The Ascension Capital Investment Process
Pursuing your return objectives with a strategy based on your financial situation, needs, and tolerance for risk.
01
Understanding Your Goals & Needs
Over the long-term, our goal with every client is to get to know your family closely, understand what your personal and financial goals are, and what you value.
But a key first step in developing this relationship is to have a detailed conversion about your current financial situation, income and cash flow needs, business ownership structures, retirement objectives, estate planning goals, and more. We generally ask new clients to furnish as many current statements and financial documents as possible, so we can gain a full understanding of your financial picture.
Being thorough and detailed in this exercise allows us formulate clear, actionable recommendations across the entirety of your financial plan, including your investments, insurance, taxes, and estate.
02
Assessing Risk Tolerance
Once we understand your financial situation, the next step is to gain a clear understanding your comfort level with risk and how that aligns with your desired rate of return.
These “risk vs. return” parameters are identified, discussed and resolved through our Risk Tolerance Analysis (RTA) questionnaire. An Ascension team member will walk you through this process and assist you in completing this questionnaire, so we understand what types of risk assets—and what level of exposure to those risk assets—will ultimately be appropriate for your portfolio.
03
Delivering Recommendations
Though Ascension Capital’s focus is on providing investment management solutions, we also provide each client with recommendations that address other aspects of their financial life—including insurance, taxes, estate and business planning.
From an investment standpoint, Ascension’s Investment Committee will recommend an asset allocation that we believe most closely aligns with your risk and return parameters.
Our recommended allocation is likely to include multiple asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, etc.), multiple styles (growth, value, large, small), and multiple money managers who specialize in very specific areas of the market. We believe our deep and broad approach to diversification and our focus on non-correlated assets generates desirable risk-return characteristics.
04
Ongoing Advice, Active Management & Rebalancing
Ascension’s goal is to build lasting and trusting relationships with our clients. Over time, our deeper understanding of your financial situation should keep us in a strong position to offer informed advice when you need it.
Active management involves regularly reviewing the holdings in your portfolio, while also ensuring that your asset allocation aligns with your goals and financial situation—both of which may change over time. In rebalancing, if we determine a portfolio allocation is out of balance, we may shift assets from strong performers to weak performers (thus buying low and selling high), while paying close attention to any potential tax consequences. We repeat this process over time.