Investment
Philosophy
At Fidelis Capital, we manage a wide variety of investment strategies for the varying needs of
our clients.
These investments range from institutional funds that are driven by required rates of return and investment policy statements to funds for multi-generational trusts, family offices, and individuals. However, our approach to investing is guided by a disciplined process and a philosophy informed by our many years of experience.
We always put our clients first. We are committed to removing all potential conflicts of interest.
We believe that tactical investments and security selection are important, yet we believe that strategic asset allocation decisions are the most important.
Furthermore, we believe these decisions should be backed by a comprehensive financial plan taking into consideration titling, structure, and asset location.
We believe in goals-based investing, targeted to achieve the desired objective with the least amount of risk.
There is always a tradeoff between risk and return. If it appears too good to be true, it is. You have simply failed to identify the underlying risk.
Marketers do a great job of hiding the risk. Often, we need to search for risk beyond the market risk (i.e., operational risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, etc.).
For a taxable investor, we believe the most comprehensive way to measure performance for the taxable individual is on a risk-adjusted, after-tax basis.
While tax impact shouldn’t dominate the decision process, it should always be explicitly considered.
Because fees are always a drag on returns, we try to minimize fees associated with investments for our clients.
We believe public markets are fairly efficient and that the core liquid portion of a client's allocation should be in a low-cost and tax-efficient set of strategies.
Peripheral allocations based on tactical positioning may entail higher fees occasionally, but the impact to goal accomplishment, net of fees and taxes, must justify those expenses. Additionally, an investor should get compensated appropriately for taking on illiquidity.
We believe investment opportunities exist outside stocks and bonds.
We manage risk allocations that span both public and private investments, including private equity, private debt, real estate, farm, timberland, minerals, currencies and crypto.
We believe that investing acumen is essential but providing emotional distance and discipline to the investing process is where our real value lies.
An investment policy statement is a key living document that helps shape our disciplined approach.
We believe our investment perspective should be shaped within a logical macro world view
that allows us to add value to clients’ portfolios via intermediate- to long-term themes and factors, supported by our best thinking and confirmed by our model discipline.
