial services business has evolved into a fee for service businesses like accounting and legal.

Price is what you pay; value is what you get. Warren Buffet

Price is simple. Everyone understands price.

Value is not simple. Value is complex and has many variables.

It is the value part that is challenging. Some people may want to believe that choosing the lowest price assures the best value. We all know it only assures the lowest cost. At Curran we believe price is important and fees should be competitive. We also believe you should be receiving more for your money than investment management.

When you engage Curran Wealth Management you can expect high quality investment management along with competitive fees to include comprehensive wealth management services.

First let’s begin with investments.

When we illustrate performance, we show actual results that we can show were earned by our clients. Model returns and back tested performance are not the same as client returns.

Did clients own the selected securities over the entire time? Choosing winners after the race is finished will not serve your interests well. But it could incorrectly lead you to believe that hypothetical is real. Make sure performance can be shown by the advisor to include actual client’s earned returns, not what they would have earned had they owned an assortment of investments selected based on past performance.

The graph shows how our approximately 350 clients investing in our Core Growth Equity strategy have done over the past 25 years.

Service is another important contributor to the value proposition.

We believe client support is best when delivered through a team of salaried professionals who are evaluated and paid based on how well they service client needs. Our goal is to give you a service force uncompromised by selling quotas. We believe financial advice and services are best when delivered by a team of professionals and not by individuals whose primary compensation is decided by how well they sell. Do you really believe your interests are best served if the organization you hire to provide you with financial advice pays their employees based on their sales?

Our wealth management includes professionally delivering advice on planning activities around estate planning, retirement planning, education funding and other topics related to your financial security.

Tax Services are becoming more important in investment advice. At Curran we offer tax preparation and planning through our affiliated company, Hippo Tax Services.

Investment management through Curran Investment Management gives you active management in equities and fixed income.

We believe are prices [fees] are competitive but our services are superior. Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Warren Buffet.

Sincerely,

Founder & Co-Chief Executive Officer