Why FIM Group?

We Believe in Following Values

We believe that studying the skills, talents, observations and behaviors of proven, successful investors can lead to investing success. The superior performance of private investors like Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch and John Templeton, and scholars like Benjamin Graham and Larry Ellis, can be distilled into a single, disciplined approach that captures the essence of their investment strategies. In our dynamic, ever-changing world, committed investors realize that they have three broad tools at their disposal that allow them to invest with excellence and maximize their benefits:

• Selective diversification and concentration
• Careful security analysis
• A “price matters” orientation to capture excess returns

We Don’t Believe in Shortcuts

Money doesn’t manage itself, and capturing excess investment returns does not just happen. Successful investing takes identifiable talent and skills that must be implemented with consistency and discipline. Asset allocation is part of those tools but not the “tool” itself. The world changes daily, and a “Let’s wait till the quarterly meeting” approach to management simply does not work.

Investors that use indexing, passive benchmarking, or weekly, monthly or quarterly committee-driven models are looking for shortcuts for better performance. As any professional coach or athlete will tell you, there are no shortcuts to success or greatness. Indexers, ETF allocators and those who passively index will never achieve investment greatness. They may succeed in attracting and keeping clients; however, passive shortcuts could result in failed returns at worst and mediocre returns at best.

We Use Rationality to Enhance Returns

Most investors accept the fate of the psychological influences that can lead them astray. We see opportunity in what we call the “four poisons” that every investor must acknowledge before realizing their potential to enhance returns and reduce risks.

• Recency effect – The most powerful of the poisons, recency effect is a person’s predisposition to give current history more weight than past history. As financial stewards, FIM Group’s team must maintain their long-term focus and resist the urge to time markets, be enticed by the “strategy of the day” or make financial decisions based on fear.
• Endowment behavior and inertia – This pertains to an investor’s desire to hold onto a familiar investment even when it is no longer profitable. Endowment behavior can also cause investors to stay with “bad” investment decisions based on outdated information, even though there is current evidence that suggests otherwise. Endowment behavior has significant influence on the “hold-sell” decision. FIM Group believes a “sell” discipline is equally as important as a “buy” discipline.
• Crowd following – Most investors would rather follow the crowd and be wrong about their financial decisions than being right and successfully standing apart. It is human nature to want to fit in and take the traditional route; however, if everyone is investing a certain way, then the profits have already been made and the risks are enhanced as the crowd realizes they bought into a mania. FIM Group monitors the current “hot” ideas to ensure that we are not buying into a mania or being influenced irrationally by a crowd.
• Laziness, oversimplification and narrow investment universe – Investing is complicated. Our brains are wired to oversimplify complex subjects, which can get investors into trouble. Flexibility, humility, maturity, truth-seeking, experience, training, analysis, and common sense are the antidotes to oversimplification.

Value Can Be Added by Flexibility and Discipline

Investing without borders is our core investment philosophy, which applies not only to geographical borders, but also to asset class, industry and market constraints. We believe that flexibility gives our investment team the necessary tools to achieve our absolute return goals while managing risk, specifically seeking to mitigate the permanent loss of capital.

Our Investment Philosophy Is Grounded

For 25 years, we have remained consistent and true to our investment philosophy, which you may view by clicking here.

A Disciplined Investment Management System Is Important

Our approach to investment management takes elements from the philosophies of investing legends. Click here to view our system.

Opportunistic Trading Increases Returns

Careful trading can reduce costs and even add value to the investment management process. FIM Group’s managers have spent the bulk of their careers involved in the trading process and use direct trading platforms, where available, to monitor markets and trade globally.

Low Cost

We are patient and price-conscious in our buying and selling decisions. We are fee-only advisers and do not add cost by receiving 12b-1 fees from mutual funds, wrap charges, soft dollar fees from brokers, or charging trustee or custodial fees. We have a flat asset under management fee structure that is reasonable and designed to be low enough to have minimal effect on client returns.

We Believe in Transparency and Ethics

Our clients get to see how the investment management process works. FIM Group clients see each trade on their account, and any commissions, fees or other expenses are disclosed in a straightforward manner. Clients know exactly what investments are in their investment portfolio.

Broad Line of Capabilities for Long-Term Investors

FIM Group’s ability to know our clients and construct portfolios designed to meet their individual goals, constraints and objectives is a core strength that is consistent with our values and grounded approach. Our goal is to provide our clients with portfolios that maximize returns for their desired risk level.

Independent and Dedicated

FIM Group is an independently owned investment management firm. We serve our clients, stakeholders, employee shareholders, society and the community. FIM Group’s team is dedicated to managing investments in the best interests of our clients.

Dedicated Client Service Professionals

Our client service team is talented, committed and trained to serve our clients’ needs in a timely manner. We strive to help our clients beginning with their very first phone call and continue to build long-term relationships with each client for years to come.