1. We believe in being intentional

What do you want to accomplish? Why do you want to accomplish it? Gaining this clarity by answering these “big questions” leads to better outcomes and a higher chance of success.

When you get clear on your objectives, only then can the best strategy be put in place to accomplish them. Being intentional about the results you seek will keep you focused on the goal and prevent opportunistic decision-making that can derail you, your investment strategy and your financial plan.

As Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind.”

2. We believe the best advice is tailored advice to you

All clients have different visions about what financial success looks like for them. No two people have an identical balance sheet, risk constraints, spending profile and investment objectives.

It’s for this reasons that our process is designed to begin with a discovery process so that we truly understand who you are and what you are trying to accomplish with your wealth. It’s only after this deep level of understanding is achieved can tailored advice, which leads to the best results, be delivered.

3. We believe that being comprehensive leads to better outcomes

Just like nature abhors a vacuum, the best financial advice cannot be delivered in one either.  Your goals, objectives, liquidity needs, and time frame all have implications on the best investment strategy for you. Similarly, your financial goals, estate objectives and charitable wishes will all impact your financial plan.

Our Financial Blueprint documents each of these areas and is frequently reviewed so that each factor is considered when taking action and making financial decisions. It’s only by setting up a comprehensive system that integrates all your assets, financial goals and personal constraints that you have confidence the best financial outcome is achieved.

4. We believe in teamwork and expertise

The best results are achieved when all parties are working toward a common goal. This is why we spend so much time understanding our clients and understanding their goals and objectives. We are structured to deliver unbiased advice, so that we are on the same team as our clients.

A team is necessary to deliver expertise in all the areas of wealth management required to achieve your goals. Managing wealth is not a simple exercise and true expertise is needed to deliver the best advice in the critical areas of wealth management such as: Investments, Financial planning, Taxes, Estate, Insurance, Charitable giving and advice delivery.

We do not believe that any one person can be an expert in all these areas and maintain the deep relationship with clients necessary to tailor advice and understand their goals. Only by working with a team of professionals can expertise be delivered in all these areas.

5. We believe results matter and in being accountable to them

Ask Cordant Advisor Scott Malbasa what he likes about working at Cordant and chances are you’ll hear some version of this: He’ll tell you that he’s never worked at a place where everyone consistently does what they say they will. It seems simple, but unfortunately uncommon today.

Part of doing what we say is getting the results we promise to our clients. Is your portfolio performing as expected? Do your financial results match your financial plan? Are we achieving the annual financial goals?

By tracking and measuring results, then holding yourself and us to them is the best way to stay on track and achieve your goals and objectives.

6. We believe in focusing on what matters

The fact is, we have to make hundreds of decisions every day—and we have limited stores of energy to draw from to make them. The key is to focus energy on the most important decisions, and to spend these resources wisely.

Before allotting vast quantities of time to a decision, ask yourself: How much does this decision matter in the long run? How much impact does it have on my larger financial goals and objectives?

Being intentional about what you are trying to achieve and then focusing resources there will lead to better outcomes than the typical opportunistic, externally driven process that most take.

7. We believe in continual improvement

Andy Grove said, “Only the paranoid survive” and we take this focus on continual improvement to heart.

At Cordant we don’t believe in resting on our laurels. We are consistently seeking ways to make what we deliver to our clients even better, to reduce their investment expenses and to better utilize technology to make their lives easier.

8. We believe in protecting your capital

Our clients have worked hard to amass their assets; in some cases, they’ve worked and saved the length of an entire career before working with us. The first step in any good investment process is to focus on protecting this capital. As Warren Buffet said, the first rule of investing is to not lose money.

Our process, starts with a risk assessment to determine how much risk you are willing to take with your portfolio and continuously monitoring your portfolio to make sure you remain within these parameters. Focusing on the risks you take with your investments can limit losses by not getting too aggressive when you may feel like it (when times are good) but that will ultimately hurt you in a down market.

Next, we build a diversified portfolio, so that your assets are not concentrated in any one investment (e.g. one stock, one sector, or one rental property). This diversification process makes it possible for your portfolio to perform in various economic environments and limits the chance of permanent loss of capital that is a huge risk with any concentrated investment.

9. We believe in enhancing returns

After putting in place a strategy to protect your capital, there still exists opportunities worth pursuing to enhance your returns. Taking advantage of proven factors of return like: value, size, quality and momentum can improve the returns you receive from the market over time.

10. We believe in doing the right thing

To us, doing the right thing means an unwavering fiduciary commitment to our clients. We aren’t compensated by selling products but delivering advice. We are passionate about helping clients achieve their financial goals so that they get the most out of life. The only way we’ve found to do is this by being fully aligned with clients. In fact, our firm’s name, Cordant, is derived from “concordant” meaning in agreement or alignment.

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