Investment Management for Institutions

Porter, White & Company provides investment management solutions for institutional clients including public sector enterprises, such as universities and municipalities, non-profit boards and trusts, high net worth families and individual estates, and endowments of schools and other organizations.

PW&Co's institutional investment management services are grounded in our long standing expertise in corporate financial planning. We apply proven principles of investing to the circumstances of institutions, by analyzing their financial history and condition as well as their hopes and aspirations as reflected in forward looking financial and other planning documents.

A key document in the process is the Investment Policy Statement which describes the purpose and function of investment portfolios, the timing of expected withdrawals, whether the portfolio is held by a fiduciary, the purpose for maintaining the portfolio, and the volatility in returns that can be sustained. The Investment Policy Statement should set forth asset allocations for each portfolio based on the information described in the preceding sentence to guide the investment manager in making investments.

Most institutions work through investment committees. Our experience as members of such committees from time to time, is that the typical committee meets infrequently so individual members have forgotten what happened at the last meeting, advisers show up with a lot of paper that is difficult to understand, and the committee delegates decision making to the adviser by default. We encourage the committees with which we work to make informed decisions on policy, and we do this by presenting cogent performance reports, and alternative strategies with understandable rationales that permit the committee to take action with full understanding of possible consequences. We go to great effort to present information in context, chronologically, in terms of long term investment performance, and in terms of fundamental economic principles.

For more information on Institutions, contact Goodloe White.