How Are We Different?

We are an independent advisor. We do not work for a major money manager, bank, insurance company or full-service broker. Being independent, we are not pressured to provide "in-house" approaches of a "parent" firm or products offered by affiliates.

Trust, integrity, and personalized service are important issues for all financial relationships. These attributes are frequently cited as reasons why clients select us to manage their financial affairs. A recent survey of existing RIS clients confirmed these are qualities clients seek.

All of our advisors have strong credentials. Co-founder Griff McDonald was named one of the 250 best financial advisors by Worth magazine. Co-founder Larry Hastie has experience running a bank trust department, bank portfolios, discount brokerage and investment advisory businesses. Brock Hastie, Todd Kephart, and Karen Chapell have more than 40 combined years of wealth management experience.

We are proactive advisors, meaning we do not recommend simply buying and holding all investments. We believe that a key element to growing your investments over time is to take action designed to preserve your wealth in financial bear markets. An investment that drops 33% in an average bear market needs to gain 49% to get back to square one because of the resulting smaller asset base. That is one reason we recommend the Seasonal Approach to actively manage clients' portfolios.

We believe, but do not guarantee, that this approach may help offset some of the effects multiple bear markets may have on a portfolio long-term. However, no strategy, including the Seasonal Approach, can eliminate investment risk of loss.

While we agree that diversification is an important investment concept, we realize that diversification, by itself, does not prevent portfolio losses like many investors experienced in the prolonged bear market of 2000-2002 or the recent bear that began in October of 2007. It's another reason to consider the Seasonal Approach.

RIS retirement plans are comprehensive and broad ranging, yet they are easy to understand. The client and RIS frequently use the plan as a guide for monitoring changing financial and income needs.

One-stop financial advice. RIS is one of a small number of Michigan based firms that has the flexibility to offer fee-only management of stocks and bonds, mutual funds, 401k, 403b, TIAA-CREF, and SEI Investments, as well as retirement and estate planning for clients.

We are fee-only advisors, allowing us to recommend investment changes without commission implications. Our interests are in line with yours. Our fees go up when the value of your assets goes up, and our fees go down when the value of your assets goes down.

We have the ability to coordinate the investments of various retirement accounts with private family accounts and provide consolidated reporting.

Depending upon client goals, we can recommend conservative, moderate or aggressive strategies using the investment vehicles discussed above.

We believe in educating our clients so they understand the advice and plans we provide.

As an investment advisory team, our goals are "to expect the best... do the best... be the best" for our clients.