Our Services > Investment Methodology

Investment Methodology

New clients tend to ask the same question of us: "If we let you manage our money, what would you do with it?" These pages summarize our investment methodology and approach to the global markets.

In essence, there are three ways to manage money:

  1. Market Timing: Whenever one makes an investment decision based on a forecast of a market, asset class, or security going up or down, market timing is being utilized.
  2. Security Selection: This involves deciding which asset to buy or sell compared to others of the same type. For example, deciding whether to buy Verizon or AT&T would be a security selection decision because both stocks are in the same asset class. Stock picking is the most common form of security selection.
  3. Asset Allocation: This is the art and science of determining how money gets divided up between different asset classes to lower risk and increase returns. This is also known as optimizing an investment portfolio, making it more efficient. Asset classes are how different types of investments are categorized to distinguish them from one another. For example, CDs, bonds, stocks, gold, and real estate are different in terms of risk, reward, taxation, and income.

The first two approaches – Market Timing and Security Selection – involve too much guesswork and risk, so the I-Pension approach focuses on asset allocation. We're not going to be guessing where any market is going, or chasing hot stocks with your money.

Asset Allocation

Asset Allocation is the process of deciding what broad categories of investments to invest in, and then dividing up the money in your portfolio among them. These broad categories are called asset classes. In general, I-Pension investment models are based on 14 asset classes. Learn More >

Investment Models

Investment models provide a systematic way to diversify a portfolio among non-correlated asset classes, thereby optimizing the interaction between risk and reward. Learn More >

How We Work With You

As important as our investment methodology is, I-Pension also believes that our interaction with clients contributes significantly to a successful long-term advisor-client relationship. Learn More >