Alamo Asset Advisors

Services

 
1.  We are a fee only (fee for advice) Registered Investment Advisory firm.  Our fees are negotiated, based on account size and posted on the client agreement.

2.  Fidelity Investments is our custodian of choice.  Fidelity imposes small transaction fees that are described in our client agreement. 

3.  The client pays all transaction fees directly to Fidelity. Alamo Asset Advisors does not participate in any fee sharing whatsoever with Fidelity. We are always cognizant of fees when entering or exiting the market but feel this arrangement keeps the buy sell decision focused solely on what is best for the client’s account.

4.  We have 4 basic models: beginning accumulation accounts, income, total return, and growth. Some clients have a combination of these depending on their specific need and objective. We have tax friendly versions of these models for taxable accounts. We also employ tactical core and satellite strategies that allow us to work closely with our clients to create a customized version of these models to suit the client's needs.

5. By pooling all our client’s assets into models every client gets average cost on purchases and sells.  

6. Any client may request customized versions of his or her portfolio to hold a non-model security (IBM bonds, Exxon common, GE preferred, etc.) for personal reasons. However, we encourage clients to keep this to a minimum as it creates inefficiencies in our ability to allocate and place trades.

7.  We do not adhere to strategic, index or style box strategies. We are tactical allocation managers, deciding how much money we want in small, mid., large, international, or industry specific securities. Whether we are utilizing individual stocks, indexes, bonds, agencies, municipal bonds, alternative investments, etc. we evaluate the management of the company and/or funds for tenure, ability to manage in various cycles, and overall industry reputation. 
We are looking to follow the smart money which means buying stocks of companies or funds with smart management. In addition we evaluate fundamentals, analyst projections, charts, etc. to create an overall profile of the security. This is what we believe is the ‘science’ portion of what we do.  When looking at funds we look at market cycles, standard deviations, portfolio make up, returns net of fees, etc. to create a total picture.  With indexes we consider country, sector, and industry as well as other metrics prior to making the decision to invest. In the end, selection many times boils down to “gut feel”.
 
Anybody that says; "gut feel" ….what is that?  We simply point them to Warren Buffet.  He says he looks at “all the stuff” to create a gut feel then goes with his gut.  Investing is part science part art. The science portion is all the fundamentals, charts, trends, etc. The art is; gut feel.
 
8. Clients can fire us "at will" with a simple phone call to Fidelity to turn off our access to their accounts.  No fees, no contract penalties.  Fidelity simply guides the client on how to manage their own account on-line or assists the client in the search for another, appropriate investment advisory firm.  The client is free to manage themselves, or ask Fidelity to help them find another firm to help out, or move their assets to another custodian.
 
Early in our process we seek to:

We utilize basic asset class assumptions based on historical returns. Furthermore, we consider style and sector in our tactical allocations. Our approach is primarily a value oriented approach. Our goal is to establish close, long-term relationships with our clients, tailoring each portfolio to meet the client's specific investment goals and risk profiles We are also happy to accommodate clients with social or other unique investment considerations. Reducing risk is a cornerstone of our philosophy. We strive to purchase assets with favorable risk profiles over both short and long term horizons. As an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) we have a sworn fiduciary responsibility to put the client's interest over that of the firm. This differs from a Broker/Dealer in that the Broker Dealer representative is not considered a fiduciary. The fiduciary standard is the highest level of accountability recognized by the American legal system and we take that responsibility very seriously.