February 17, 2014
Dear Clients,
It’s hard to believe February is almost over. We’re sure our clients in Virginia share our anticipation for leaving this winter behind as we crawl toward spring. The past year brought many positive changes to Wiseman Wealth Management and allowed us to reorganize our business to focus on what we consider our core strengths: Client Service, Wealth Management, Comprehensive Financial Planning, Wealth Transfer and Life Insurance. We would like to take this opportunity to outline a few things happening behind the scenes to help solidify these commitments.
Accessibility – Email & office phone call connectivity with each WWM team member’s mobile device.
Social Media – Sharing of financial & industry relevant material. We encourage you to follow and “Like” these pages at Facebook.com/Wisemanandassociates and @Wisemanwealth on Twitter.
Wealth Management Efficiencies – Improved account rebalancing in July of 2013 to help eliminate trade fees. These enhancements produced over $15,000 in trade fee savings last year: Fees matter!
Financial Planning – In September we began working feverishly to implement an industry leading financial planning tool: eMoney. This gives us the power to know exactly where you stand on your financial path at a moment’s notice. We continue to expand this program and will explain its application in the coming months.
Wiseman Wealth Registered Investment Advisor – The growth we’ve enjoyed the last few years now allows us to begin establishing a separate, State Registered Investment Advisory entity. While our day-to-day business will not change, it will create further opportunities for us to service your needs.
I recently noticed a headline in a section of the Wall Street Journal titled “Flight to Safety Hasn’t Left the Gate”. The article discusses increased concern over the stability of emerging markets and their influence on the global economy. One expert forecasts a “stiff correction of 10% to 20% sometime in 2014”. To the left of this article, on the same page, another piece touts Ben Bernanke’s tenure at the Fed. In summary, he leaves behind an enormous task for his successor, Janet Yellen, but has placed the U.S. Economy on a bright and prosperous trajectory.
Who is correct? Which markets will decline and which will prosper? When will all this movement take place? Despite the divergence of these opinions, in our eyes, the answer is clear.
Many of you have heard us say that investing is “a math problem”. The attached article from Barron’s outlines the approach that our partner, Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA), takes to solve this math problem. Briefly, their approach is to pursue higher expected returns through advanced portfolio design, management, and trading. All of this built around decades of research with the help of Nobel Prize laureates. Of the 315,000 registered financial advisers in the USA, only 1,900 offer the DFA Investment Products. We are proud to be among this select group, with the ability to offer access to the DFA approach and philosophy to our clients.
With all the positive changes happening at Wiseman Wealth in 2013-14, we remain committed now more than ever to our investment philosophy. We understand, along with you, that the science of capital markets directly influences our approach and the wealth you’ve entrusted to us. We acknowledge there are many different strategies to investing. However, we garner more conviction with each passing year in the story we tell.
We hope you find the attached article to be of interest. We thank you for placing your trust in us. From our families and our team in Middleburg and Winchester, we wish the best to you and your families. We look forward to working with you in 2014!
Regards,
Wiseman Wealth Management
Thomas R. Wiseman, II
President
Jeffrey A. Hahn
Managing Director