eBISTM, a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), announces the delivery of Investment Management and Financial Planning solutions available to individuals, endowments, foundations, and defined contribution retirement plans. Both solutions focus on understanding YOUR specific circumstances before making recommendations. Client data is acquired through a robust set of surveys and supporting interactions, covering items such as financial circumstances, financial goals, and perspectives on risk, then analyzed to construct a custom investment model and/or financial plan.
In order to tailor an investment model for a client, eBIS focuses on 3 pillars: risk, taxes, and costs. eBIS labels these pillars the Investing Triumvirate, as they are the primary governors of investor success. With risk as the first, and most important, pillar, eBIS has developed a proprietary risk model, capturing each major asset class, its prospective return drivers, relative valuation, and how it has behaved historically. Each asset class receives a risk classification and grade, which influences inclusion in the portfolio model and informs decision making on portfolio diversification, with the aim of capturing as diverse a set of risk factors as possible, including new asset classes that have only recently become available through technological innovation. By capturing a diverse set of return drivers, eBIS’s model helps support asset growth across economic cycles, which can increase compound portfolio returns by reducing volatility.
As explained by eBIS president Pete Shannon, “We provide an investment model that breaks from traditional investment channels: brokerage, focused on ‘hot’ securities and past performance (while often delivering excessive risk), and typical Registered Investment Advisory, focused on market efficiency and costs, but blind to risk and innovation in asset classes that can offset it. eBIS wants to help our industry move away from these models toward what really matters in investing: investment risk. Our risk models are an outgrowth of our institutional risk management advisory practice – informed from our experience advising some of the largest financial companies globally. The average investor should have access to what works for the largest financial institutions; in this realm, we can make a difference and enhance the retail investment experience.”
Taxes, with the client’s marginal tax rate as the primary variable, also drive decision making for each individual portfolio. Performance is always viewed on an after-tax basis; investments must perform for each client based on his/her tax circumstances. Investment assets are located strategically in taxable or tax-deferred/free accounts based on their cash-flow distribution profiles. In the event that an investment declines in value in a taxable account, eBIS will tax-loss harvest those declines, acting as a tax offset against current or future taxable gains. eBIS analyzes investment costs at multiple levels (expense ratio, trading costs/liquidity, cash drag, etc.), evaluating whether each investment justifies its underlying costs, with a strong preference for cost minimization.
Initially, every potential client is offered a portfolio review as part of the investment management service. As part of the initial consultation, eBIS will evaluate your current investment portfolio and provide a risk, tax, and cost assessment, along with recommended changes, free of charge.
The investment management service integrates with the financial planning solution, where eBIS coalesces all client information into a comprehensive financial plan. Each financial plan covers the 7 important goals of life planning: discretionary expenditure, family change, education, tax, retirement, insurance, and estate transfer. eBIS labels these aspects the 7 “rungs” in your own personal Financial Planning DNA, as they determine how you will evolve in your financial life. The client receives documentation on recommendations for each rung and support from eBIS on implementation. The plan is reviewed and updated as your life situation changes.
Pete Shannon commented, “No desired destination is reached without planning the route to get there. We act as a Google Maps of sorts, plotting a financial route for you, the most direct route to your desired destination given your circumstances. Everything about you goes into the route plan: existing assets, career and retirement goals, family circumstances, insurance needs, tax circumstances. Just as current traffic might influence Google to suggest alternate routes, so too do all of your personal variables influence eBIS to suggest an appropriate personal financial plan. Unlike many large advisers who pigeonhole you into pre-fabricated investment portfolios and savings plans with little regard for personal variables, our offering is completely dependent on your input. We feel we have a best-of-breed risk model, but allowing it to benefit you depends on applying it intelligently to your situation. We spend a lot of time getting to know you, as that knowledge acts as a vehicle for our decision making across all 7 goals in your financial plan.”
As a Registered Investment Adviser, eBIS is bound by the fiduciary standard, requiring the firm to act in the best interests of its clients, and is regulated by an independent government agency. Further, eBIS is completely independent and has no financial incentive to recommend any investment product or strategy; it eschews all affiliations and partnerships with 3rd parties, which can introduce conflicts of interest.
As a fiduciary, eBIS issues an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) and/or financial plan to each client, signed and executed by both parties, documenting the recommended financial strategy and implementation timeframe. This document ensures that both the client and adviser agree on the recommended approach. Any future changes in strategy must be documented in writing and signed by the client. Similarly, an account agreement with the client details all management fees and how they are assessed and collected. eBIS generates revenue exclusively through fees billed directly to the client, and never from commissions, referral or performance incentives, revenue sharing or cross-marking agreements, all of which have embedded conflicts of interest. Investment portfolios are implemented through a robust custodial trading and reporting platform, always in the name of the client and at arm’s length from eBIS.
Shannon commented, “The average American faces a deficit in savings, financial planning and retirement readiness. We want to do our part to stem this trend. Taken together, our Investment Management and Financial Planning solutions provide a robust framework for lowering investment risk, supporting asset growth, meeting financial goals and retiring with security.”
Details on both solutions can be found here: Investment Management, Financial Planning.
About eBIS
eBIS is a Registered Investment Adviser, specializing in investment management, financial planning, and retirement plan fiduciary services. Since 2002, we’ve delivered solutions that help our clients implement sound investment portfolios, understand embedded risks, and improve risk-adjusted returns in a regulatory compliant manner. We strive to build bridges between strategic ideas and realized solutions by asking questions, generating consensus, and communicating in terms everyone can understand. We deliver solutions that are flexible, scalable, and adaptable as your situation changes. The company’s client list includes top ten international and U.S. financial institutions in commercial and retail banking, investment banking and asset management, as well as small and medium-sized businesses and individual investors. www.ebis.biz