Investment Management
An investment strategy built to serve your plan - not distract from it.
A portfolio is not the destination. It is one of the tools that may help fund your lifestyle, create retirement income, preserve flexibility, and support the people and causes important to you.
Invest With Intention
Start With Purpose
We begin by understanding what the portfolio needs to accomplish, when the money may be needed, how much uncertainty the financial plan can absorb, and how you experience risk.
Those considerations help shape allocation, liquidity, diversification, and implementation.
Our Investment-Management Framework
A Portfolio Designed to Support the Financial Plan
Investment decisions should be connected to the role each account plays, the needs it may help fund, and the risks the broader plan can reasonably accept.
Define Each Account’s Role
Identify near-term spending needs, long-term growth needs, legacy goals, liquidity requirements, and other constraints.
Align Risk With the Plan
Consider both your willingness to accept market movement and the financial plan’s capacity to absorb uncertainty or loss.
Build a Diversified Strategy
Select investments and determine account placement in a manner consistent with the agreed strategy and planning considerations.
Implement Thoughtfully
Coordinate account transitions, liquidity, distributions, cash needs, and potential tax considerations.
Monitor and Adjust
Review the portfolio as markets, spending needs, personal circumstances, and the financial plan change.
Investing in Retirement
Retirement Income and Liquidity
For clients approaching or living in retirement, investment management is closely connected to income planning.
We consider how withdrawals, cash reserves, required distributions, and market conditions interact so that near-term needs do not lose sight of long-term objectives.
Connected Considerations
Near-term spending and cash needs
Portfolio withdrawals and distributions
Required minimum distributions
Market conditions and sequence risk
Long-term growth and legacy objectives
Tax Awareness
Investment Decisions May Have Tax Consequences
We consider matters such as account type, realized gains and losses, charitable giving, account location, and withdrawal sequencing as part of the financial-planning process.
When a decision requires tax-specific advice, we help identify the questions and coordinate with your qualified tax professional.
Custody and Independence
Independent Advice. Independent Custody.
Client assets managed by SFS are generally maintained with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., an independent qualified custodian.
Spencer Financial Strategies is independently owned and is not affiliated with or employed by Schwab.
Important Information
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.
Tax-aware planning is provided as part of the financial-planning process. SFS does not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Clients should consult appropriately qualified professionals regarding their individual circumstances.
Your Investments Should Make Sense in the Context of Your Life
Let us help you connect your investment strategy to the income needs, goals, responsibilities, and financial plan it is intended to support.