Services
- Free Initial Consultation
- Relationship based service
- Investment Philosophy, Asset Allocation, and Monitoring
- Trust Services Through Affiliation with Others
- Estate and Retirement Planning
- Wealth Management
- Income and Estate Tax Advantaged Investments
- Client Education
CFM does not try to be the biggest investment advisor. This allows us to have a personal relationship with our clients and understand their unique goals and objectives. Client portfolios are all individual and are tailored to their risk profile and return criteria.
Investment Philosophy, Asset Allocation, and Monitoring
CFM believes that diversification and time reduce risk more than any other factor. We also believe that portfolios should be slightly adjusted within predetermined guidelines to address economic and market outlook.
CFM provides asset allocation guidelines for each portfolio based on the client’s goal for the investments. Retirement distributions, college funding and maximizing an estate are examples of possible client objectives. CFM provides ongoing monitoring of the portfolio performance and their underlying assets to fund the client goal.
Each month CFM updates our economic outlook and investment research on all client investments to answer two questions: (1) should portfolios be adjusted more defensively or more growth oriented based upon current economic outlook and (2) are CFM client investments performing well compared to peers? We are looking for longer term trends in both economic outlook and investment performance.
Trust Services in Affiliation with Others
The financial service industry has changed dramatically and will continue to change. The good news in technological advancement is that trust clients can now utilize CFM in affiliation with a corporate trustee. CFM can computer link our investment management with their trust services. The result is local, personal, all-inclusive management of trust assets at CFM.
Estate and Retirement Planning
During the initial meeting with prospective clients we gain an understanding of their estate and retirement profile. With regard to estate planning, we have expertise to recognize planning opportunities and implement estate plans with appropriate titling and beneficiary designations. We have long standing relationships with several attorneys that provide estate planning documents, or we can work with an attorney of your choice.
The single most important question in retirement planning is how much is enough. In the initial meetings with prospective clients we develop a one-page retirement funding projection that becomes a financial road map. In addition, we have extensive knowledge in income and estate tax retirement planning rules such as early retirement distributions and proper structuring of minimum distributions at age seventy and one-half.
CFM provides ongoing estate and income tax planning as clients prepare for the transfer of their accumulated wealth to future generations, charities, via gifts or using trust instruments. CFM also will work with your Estate Planning attorney to utilize legal or insurance strategies to protect your accumulated wealth from creditors.
Income and Estate Tax Advantaged Investments
CFM positions investments to minimize the estate, gift and income tax burden for clients and their heirs. A fundamental concept in investment management is the risk/reward relationship. Greater return means greater risk. However, when analyzing investment goals within the context of income and estate tax burden, many times assets may be repositioned to provide significantly higher after tax return without increasing the investment risk.
We believe an informed client is the best client. Those who understand the concepts of financial planning choices and investment fundamentals help make informed decisions about their financial future. Meetings with clients involve learning the fundamental and technical concepts that affect risk and return. The learning
process helps take the emotion out of investing.
