Accumulation

Financial security means different things to different people. What does it mean to you?

...Enough money to pursue your dreams?
...Paying for your children's college education?
...Early retirement? Or even a retirement with the same lifestyle or better than you currently have?
...Being able to leave a legacy to your heirs or favorite charity?

Whatever financial security means to you, it begins with a plan for accumulating wealth. One of the best ways to accumulate wealth is through asset allocation and dollar-cost averaging over time.

Asset allocation is generally defined as the allocation of an investor's portfolio among a number of "major" asset classes. In other words, don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Some of the asset classes include, but are not limited to, the following: Large Cap Value, Large Cap Growth, Mid Cap Value, Mid Cap Growth, International stocks, various types of bond instruments (short-term, long-term, high-yield), etc.

Dollar cost averaging is an investment strategy designed to reduce volatility in which securities are purchased in fixed dollar amounts at regular intervals, regardless of what direction the market is moving.* Thus, as prices of securities rise, fewer units are bought, and as prices fall, more units are bought.

Other areas of accumulation usually require some sort of discussion. Some of the areas include such topics as legal and estate planning documents, liability insurance concerns, employee retention at the office, workers compensation issues, employee benefits packages, highly concentrated equity positions in a portfolio, 1031 strategies, and employee stock option exercising to name a few.

^{*Dollar-cost averaging does not ensure a profit or prevent a loss. You should consider your financial ability to continue making purchases through periods of low price levels.}^{*Asset allocation enables an investor to reduce the overall volatility of the portfolio. However, using an asset allocation methodology does not guarantee greater or more consistent returns nor assures against market loss.}