TAAG's New Home

In October 1988, after six years as a CPA and banking officer, I took my newly earned Certified Financial Planner designation and youthful optimism and started The Asset Advisory Group (TAAG).  It wasn’t actually TAAG then, since I was only a single advisor with an administrative assistant brave enough to leave the bank to join me. 

In my exit interview, my well-intentioned boss told me I was crazy to try to start my own business as a 28 year-old female in a conservative town.  He offered to hold my job for me until I came back.

In the fall of 1988, no one really knew what a financial planner was, so I spent most of my time educating people about how I could help them make smarter financial decisions.  To be able to afford an office, I teamed up with an insurance agency that allowed me to rent space to meet with my clients.  After five years my husband and two other employees joined me, and we outgrew the office and the business arrangement.  It was time to establish our own identity.  We incorporated as The Asset Advisory Group and moved into a rented office in Glendale. 

By 2002, we had outgrown our Glendale office as well.  We surveyed all our clients and asked them where they wanted us to be located.  The Montgomery/Blue Ash area won by a wide margin.  We’ve been in our current Blue Ash location for over 10 years now, and change is once again on the horizon.

We use the ups and downs of the market to your advantage by rebalancing your portfolio through different economic conditions.  We follow that same philosophy as we plan for the future of TAAG. As a result, The Asset Advisory Group has acquired a permanent home.

Interest rates are the lowest they have been in decades, commercial real estate has not fully recovered in Cincinnati, and a property we felt was a perfect expression of the culture and client service philosophy we strive to provide was available. 

Our new home, 9200 Montgomery Road, sits at the intersection of Montgomery Road and Ronald Reagan Highway.  It is a professional, but warm and inviting building. We are making renovations to create an environment in which our clients and their professional advisors will enjoy meeting and working together.  We plan to be moved in by October of this year. 

Chip, Chris and I have made the commitment to be owners of the building, as well as the owners of TAAG.  Our investment in a permanent home conveys our commitment and belief in the future of The Asset Advisory Group, and our love of the work we do for you.

October 2013 will mark the 25th year of my great adventure.  I look forward to sharing the next 25 with you in our new home! 

Jeannette A. Jones, CPA, CFP® 

jjones@taaginc.com

www.taaginc.com

Playing to Fear, Not the Plan

After combing through what’s become a lengthy “future blog topics” list for this week, I was sidetracked by the recent onslaught of advertising by the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock.

I don’t have anything against the firm, per se.  They aren’t managing more than $3 trillion just by accident.  It’s just the message behind their most recent ad campaign seems to be a perfect example of what we try to warn against on a regular basis; Wall Street playing to investors’ fears.  Even in a market that has been more positive than most might have expected since the fourth quarter of 2011, the message persists; what are you afraid of and how can I create a product to sell you that answers that fear? 

What’s wrong with that process?  In traditional business, absolutely nothing.  Our society has been built on the successes of those producing products to fit a need.  However, with investing, the process tends to completely disregard the question of whether or not the product is actually an appropriate investment for the investor’s situation. 

The product answers to fear, it should answer to a plan.

The ad states “2% ISN’T A RETURN; IT’S A RETREAT.”  Ok, I’ll agree.  The return on safe instruments such as cash and short term, high quality bonds are, as can be expected in this environment, paltry at best.  However, that doesn’t mean they don’t play a vital role in your portfolio.  “Mattress money” is meant to be just that, a place to safely store the returns earned on the risk you take in the stock market or other investments. 

What does BlackRock suggest you do?  Try some of their products, of course.  One they mention specifically, the BlackRock High Yield Bond Fund, might certainly boost your expected return, but at what cost?  Well, if you look back to Morningstar as to how the fund performed in 2008, it lost 27.8% of its value.  That doesn’t make it a bad investment, but it’s not something I’d want in my mattress.

Another suggestion is the dividend-focused BlackRock Global Dividend Income Fund.  Dividends are certainly a hot topic of late, and, for all I know, this particular fund, despite its 1% expense ratio (and up depending on share class), may be a perfectly reasonable way to access a global portfolio of dividend paying stocks.  But, just like the High Yield Bond Fund, that doesn’t mean it’s a reasonable replacement for cash or high quality fixed income instruments.

We’ve said it more than a few times in this space, there’s nothing in investing that can’t be boiled down to the relationship between risk and reward, fear and greed.  There are lots of ways to seek out returns that might outperform lower yielding instruments, but not without taking the appropriate amount of corresponding risk. 

What’s more important is to understand why you hold various asset classes, what amounts you hold and how that relates to your tolerance for risk and your long term goals and dreams.  It is our goal to assist our clients with this very important process.  If you ever have questions on how this relates to your plan or know someone who might, please let us know.

Have a great week!

Chip Workman, CFP®

cworkman@taaginc.com

www.taaginc.com  

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we head full steam into Black Friday and all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we wanted to pause a moment this Thanksgiving Eve and encourage everyone to really take time tomorrow to enjoy all the family traditions, the time together and to truly give thanks for all that we have and enjoy in this world. 

Wherever you are this Thursday, we hope you have a wonderful holiday and know that we are thankful for the work we get to do with and for our clients and their families each and every day.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers, clients and their families!

The Asset Advisory Group
www.taaginc.com