Friends:                                                                                                                         June 2015

Summer is finally here and we hope you are well. We are looking forward to the second half of this year as we learn more about medicare benefits for 2016 and review some of our investment portfolios. The first half of this year has been very busy on a number of different fronts. We wanted to bring you up to speed on some of our activities and events.

 

Colwyn continues to offer educational events and forums around the state. We have hosted over 15 meetings from Ogden to Provo at which we have discussed the basics of medicare and social security. We have also hosted a number of lunch seminars on alternative investment products. For future events please visit our website: https://colwyninvestments.com/events/

 

We have reached our 1-year anniversary as a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm. The transition has been very smooth thanks to some wonderful partnerships with Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade. We surpassed our initial expectations and look forward to continuing that pattern.

 

We have continued our research in portfolio creation and management. Our focus on an “endowment model” approach has expanded our investment platform to include a number of different products that help in portfolio diversification and asset-backed durable income.

 

We have been involved in a number of due-diligence conferences across the nation. These conferences allow for other financial professionals to gather together for instruction, best-practice reviews, and product examination. We were able to review the details of each offering and participate in open forums with the product-specific board managers. Here is a summary of what we have seen since January:

  • New York City: Real Estate, REIT’s that invest in industry specific real estate like health care, data centers, commercial and retail.

 

  • Philadelphia: Global Credit Markets, BDC’s that make loans to mid-size business as senior secured debt.

 

  • Oklahoma City: Oil and Energy, we were able to tour an oil drilling rig and view active wells around Oklahoma.

 

We have also participated in some rigorous academic research involving many scholars around the globe who specialize in the endowment model. Our blog has several posts that reference some of this research, visit: https://colwyninvestments.com/blog/

As a summary to these forums, here are 10 Questions that every investor should be asking:

 

  1. Do we have inflation? Yes, the government measure does not tell the whole story.
  2. Are interest rates going higher? Yes, but too much emphasis on this.
  3. Is the Nation going broke? No, household net-worth is up and the government balance sheet is very strong.
  4. Should we worry about economic reports? No, stop looking at them, most (80%) are wrong anyway and revised later.
  5. Is it too late for emerging markets? No, in 1953 there was 1 mega city in the US, now there are 25. Look at land, labor and education.
  6. Is the housing crisis over? Yes, but we do have a demographic crisis.
  7. Can the productivity miracle continue? Yes, because technology is the 3rd input to measure productivity.
  8. What should I focus on? Demographics, the boomers will change everything, travel, entertainment, health care…they have the money!
  9. What is the next big thing? Robotics, capabilities are expounding faster than costs.
  10. What am I missing? Alternative Investments and International exposure, using only 2 of the 5 asset classes is not diversification and look where the land, people and jobs are, over 90% of all three are outside the US.

Taken from a lecture with Dr. Bob Froehlich and Dr. Sameer Jain

 

The complete answers to these questions are complex and this is not meant to cover them fully, however, if these questions have sparked some kind of concern or interest in what we are doing, you are welcome to call and we can discuss it further. We are always here to answer your questions and help you in any way we can.

 

We invite you to look again at your finances and see if there are any funds, no matter the amount, that you would like for us to consider building your portfolio. Leaving it alone may not be good enough in the years to come.

 

You are welcome to visit our website, colwyninvestments.com where you can find some very helpful information. I have links, a financial glossary, financial calculators, other resources and a blog, where I have posted some very informative articles and reading. Look for our next letter in October 2015.

 

Lastly, if there is anyone that you know of with questions on medicare or money management, please feel free to have them give me a call. As always, you are welcome to call or email with any questions you might have. Have a fun and safe summer.

 

Sincerely,

Sterling Jack