Multi-Step Investment Consulting Process

Multi-Step Investment Consulting Process

The Mason Process

Step 1: Assessment – Assess Your Goals
Our work begins with a thorough review of your financial goals and your current investment portfolio.  Some clients come to us with a complete financial plan, which we use as a starting point for our investment management process.  For clients who have not yet developed a financial plan, we offer fee-based financial planning services if desired.  In either case, we meet with you to thoroughly understand your financial goals, and especially their impact on your cash flow and investment requirements.  Our assessment continues with a thorough review of your current portfolio of investments.  At Mason, we believe that a sound asset allocation strategy is fundamental to successful investment performance, so we review the allocation of your existing portfolio(s) to explore your actual (as opposed to theoretical) investment strategy and risk exposure.

Step 2: Strategy – Design Your Personal Investment Philosophy
We believe that a disciplined approach to investing helps to prevent many of the disappointments that arise when investors try to chase trends or time markets.  A thoughtful personal investment philosophy helps provide a long-term perspective with clear criteria to guide your decisions.

Step 3: Implementation – Implement the Portfolio
We are an independent company that puts our clients’ interests first. We do not use proprietary products or managers with hidden fees or expenses.  We believe that advisors may have conflicts when their firm offers proprietary products.  Our implementation plan reflects your personal investment philosophy and uses managers that we believe carefully match each recommended asset allocation category and are appropriate for your portfolio size.

Step 4: Management – Monitor, Manage and Report
We recognize that your time is a precious resource.  We continually review each manager’s portfolio and performance on a monthly basis against our strict set of performance and qualitative criteria to look for timely indications of when a manager should be evaluated for possible replacement.  In addition, we regularly review your actual portfolio allocation against your recommended targets to identify opportunities for rebalancing – which helps to reinforce the discipline of buying low and selling high.

Our Main Goal: To make sure you receive the attention and responsiveness you expect and the peace of mind you deserve.