What We Do

Let’s Plan Your Future Together

At the start of our relationship, we will meet so we can get to know you and discuss your priorities, risk tolerance and liquidity needs. Your initial investment allocation will be designed to deliver risk and return characteristics in alignment with your goals.

We will work in partnership with you to review your portfolio at least annually and to provide recommendations that help meet your changing needs.

The SJS Investment Services Process

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Why buy the market when you can buy the market…plus?

MarketPlus® Investing from SJS Investment Services is our proprietary process of structuring investment vehicles and designing portfolios to help you achieve your financial goals.

MarketPlus® Investing is based on these Four Core Fundamentals:

• Markets are efficient and are priced fairly. This means that the price of an asset is the same for everyone everywhere at a given moment. And whatever has happened to a company—good or bad—it has been reflected in the price of its stock.

• Speculating is futile. For every friend or associate you know who has hit it big on a stock tip, hundreds of thousands have lost money trying to outguess the market.

• Global markets have rewarded investors over the long term. History has proven that markets have rewarded investors through the ages, particularly the ones who take a long-term strategy and have the discipline to stick with it.

• Portfolio design matters most. Exceeding market expectations while minimizing risk is primarily the result of portfolio design, not timing or trading.  This is where SJS Investment Services stands apart.

  
  

How It Works

Using history as a guide (while recognizing past performance does not guarantee future results), we accept that equities come with the risk of variability in returns, especially over the short run. Determining your threshold of short-term downside return is critical in evaluating an appropriate allocation between risky and low-risk assets.

By engineering a portfolio to include a variety of asset classes that do not correlate entirely with one another in regard to their risk and reward profile, it is possible to increase exposure to asset classes that have higher expected returns (and risk levels as measured by standard deviation) without increasing the risk level of the portfolio in its entirety. By incorporating small-cap, value and profitability biases in the equity portfolio, we endeavor to push portfolios to the practical limits on the “efficient frontier,” attempting to optimize the relationship between risk assumed and expected rate of return.

It’s the structure of the portfolio that determines performance and very little else.*

That’s why SJS has spent years honing the skill of portfolio design and continues to sharpen every aspect of it through leading academic models. With that basic premise in mind, we get to know you by learning about and understanding your long-term goals, your risk tolerance and your timeframe.

* “Does Asset Allocation Policy Explain 40, 90, or 100 Percent of Performance?” Roger Ibbotson & Paul Kaplan, 2000, Financial Analysts Journal.

Portfolio Design Is Everything

MarketPlus Investing is simple and easy to understand, but the complexity is in the portfolio design, implementation, monitoring and management. That’s where our wisdom, experience and discipline count.

Reviewing your portfolio regularly, and rebalancing to stay true to your goals and your risk tolerance, is just part of the ongoing work we do. We’ll analyze the more complex considerations, such as evaluating changes to your asset classes and determining whether new investment offerings may be viable opportunities. 

MarketPlus Investing and You

Understanding MarketPlus® Investing: MarketPlus® Investing starts with a comprehensive market-wide investment structure, then builds upon it with a carefully designed mix of stocks, bonds and other global investments weighted to match your desired investment goals, risk tolerance and timeframe.

Guiding Your Future: SJS has spent years honing the skill of portfolio design and continues to sharpen every aspect of it through applying leading academic advances, market trend analysis and reviewing ever-changing key indicators. This is not a one-and-done endeavor. It’s continual—with you, for you—based on these principles:

• Comprehensive Market Coverage: Your portfolio will be diversified across and within asset classes, industries and securities worldwide through the use of institutional quality mutual funds, providing you the inherent risk-management benefits of diversification.

• Calculated Risk Exposure: Your assets will be invested where better returns have historically occurred and where market indicators imply they will continue.*

• Tax-Efficient Investing: Your portfolio will be managed to have low taxable gains and tax-loss harvesting.

• Cost-Efficient Portfolio Structure: You’ll see a portfolio designed for lower turnover, which may lead to lower transaction costs. We are accountable to your net returns, so we have every incentive to be smart about costs.

• Third-Party Custodian: Your money will be managed by us, but for your peace of mind, physical custody is with a qualified independent custodian of your choice.

* “A Five-Factor Asset Pricing Model.” Eugene Fama & Kenneth French, 2014, Journal of Financial Economics.

Your Finances at Your Fingertips

Our MySJS app (available on iOS and Android devices) and desktop dashboard provide one simple place to view daily performance updates on your portfolio. You may also link outside investment holdings to view your full financial picture in one place.

We build customized reporting showing your performance compared to a relevant index so that we are held accountable to you.

Fees and Compensation

We are a fee-based investment advisor. We monitor and disclose any fees to you.

We charge a fee based on assets under management that is paid directly by you, our client. Your investment management fee is calculated as a percentage of the market value of all assets in your account(s) on the last day of trading of each calendar quarter. 

For unique investment practices, special reporting requirements or extraordinary advisory services, special fees will be negotiated on a client-by-client basis. 

Investments (such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)) contained in your portfolio typically bear separate and additional expense ratios, disclosed by the prospectus and offering documents.

GET STARTED

Let’s see how we can help you. Contact us for a complimentary discovery meeting.