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| Additional information |
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| Harper Asset Management, LLC |
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Overview:
Harper is an investment advisory firm, managing custom investment portfolios for private clients. Since our founding in 2001, we have consistently approached securities investment with a conservative, value oriented process.
We build custom client portfolios with individual securities which are analyzed and selected in-house, utilizing fundamental research in a bottom-up selection process. Portfolios are tailored to the individual client, with mixes of equities, fixed income instruments and cash determined by the client’s specific situation. Allocations may fluctuate tactically depending on the availability of suitable investments within securities markets. In other words, we prefer to increase cash and fixed income exposure when we are unable to find equities which meet our requirements for quality and discount.
We also offer financial planning services to our clients, to aid in determining the optimal asset allocation, as well as to provide a roadmap for the client’s financial future. |
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Vision:
Markets are chaotic and influenced by emotion, particularly during times of financial turmoil when steady decision making is most critical. We maintain a consistent, disciplined and time-tested approach to investing which is relevant in all markets.
The central feature of our philosophy is the margin-of-safety principle. We invest in equity securities which possess both safety and value. Combining both characteristics offers the best protection against long-term loss, and enhances the potential for superior long-term performance.
We reject the efficient market theory (EMT), which states that security prices reflect all available information and that it is not possible to outperform the market via fundamental analysis. In fact, many “market anomalies” contradict EMT, yet financial academia continues to mostly embrace the theory as gospel. In particular, stocks selling for low prices relative to fundamental measures have historically outperformed the market. The “value” portion of stock indices such as the S&P 500 and Russell indices have outperformed the “growth” portion of said indices, and the cumulative outperformance continues to grow over time.
We have a strong preference for businesses with strong balance sheets and are wary of financial leverage. The financial storm of 2007-2009 reiterated the importance of a focus on total company risk, rather than simply seeking companies which look cheap relative to normalized earnings. |
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History:
In 2001, after several years working within a wealth management group at Morgan Stanley, Brian decided that there was a better way. Clients would be served better by a small, focused independent firm. Costs and fees to the client would be lower by cutting out the overhead associated with a large brokerage operation. We could work with fewer clients, and pay more attention to each. Investment management would be our primary focus, with no brokerage firm “restricted lists” or mandates as to how we could manage our clients’ capital.
So far, so good. Harper Asset Management works mostly with a group of loyal clients that have been around since the beginning. And, of course, some newcomers.
Jim, Brian’s father, joined the practice in 2008, bringing to the firm his deep experience in financial management and corporate and individual financial planning. |
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