For clients of Berkshire Money Management, Inc. we do provide comprehensive Financial Planning advice.  This is a tremendous value-added service for our clients, but our clients (individuals and institutions alike) hire Berkshire for our portfolio management services. 

Specifically, Berkshire is hired to provide investment advice that may lead to returns that outpace the broad US market over time.

Berkshire Money Management gravitates away from the traditional age-based asset-allocation recommendations of the financial industry (ex. “100 minus your age equals the amount of equities you should own…”), and we also gravitate away from the traditional theories of long-term investing (ex. “the stock market will always come back…”) and diversification (“own a little bit of everything, but not too much…”).

• First, while age is important, it is not the main factor. While time is a leading risk measurement, the market better defines what is or what is not risky.  (For example, some might think that owning a short-term Treasury-bond fund is “safe” or “conservative” – that is until the Fed raises rates and the fund loses money.)

• Second, while Berkshire accepts the premise of long-term investing we believe that we add value to your portfolio by identifying potential market corrections and by making the necessary adjustments.  (A lot of “professional” investors held large-cap and technology stocks in and through 2000, 2001, and 2002 – there is some merit to short-term risk management).

• Third, while diversification is of the utmost importance, there is no need to own something just for the sake of following an industry mantra of owning a little bit of everything.  (Why own something that is losing money?  And why not own more of something that is going up?)

The end result is a portfolio strategy that has led to outsized returns and, at the same time, reduced risk.