Why Choose Sechrest Financial Services?

What SFS Provides For You

Once you come on board at SFS, we work together to develop a plan based on your current financial assets, current allocations, short- and long-term goals, and risk tolerance. We then develop a strategy for you to pursue and we carefully construct an action plan. We periodically review this plan with you, and we examine the success of its execution to determine whether you are staying on course or if sail trimming is necessary. Our goal is to chart a course to make sure that you arrive safely at your destination.

A key to maintaining a tight financial ship is to keep exposure to stormy seas to a minimum. By working closely with a small firm, such as SFS, you become familiar and comfortable with our crew. SFS employs sophisticated planning tools and analysis reports to develop your investment model.

Fee-only vs. Commission-based

More and more investors are opting for a fee-only arrangement and for a very good reason. Commission-based financial advising lends itself to conflicts of interests and hidden charges.

We are, and have always been, fee-only advisors. As a fee-only advisor, we do not rely on products to earn a commission; we earn our fee by the amount of time and effort devoted to developing, implementing and monitoring a specific financial and investment model for you. We have an established fee structure, and we both sign a formal contract or agreement to ensure both parties have a complete understanding of the services to be provided.

[As a caution, some unqualified people advertise themselves as “financial planners” and prey upon the uninformed consumer. The State Securities Division and/or the Securities and Exchange Commission regulate all investment advisors. When selecting an advisor, consider only those who are legitimately licensed.]

Our Investment Philosophy

• We believe in the time-tested tenets and implications of Modern Portfolio Theory.
• We do not believe that active investment management in the stock market outperforms market returns over the long run.
• We believe that having low investment management fees are very important in determining the overall performance of clients’ portfolios. We believe in using low-cost investments for our clients.
• We believe that asset allocation and diversification across a variety of investment categories are crucial elements for the success of client portfolios.
• We believe that there is a direct relationship between risk and reward. There is no free lunch, not in life and not in investing.

Putting Our Philosophy into Practice

You face a daunting array of investment decisions. High-risk? Low-risk? Small-cap stocks? Mid-cap stocks? Bonds? Real Estate? Cash? Other? We present and explain all of the available options to you. We’ll explore the benefits and drawbacks of each option. What works for one investor may not work for you, so we never force-fit you into a generic plan.

SFS selects mutual fund companies and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). We search for specific funds that meet the criteria we establish as part of your client profile and is consistent with our investment philosophy. As a rule, we do not believe in “Buy and Hold” (which becomes “Buy and Forget”). We believe in “Buy and Review” to ensure that our mutual expectations are being met. It is imperative that we review the selected funds periodically so that we maintain the asset allocation that best fits your needs.

In addition, SFS may use a securities investment manager with expertise in the fixed income markets to buy and manage individual bonds for clients’ accounts. There are specialized circumstances where this would be applicable for clients, and we’d be happy to discuss this with you in more detail.

SFS’s mission is to help our clients become savvy and confident investors — in both calm and turbulent seas.

How is SFS Different?

Combined Investment and Tax Planning
By combining the strength and expertise of Sechrest & Bloom, LLC with Sechrest Financial Services, LLC, we offer comprehensive and all-encompassing life planning for individuals and businesses. Our integrated approach gives you the benefit of financial advisory services that consider the tax and accounting implications of all decisions. By using this synergistic approach, you are able to meet your specific goals in a cost-saving and tax-beneficial manner.

Personalization

Being a small company, SFS does not have the operating expenses or pressures of a large firm and thus, more time is devoted to working directly with you one-on-one. Most of our clients are neighbors, local residents, and business owners — we share common concerns regarding regional taxes, laws, school systems, municipalities, etc. It is a collective goal to improve the quality of life in our surrounding towns.

SFS provides navigational guidance in establishing a disciplined long-term commitment to wealth accumulation and security. In the action plan we develop for you, we establish milestones and track vital issues that may affect your plan’s success.

Your success is our success!