Individuals, Executives and Stewards of Family Wealth
Fidelis is often called an Outsourced Family Office
as we are designed to take a family or high-net-worth individual and surround them with the experts needed to handle all of their financial matters in order to give back what they cannot buy - time. Some of the services and solutions that Fidelis provides to clients include:
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Our approach to investing is guided by a disciplined process and a philosophy informed by our many years of experience.
Four key tenets of our
philosophy are:
- 1Unlike many other investment advisers, we distinguish ourselves by managing most of our clients’ assets in-house. We leverage the insights gained from our more than four centuries of collective experience. Furthermore, we procure research from leading financial firms renowned for their expertise in investment research and quantitative analysis. By managing investments in-house, we not only meet performance expectations but also eliminate the incremental costs associated with engaging third-party asset managers, while reducing the potential for unintended concentration risk if independent managers end up investing in highly correlated positions.
- 2We incorporate asset classes that are often overlooked by others due to their complexity. Examples include energy, timberland, real estate, private and/or distressed credit, and private equity. Our team has decades of experience investing in these unique asset classes. We have forged strategic relationships with leading alternative asset managers to provide access to investments often unavailable to outside investors. Furthermore, we work closely with independent firms to conduct extensive and ongoing due diligence.
- 3We believe that fixed income is an overlooked asset class by many investment advisers. Additionally, institutions (banks and brokerages), in an effort to mitigate firm risk, increase efficiencies and scalability, and adhere to certain benchmarks, have instituted policies that force investments into fixed income portfolios that are suboptimal. These firms have lost their focus on their clients, especially UHNW clients. At Fidelis, we take a customized approach to each fixed income portfolio we manage. The result is better risk adjusted performance and no surprises in this part of the portfolio. In short, we measure success by achieving the asset protection, income, and required return goals of each client individually.
- 4We recognize the critical importance of wealth planning, as it establishes the necessary return and risk parameters that drive effective asset allocation and investment strategies. At Fidelis, we are fully committed to integrating wealth planning into every aspect of our client experience. Unlike many other investment advisers, where the portfolio manager also takes on the role of wealth planner, our clients benefit from a dedicated team of specialists, including highly experienced wealth planners with decades of expertise. The seamless integration of wealth planning into our investment decisions ensures a cohesive alignment between our clients' goals and the role their investments play in achieving them.
Opportunities
Natural resource assets, such as energy, oil, gas, water and timber, including farm and ranchland, can be great complements to any quality asset portfolio.
These real assets tend to be an inflationary hedge and can provide significant income and capital appreciation for those who hold them as part of a disciplined investment plan. To effectively protect these assets for future generations, you need experienced advisors with in-depth knowledge.
Fidelis advisors partner with industry experts to handle the unique challenges associated with both the day-to-day management as well as long-term strategies for maximizing these assets’ value. We help our clients invest in and manage these assets directly, without the commingling risk, inefficiency, or fee drag of packaged or securitized products offered at most other investment firms.
Developing and memorializing a depth of understanding of your situation enables your Fidelis team to customize your suite of services, selecting those services needed to maintain and optimize each area of your financial life.
We strive to develop and memorialize a personalized plan to ensure each selected service area is addressed on an ongoing basis. This work also enables us to work with you to identify gaps that may exist and work to eliminate them. Such gaps can occur for too many reasons to name but a few include life events like marriage or a new child or grandchild, new business ventures or opportunities that have arisen, changes in interest rates, the economy, and/or tax laws, and so on. This further highlights the importance of maintaining and updating plans along the way, meaning wealth planning is not a moment in time effort. It is ongoing and it is what we do every day on your behalf at Fidelis.
One of the main concerns for people with significant wealth is managing their income tax liability.
The Fidelis team takes a multistep approach to managing your income tax planning and preparation. From accumulating all the information your tax preparer needs to coordinating preparation of quarterly estimates, we go even further to add value to optimizing the process. We meet with your tax advisor(s) to discuss ideas that we identify from our experience and knowledge of current strategies that effectively mitigate taxes. We go beyond considering just the bunching or deferral of deductions and deferral or acceleration of income and asset purchases. We also assess tax advantaged investment options like energy related credits, opportunity zone investments, cash balance pension plans and other vehicles and techniques that provide value well above and beyond the tax savings.
If you are an executive, your compensation plan likely includes options or restricted shares along with other deferred and variable compensation elements. We work with you, your human resources department, and your tax preparer to develop a personalized plan to optimize each of those elements.
Being a Fiduciary means our work here is focused on finding the right banking and lending relationships for you.
For cash that is held, that may mean researching the best deposit rates or optimizing FDIC protection. On the liability side, whether strategically using credit to make an investment, acquire an asset, make a company distribution, or cover expenses in a down market to avoid selling depreciated investments, it is critical to properly structure and manage one’s credit portfolio. Overseeing that portfolio and managing that entire process for you is what we at Fidelis call “Fiduciary Lending.”
We can collaborate and coordinate with a firm who oversees bill pay and reporting services which can save you countless hours of frustration and work – giving you back of what you cannot buy – time. With the ability to access Bill Pay via personal computer or mobile device, you get an “always-on” view of all your spending and income to give you peace of mind.
MANAGEMENT
Personal risk management is about protecting the balance sheet that you have worked so hard to create. At Fidelis, we are all about helping you identify and manage risks to your balance sheet.
There are two major paths we follow to manage such risks. First, we manage the process of purchasing the right coordinated insurance coverage. This requires truly understanding what is and isn't insured and the extent to which we can mitigate the risk of a claim against your assets. Second, we help you directly address the issue of cyber-risk by ensuring you become more aware of what this risk means to you and how to mitigate it. In coordination with third-party subject matter experts, we show you how to take substantial steps towards protecting your assets from this ever-growing challenge.
HEALTH CARE CONSULTING
Both the quality and the cost of health care grow more important as we get older and as costs continue to rise.
At Fidelis we consider this a liability on your balance sheet and it’s our goal to help you manage it. Sometimes that liability is financial, such as the cost of health insurance, and sometimes that liability is related to the quality of the medical care that you are receiving. It may even be an issue of whether you have access to the services and coverages that you need. We work to manage these liabilities by coordinating with selected specialists to help you find the best quality of care and control the costs associated with that care. We then, where appropriate oversee the purchase of the designed insurance coverage In conjunction with insurance advisors and brokers.
SERVICES
The term "sandwich generation" aptly describes being sandwiched between caring for both your children and your parents.
Sometimes the care and oversight needed overshadow the good times and may even create unhealthy levels of stress and strain. We have seen this result in decisions being made in haste or in desperation, like moving parents "back home," often to states where both tough winters and high taxes begin to take their toll. At Fidelis, we place a focus on solving for this. We have curated a combination of third-party providers to take much of this burden off your shoulders. From handling the review and payment of bills, including medical bills, to medical advocacy and oversight of those providing care to those you love, we believe we have designed a solution set that accomplishes the best outcome – one where you have confidence in their care and financial well-being enabling you to spend the quality time you need with those you love.
We are committed to providing our clients with reporting that is comprehensive, convenient, and customizable. We are able to create an aggregated view of your net worth, including all assets and liabilities, even those at other custodians, banks, and brokerage firms.
To the extent that these assets are priced daily, the report can reflect those updates as they refresh nightly. For other harder to price assets, we work with you to maintain and update those values as needed. This reporting is available to you through your dedicated online portal, continuously accessible via both desktop and mobile applications.
We also work with you to customize your investment reporting into a concise and easy-to-understand format so you can gain the insights you need to make better decisions. We upload these reports to your secure, cloud-based vault for continuous access. There, you can also store any other important documents, including organizational documents for any entities or trust. This provides for easy access, retrieval, and secure sharing. Should you utilize bill pay, we can also upload all the related reporting from that service. All data and reporting stored in your vault also cyber-protected and mobile-friendly.
