Like most businesses, Carosa Stanton has characteristics that differentiate it from its competition. Some of these differences merely make us a more attractive choice, while other differences allow us to communicate to our prospects that we are the best option for them. We’ve grouped our differences into three distinct categories.
Our firm has a business model and strategic plan that gives us key organizational advantages over many banks, brokers, insurance companies, financial planners, and other investment advisers. First and foremost, we are independent from all other financial service providers our clients use. In all cases, we serve as a fiduciary, meaning we strive to work exclusively in the best interests of the client. We do not accept commissions. We are exclusively an asset-based fee service provider. We feel this method of payment best aligns our interests with our clients’ interests. Another key strategic difference is our size. The founders of Carosa Stanton have experienced the problems of multi-billion dollar firms. Clients tend to get “lost in the sauce” and often find themselves “serviced” by interns or other low-level employees. We understand providing investment advice is a personal service, much like getting medical advice from a doctor. We therefore assembled a small group of veterans who are responsible for serving clients. This means, unlike the turnover one sees in larger firms, our clients can count on being served by the same individual for a long time.
Our firm has an investment philosophy we believe provides a very unique and advantageous solution to our clients’ investment counseling needs. Unlike nearly every other financial service provider, we are one of the few investment advisers in the country that is on the leading edge of investment management by incorporating behavioral finance techniques rather than those of the outdated Modern Portfolio Theory. We focus not on an arbitrary definition of risk, but on the practical definition of risk – failing to meet one’s goal. By combining Goal-Oriented TargetingSM with downside risk analysis and our proprietary Lifetime Dream ProcessSM, we believe we can better serve our clients best interests as we build their investment portfolios. We feel our solution gives each of our clients a better chance of achieving their individual Lifetime Dream. We also strongly believe, unlike other services that merely regurgitate pages and pages of Modern Portfolio Theory Statistics, our solution dramatically reduces personal fiduciary liability.
Finally, our president offers a powerfully diverse advantage. In addition to hands-on experience and industry credentials, he has a strong academic background (including an undergraduate degree from Yale and an MBA from The Simon School, one of the nation’s top tier business schools). Our president is very active in the academic arena, having taught finance and economics courses at the college level, as well as authoring several books and articles, including an award winning research paper. He invented an extremely practical way to tie the Goal-Oriented TargetingSM process to the needs of 401k plan participants that he has a patent pending on it. A sought after speaker at industry conferences, he has written several books (including the well acclaimed industry bible 401k Fiduciary Standards) and authored more than 500 articles. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, as a firm, we are dedicated to serving our clients, our community, and our families.
