Investment Advisory Services

 

Investment Advisory Services

 

 

Daily Portfolio Investment Management

  • Allows for freedom to pursue other interests
  • Provides discipline to follow your investment objectives
  • Identifies value for your portfolio
  • Gives peace of mind - having a team of professionals monitoring your portfolio daily
  • Provides a "backup quarterback" for future needs

Independent Custodian of Assets - Pershing, LLC - A Subsidiary of Bank of New York

We are pleased to announce that we now provide the highest level of excess account protection. Securities held in custody by Pershing for your account are protected up to the total amount held in the account. Of this total, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) provides $500,000 of coverage, including $100,000 for claims for cash. The remaining coverage, on securities only, is provided by Pershing through a commercial insurer.

The account protection applies when a SIPC member firm fails financially and is unable to meet obligations to securities clients, but it does not protect against losses from the rise and fall in the market value of investments.

Portfolios

Aggressive Growth Portfolio: All Stock Portfolio

An aggressive trading portfolio system that blends a stocks relative value, relative safety, and relative timing along with a market timing model to determine when you should be invested. A more aggressive approach than the all ETF Portfolio.

Aggressive Growth Portfolio: All ETF Portfolio

This strategy looks for ETF’s that are rated a buy or a hold. It also looks for ETF’s with the highest combination of rising price momentum as well as the ability to resist severe or lengthy price decline. The objective is to maximize gains in a rising market and avoid losses in a declining market.

Growth and Income Portfolio: A Balanced Portfolio

Key to this portfolio is moderate growth potential with income as a secondary consideration. The portfolio is structured with the goal of offsetting temporary weakness in one area with strength in another. We’ll normally concentrate holdings of 50-60% equities and 40-50% in debt or cash instruments depending on market conditions. Managed in a moderate manner with less appreciation potential than the Aggressive Growth Portfolios, but also with less volatility.

Conservative Portfolio: High Level Income Producing

Our focus is to provide above average income with some growth potential to offset the effects of the increases in the cost of living from year to year. We invest in a mix of equity investments and debt securities. Conservatively managed with a goal of consistent returns achieved with relatively low levels of risk.

Summary

An important aspect of all of our non-qualified portfolios is the return after taxes. This has become more important than ever with the recently passed capital gains tax cut. With long term capital gains tax rate less than half of the highest rate applied to short term capital gains, holding investments for the required term becomes imperative. Our emphasis in all of our portfolios is intended to take full advantage of this valuable tax reduction. The value of deferring taxes as long as it is prudent is important in increasing after-tax return. This discipline also allows our clients to pass their investments on to their heirs on a tax-free, stepped-up basis.

Estate Planning

First Security Capital Management, Inc. is available to assist you or your trustee in case of illness, incapacity, or death. These services include the following:

  • Consultations with the successor trustee
  • Assistance with tax preparation
  • Filing for life insurance benefits
  • Obtaining fiduciary identification numbers when needed
  • Assistance in obtaining an attorney
  • Minimizing estate settlement fees
  • Re-registration of assets
  • Preparing an estate inventory and date of death values
  • Assisting with partial and final distributions
  • Contacting pension benefit departments and social security for survivor benefits or the cessation of benefits

Our belief is that in a time of need, let family take care of family, let us take care of the paperwork.

FOLLOW THE MONEY ™

FOLLOW THE MONEY™ is First Security Capital Management LLC’s proprietary money management (and risk management) system that uses various technical approaches in search of money flow in or out of the stock market.  Stock prices are a function of supply and demand.  When there are more buyers than sellers, money is flowing into the market and prices tend to rise.  When there are more sellers than buyers, money is flowing out of the market and prices tend to go down.  Money flow can help determine whether the market is trending upward or downward.  These indicators help tell us how we should invest in our various portfolios-should we be invested or should we become defensive.  Other factors, such as liquidity, also seem to have more of an effect on market trends than do the fundamentals of a company or sector.

The process starts with the monitoring of over 8000 stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) on a daily basis and used as a whole to determine market direction.  The use of various technical indicators allow us to see daily price change, volume change, relative timing, change of momentum and overbought or oversold conditions.  This develops a trend (risk reward ratio) on whether money is flowing into (accumulation) or out of the markets (distribution).  Often, Managers of mutual funds, pensions and hedge funds can help move markets up if they are buying into the market or to move the markets down if they are selling out.  This creates either an upward or downward trend that can last for days, weeks or months.

Our strategy looks for equities that have the highest combination of rising price, volume and accumulation (money flowing in) while using risk management strategies such as protective stop/loss measures when there is a distribution trend to maximize gains or limit losses.