Our number 1 responsibility is to build a portfolio that gets you the best possible return for your given risk level.

Our second responsibility is to get you the best possible return, period.

There have been Nobel prizes won based on this concept known as the Efficient Frontier.

Yes, it is the cornerstone, but it is not the end. We differentiate ourselves from our peers in that we personalize all relationships and portfolios, which allows us to take this a significant step forward. And everything is done in the most cost effective and tax efficient manner.

One of our favorite sayings is that compared to peers mostly everyone else, costs too much, does too little or both.

The Efficient Frontier & Sector- and Style-Rotation

At this point and time, anyone in our industry should be able to do basic asset allocation. Most firms have made it pretty straight forward. Security selection takes more skill than what the majority of “advisors” are able to do. .

Investing in a tax efficient manner is something that very few advisors are able to do at the individual level, and many that say tax efficient are usually using a code word for high commission, low performing insurance product. It is a labor intensive process, that no single product on it’s own can accomplish.

Our view is that having a high level of personalization by client account and registration is the only way to manage accounts in a truly tax-efficient manner. Rob recognized by the mid 1990’s that Mutual Funds, while important in the history of personal finance, had been replaced by something that is more tax efficient and more cost effective: the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).

We build the core of our portfolios using ETFs. This will be somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of an individual’s portfolio. The remaining will incorporate what we call “our best ideas” and will vary depending on market opportunities at that time.

Success as an investor is not always based upon what you own…it’s also important to know when to own it. The first rule of investing is buy low, sell high. We’re not going to buy a position after it’s had it’s gains and is expensive compared to it’s historical averages.

Through our proprietary Sector and Style Rotation strategies, we focus on three variables above all else: valuations, economic conditions and momentum.

Customized Fee Pricing

For this level of personalization, there needs to be a critical mass of money for someone to have to be able to utilize these strategies. If you have a portfolio of $500K or more, these strategies begin to make sense where we’re able to provide a superior level of service compared to our peer group. In addition, our management fee is inclusive of all planning and services that are required for a successful financial advisor relationship.

We’ve often found that banks, insurance companies, asset managers, and some of our peers want to “invest” your assets with the goal of bringing more of your money into their core products. Think of an insurance agent that is always talking about life insurance as a retirement asset, financial advisor that charges an additional 4 figure sum for any planning, mutual fund company that “manages” your money by charging you 1% to put your money into their proprietary funds. The list goes on, but none of that will ever happen at DLAK.

We exist to maintain an independent view with the sole mission in life is to be an advocate for our clients in a world filled with conflicts of interest.

Some of the topics that we explore with all of our clients are budgeting, charitable giving, cash flow planning, obligation planning, investment tax planning, estate planning, retirement planning and more. This is built into the management fee that we bill on a quarterly basis in addition to our core responsibility being a steward of your wealth and managing your assets. We don’t ever want our clients to miss out on a potentially important consideration for their financial plan. That is why we feel that having these conversations is critical to the level of personalization in someone’s financial plan and why we build the expectation to have these conversations with all of our clients.

_{There is no guarantee that these investment strategies will work under all market conditions. All investments contain risk and may love value. This material contains the current opinions of the author but not necessarily those of Guardian or its subsidiaries and such opinions are subject to change without notice. References to specific securities, asset classes and financial markets are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to purchase or sell a security. Although the information has been gathered from sources believed to be reliable, please note that individual situations can vary, and therefore, the information should be relied upon only when coordinated with individual professional advice.}