Hire Your Own Personal Faith-Based Portfolio Manager

There is a relatively more-popular investment process called separate ac­count management. It is similar to mutual funds in many ways, but allows you as the investor to see what is going on “behind the scenes.” Separate accounts provide individual investors access to institutional-quality money managers at reduced account minimums. Within this structure, the inves­tor directly owns the securities in the portfolio, and can impose restrictions against the purchase of specific securities as a means of customizing the port­folio for personal requirements. This flexibility allows the investor the ben­efits of direct security ownership combined with professional management.

Over the last ten years, separate accounts have become more popular. Many managers today will accept accounts of $50,000 or $100,000. This allows investors who normally would not have access to these managers to now participate. A major advantage of a separate account over a mu­tual fund is called the transparency factor. You are able to see every single holding that you own. Unlike your mutual fund, which reports its hold­ings monthly or quarterly, you can see what you own on a daily basis.

Benefits of Separate Accounts

1. Investment Flows. Often, mutual funds are managed based on the net inflow or outflow of their investors’ deposits. Stocks may be sold prematurely to meet redemptions, and other stocks may be bought at unattractive prices simply to put excess cash to work. A separate account is managed with your individual needs in mind.

2. Client Input. Although these are often model portfolio approaches, many managers allow clients to tailor their accounts. For example, certain in­vestments may be excluded because of religious or social concerns.

3. Tax Efficiency. For taxable investors, a separate account avoids the pitfalls of mutual fund capital gains distributions. In some years, a mutual fund investor might have unrealized losses and yet owe taxes because of activity within the fund. You won’t pay taxes on gains you did not realize.

4. Tax Planning. For taxable investors, you can typically instruct the manager to generate gains or losses, if applicable. This allows your separate account to be integrated with your overall tax strategy.

5. Reporting. You will receive detailed reports from your manager, outlining exactly what you own and how your individual ac­count has performed.

6. Transparency. You will see all of the trades (buys and sells) and charges.

7. Expenses. A private account is generally cost-effective when com­pared to the alternatives.

Faith-Based Separate Account Managers

Here are a couple of sample managers who run portfolios for faith-based investors. They generally accept accounts of $100,000 and over and have a wide range of portfolio options that range from conservative to aggressive. Please contact the individual managers for more specific information and for the most current data and performance records.

American Values Investments

www.americanvalues.com

1- 423-722-1776

Stewardship Partners

www.stewardshippartners.com

1-800-930-6949