Conversations - Winter 2004
By Zuzana Harvis Until recently, we had two ways to share information with you about your accounts electronically. First, we could upload reports on your accounts to My Reports, a secure area of our website. Second, we could e-mail you documents in a password-protected zip archive. Now we have the third way which can replace both and offers several additional advantages. My Virtual Safe is a new two-way secure information exchange channel between our clients and our firm. It is an online interface accessible through a web browser that allows for a secure transfer of sensitive financial information between you and us via your own “virtual safe.” This type of information exchange provides a significantly stronger level of security for transmitted material versus zipped and password-protected e-mail attachments. My Virtual Safe offers several advantages over My Reports. It can store most types of digital information (some exclusions apply), not just reports from our reporting software. For instance, we can upload MS Word documents, MS Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, plain text files, and other file formats. It is truly a two-way exchange, as you, our clients, can upload files as well. These can be existing electronic documents (for instance, downloaded account statements) or paper documents you scanned. In addition, My Virtual Safe lets you categorize, sort and filter stored files. You can also specify an expiration date for every document, on which it is deleted from the safe. Effective May 1st, 2004, My Virtual Safe will replace the My Reports section of our website. Clients who are set up for My Reports will be automatically transferred to My Virtual Safe, with no action necessary on their part. They will receive a separate notice, complete with instructions on how to use the new interface to access their monthly reports, as well as how to upload files. This new feature is provided to our clients at no additional cost. If you are currently not set up for My Reports, and would like to sign up for My Virtual Safe, please give us a call.
What Are Alternative Investments? By Diahann W. Lassus The economic and financial market booms of the 1990s created an enormous amount of wealth for people heavily invested during the bull market. These high-net-worth individuals sometimes utilize investments in alternative asset classes to further increase their wealth or protect it. Alternative asset classes, which include hedge funds, private equity, and real estate, among others, can also be used to protect assets from inflation. For example, hedge funds that protect against market downturns can reduce the volatility and risk associated with a portfolio of stocks and bonds. By contrast, a venture capital investment in a startup may increase portfolio risk as well as potential returns. These asset classes are considered "alternative" because, unlike traditional stock and bond investments, they generally seek absolute rather than relative rates of return. Alternative investments attempt to provide compound annual returns, which may include an illiquidity premium that compensates investors for their patience in waiting five to ten years to realize returns. Although the returns can be impressive, the actual risk may also be high. A hedge fund is any private limited partnership that is permitted to take short positions (sell stock it doesn’t own to make money if the stock goes down in value) and use leverage. Although they are called "hedge" funds, they do not necessarily protect against investment risk. Hedge funds are often likened to mutual funds, but they differ in key ways. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), charged with protecting the investing public, regulates mutual funds, which are open to all investors. By contrast, hedge funds, which are only available to accredited or very high-net-worth investors, do not have to register with the SEC, and they operate under fewer restrictions. For example, mutual funds cannot use leverage or make extensive use of short positions. Mutual funds also have disclosure requirements; hedge funds are free to operate in relative secrecy. Mutual funds raise money from the general public. Hedge funds raise capital from a limited number of partners who have invested in the fund, and hedge fund managers usually have a significant portion of their own money invested in their funds. It is important to keep in mind that not all hedge funds are created equal. Many hedge funds are only open to investors who are able to meet very high minimum investments of $5,000,000 or more. We continue our search for ways to invest in these funds with a smaller minimum per client so that we can diversify accounts even more effectively. As we identify them - we will keep you posted. |