We leverage the in-house credit analysis experience of Curt Stauffer, who early in his professional career was a formally trained credit analyst, in order to identify inefficiencies within the fixed income market. These inefficiencies are most prevalent within the municipal and corporate bond market. Finding these inefficiencies provides a superior risk/reward opportunity for our clients. Below are some of the portfolio strategies we are currently managing for clients:

1. Core Bond (Taxable or Tax Free) - 8 to 15 individual bonds with a portfolio average duration between 5 and 10 years. The portfolio structure is dictated by our interest rate expectations and individual client liquidity needs.
2. Short-Term Bond (Taxable or Tax Free) - 8 to 15 bonds with final maturities ranging from 1 to 3 years. This strategy has been used effectively as a higher yielding alternative to money market funds or ultra short-term bond funds.
3. Target Use Bond Strategy (Typically Tax-Free) - This portfolio seeks to maximize total return between the beginning date of the portfolio and a pre-determined event 10 or more years into the future, such as education funding. The portfolio will invest in securities which will mature coincident with the funding need. Typical securities utilized for such a strategy are zero coupon municipal bonds and other non-callable notes.

In addition to individual bonds, some portfolios will utilize specialty bond funds covering areas such as high yield, emerging debt and floating rate notes.