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William H. Sheavly, CFP® and Karrie A. Thomas are Investment Advisor Representatives of American Portfolios Advisors, Inc. Our clients compensate us for our independent management. We do not (except in rare circumstances) accept new clients under a commission-based platform.
For the bulk of our clients we utilize TD Ameritrade Institutional as custodian for their accounts. TD Ameritrade Institutional is a large, well-known independent custodian of assets. While they support us by clearing our trades and providing “back office” support, they do not make investment recommendations nor require us to use specific products or companies.
Our accounts are established on a “discretionary” basis. This means our senior staff has been given full authority to make investment decisions for our clients without prior approval. We take “discretion” seriously and use great due diligence in making our investment choices on their behalf. Upon opening an account, new clients will complete a risk/return profile and participate in an extensive interview regarding their investment preferences. We then complete an investment policy statement that summarizes the investment parameters. For example, we will not buy a tobacco or gambling stock should a client specify they would object to that for whatever religious or ethical reasons.
We use both a tactical and a strategic asset allocation policy. We not only compile a variety of different asset categories (i.e.- large cap value, high grade bond, tax free, etc.), but we also use tactical methods to avoid categories which are out of favor. We always keep some money in an FDIC deposit account for opportunities or client emergencies.
We use a variety of investment types to build sound portfolios including no-load mutual funds; exchange-traded funds, common and preferred stocks, bonds and FDIC insured CD’s.
We do not use exotic strategies or over leveraged positions in such things as: hedge funds, options, futures and commodities and margin accounts. Nor do we use limited partnerships, private placements, oil drilling programs, real estate partnerships, third party money management programs, nor inverse leverage ETFs.
All portfolios are constructed and monitored in our office; we do not farm out money to outside managers who do not know our clients and who charge extra fees. We feel this increased fiduciary responsibility to perform in our clients’ best interest is an asset. Our portfolios are built methodically over a period of time. We never put all of our clients’ holdings into the market at one time, but over a period of time in small amounts, and we believe that regardless of your objective preservation of your capital is something we always keep in mind.
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