Tag: investing

Mar 20th

The Advantages of Individual Securities Over Mutual Funds

Individual securities offer powerful advantages for ultra-high-net-worth investors.

If you’ve been investing for a while, at some point you were probably told that mutual funds were not only an easy answer, but also a wise one, promising a strong return with minimal effort and monitoring. This advice is not wrong, but it doesn’t apply to everyone. 

After mutual funds rose to popularity in the bull market of the 1990s, they became a staple of individual retirement accounts (IRAs), which were rapidly replacing traditional pensions. IRAs and other mass-market purposes are exactly what mutual funds are designed for, and they typically perform well toward those goals. But they don’t make sense for investors with the resources to gauge the market on their own. 

“One of the things that differentiates Whittier Trust is our belief that clients should own individual positions versus mutual or co-mingled funds,” says David Ronco, Senior Portfolio Manager at Whittier. “Buying individual securities for our clients allows us to save them money with respect to fees and taxes while creating a customized, transparent investment solution.” 

“As a portfolio manager, I have an in-depth understanding of all major asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate, and alternatives,” Ronco continues. “For each client’s portfolio, our team hand-picks the best individual investments to meet their goals.” 

Here, Ronco explains four key benefits of owning individual securities.

Customization

Mutual funds are designed to reach a broad cross-section of market participants. “The only customization they offer is a choice between general goals such as growth or income,” Ronco explains. “They don’t take into account your philosophy, your risk tolerance, or the many other factors that can make you a standout investor. They are truly the lowest common denominator of investing.”

Overall Cost

Many mutual funds have high expense ratios, layered on top of wealth management fees. “We call that fee layering, and it’s not an issue with individual securities, which have no embedded fees,” Ronco says. “So right off the bat, moving to individual securities significantly increases the compounding return potential of a client’s portfolio.” 

Tax Efficiency

“Individual securities are also more tax efficient than mutual funds by far,” says Ronco. “Mutual funds are essentially not concerned with tax efficiency. They generate capital gains and losses as they trade securities throughout the year, and they have to distribute those net capital gains evenly to all shareholders, even those investors that didn’t engage in any buying or selling.”

Whittier clients benefit from direct ownership of their holdings, which allows precise control over capital gains enabling flexible tax loss harvesting and tax-free compounding. Our portfolio managers strategically leverage these advantages through constant analysis of client positions, ensuring proactive, year-round tax optimization, not just a reactive approach at tax time.

Transparency

Individual securities offer Whittier clients ultimate transparency so their stakes in specific industries and companies are completely clear. “We can provide detailed, real-time information about every security our clients hold,” explains Ronco. “Mutual funds, on the other hand, are a bit of a black box, often reporting 60 to 100 underlying positions under a single, vague name or symbol.”

Growing Your Portfolio

At Whittier, no two client portfolios are the same, and the individual securities selected by portfolio managers and the Whittier investment team reflect the understanding we have of each client’s assets and goals, built through long-term relationships.

“We help families preserve and grow the wealth that they have worked hard to create,” Ronco says. “I consider it a privilege to share the expertise of our Whittier team and my own in-depth understanding of all asset classes—including equities, fixed income, real estate, and alternatives—to help clients build wealth.”

If you’re ready to explore how Whittier Trust’s tailored investment strategies can work for you, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Feb 18th

Managing Risk: Consistency Over Uncertainty

A calculated approach to risk management allows investment objectives to be met regardless of the conditions.

Managing risk is one of the most important portfolio management objectives. Risk is simply the possibility that an outcome will differ from what is expected or hoped for.

“Investment risk is like the wind on top of a mountain,” says Caleb Silsby, chief portfolio manager at Whittier Trust Company. “It’s unpredictable and often cannot be seen or even anticipated. The more calm the environment is around you, the less prepared you are likely to be when it hits.”

But with the right guidance and preparation, risk can be managed and planned for in a way that allows investment objectives to be met regardless of the conditions—to be understood rather than feared.

Whittier Trust offers a calculated approach to risk management that has served clients well through many market cycles. “We emphasize three interconnected mechanisms,” Silsby says, “And this trifecta has proven time and time again to generate strong returns for our clients.”

Recognizing the Risk Continuum

Most clients want more return than the bond market but less risk than the stock market. To achieve this outcome, Whittier Trust starts with an investment philosophy centered around owning quality companies. “With high-quality companies, you can own more of a higher returning asset class in your portfolio than you would with riskier, lower quality equities,” explains Silsby. “Whittier’s research team analyzes the history, management, and financials of these companies. When we refer to a stock as high-quality, it means the company has a clean balance sheet, strong management team, lasting competitive advantage, and strong returns on capital deployed.”

Minding the Bear

Correlation is a statistical tool for portfolio managers that indicates the degree to which securities move in relation to one another. Whittier Trust believes that in bear markets, correlations move to one (a perfect positive correlation), and the dollar tends to strengthen. “We are also mindful of currency impacts that often catch unwitting investors by surprise during bear markets,” says Silsby.

Whittier Trust has managed money through multiple market cycles and has seen the commonalities of bear markets. We employ thoughtful portfolio construction that anticipates a risk-off environment where risk assets will tend to move in synchrony. We set up portfolios with the anticipated market shifts in mind, which allows us to plan for the unexpected. During the 2022 bear market, the Whittier investment team anticipated the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes in response to inflation and maintained a constructive outlook despite widespread concerns and panic about a deep recession. Our disciplined approach emphasized a balanced perspective, suggesting that fears of stubborn inflation and severe economic downturns might be overstated. In 2023, amidst significant challenges such as regional bank collapses, Whittier Trust assessed the broader financial system’s resilience, predicting these crises would be “bumps in the road” rather than catastrophic events. This perspective proved revelatory, as markets rebounded, with the S&P 500 delivering a 26.3 percent total return for 2023. By aligning their investment strategies with key economic indicators and maintaining a steady hand, we have reinforced our reputation as a reliable partner in wealth management during challenging market cycles.

Playing the Long Game

Whittier’s formula for managing risk is focused on long-term investments. The market generates returns much more often than it doesn’t, making long-term investments one of the best ways to grow wealth. Silsby advises: “If you can be a long-term, patient investor who avoids being a forced seller, then the true risk to manage around is permanent loss of capital. Such losses most commonly arise through forced selling, uncontrolled equity dilution, or too much leverage.” Forward-thinking investors can ride out market volatility and take advantage of compounding returns, dividend growth, and capital appreciation.

As the oldest multifamily office headquartered on the West Coast, Whittier Trust Company has refined our approach to managing both short- and long-term risks over nearly four decades. As in everything we do, our guiding purpose as fiduciaries is to understand and meet clients’ overall goals and best interests, while working to ensure the resilience of their portfolios. With the long-term in mind, we can help protect clients, their families, and their legacies through uncertain economic trends and market fluctuations with tailored investment plans and our exceptional commitment to personal service.

To learn more about how Whittier Trust has approached portfolio management and managing risk for over thirty years as a multi-family office, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our website.

To learn more about how Whittier Trust's calculated approach to risk can make a difference for your investment portfolio, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Feb 11th

Exceptional Returns With Hybrid Investing

Whittier Trust’s internal investment team selectively partners with outside managers to yield higher returns. We call it our hybrid architecture. Our clients call it the best of both worlds.

Internal + External Investing

The investments we make on behalf of our clients fall into two categories: those our internal investment team manages directly and those we allocate to outside managers. Most investment managers employ only one of these strategies, which makes our dual approach relatively uncommon—enough so that we gave it our own name: hybrid architecture. 

Equities, fixed income, and real estate are the three major asset classes directly managed by Whittier Trust’s investment team. For one other major asset class—alternatives—we allocate to external managers. The alternatives asset class includes private equity, venture capital, private debt, and hedge funds. 

“We know that this internal-external distinction can seem abstract,” says Sam Kendrick, Whittier Vice President and Portfolio Manager, “But it perfectly embodies Whittier’s unique history and client-centric approach. We’ve been in the multi-family-office business since 1989, and we’ve continuously evolved our structure to find the approach that gets the best result for our clients. We used to outsource the management of stocks and bonds—stocks to mutual funds, and bonds to brokers. But after years of analysis, we felt confident we could beat Wall Street’s returns, especially on an after-tax basis. We moved the management of stocks and bonds in-house. Since doing that, we haven’t looked back.”

Custom Solutions for UHNWI Clients

One of the primary reasons outsourcing equity management can lead to worse results is that it limits the ability to customize investment exposure around clients’ unique needs. 

The investment products that Wall Street creates don’t cater to Whittier’s particular clients, who are interested in returns after taxes. “Wall Street products pursue the highest headline return possible to gather assets while ignoring the tax consequences,” Kendrick says. “This is because only a quarter of the U.S. stock market is owned by taxable investors. Unfortunately, the result is excessive turnover and capital gains, leading to lower after-tax returns.”

What’s more, in an equity mutual fund structure, investors have no control over the timing of gains. Capital gains are realized and distributed at the whim of other investors in the fund. This is unacceptable for most Whittier clients, who tend to have vastly different taxable incomes each year due to liquidity events and private investments. By investing in individual stocks for clients, rather than equity funds, we’re able to create dispersion: A few stocks will go up many multiples of the original investment while others go down. This allows us to sell losing stocks to offset gains while winning stocks can be donated to avoid capital gains entirely, all of which leads to an increase in after-tax returns.

Whether it’s low-basis, legacy stocks, or ownership interests in private businesses, many of our clients have meaningful existing exposures in specific companies and industries. Buying an equity mutual fund or ETF will indiscriminately add to existing concentrations, needlessly increasing risk. Actively managing portfolios of individual stocks allows us to strategize exposure to best suit each client’’ specific balance sheet. 

Maximum Return on Fixed-Income Investments

The way the Whittier Trust team manages fixed income internally comes from knowing the goals of our clients and working backward. “Our clients want the maximum return from fixed income with minimal risk,” says Kendrick. “They don’t specifically want to own munis, treasuries, or preferreds.” While most funds only buy one type of bond, regardless of the relative attractiveness to other types, our team looks for bonds that deliver the best returns for each client with their specific tax situation in mind. We analyze opportunities outside municipal bonds, factoring in the added tax to make apples-to-apples comparisons, and then choose the best investments. The result is a portfolio that’s not only higher returning but also more diversified. 

Deep Experience with Real Estate

Whittier has been actively investing in real estate since our origin as a single-family office more than a century ago, and we use that expertise to buy individual buildings that our clients own directly. With ownership limited to Whittier clients, we have the control to build real estate portfolios on a deal-by-deal basis, diversifying by property type and geography according to clients’ needs. And because there is no fund structure and no outside investors, we decide when to sell based only on when is best for our clients. 

Partnering on Alternative Investments

With Whittier’s successful record managing investments internally, the obvious question is why wouldn’t we keep everything in-house? Why allocate to outside managers for alternative investments? “The reason comes from our client-focused approach,” Kendrick explains. “Throughout our history, we’ve managed alternative investments in both ways, internally and externally, and the results for our clients have been better using external managers.”

Whittier’s scale allows us to meet with hundreds of outside managers a year—spanning hedge funds, private equity, and private debt—and select the best ones for our clients. These high-quality managers, selected from the most attractive alternative investment sub-asset classes, offer an impressive array of opportunities for diversification and above-market returns. Allocating to outside managers means we can be both broad and nimble in an asset class that is evolving and expanding, rather than internally managing alternatives, thereby restricting ourselves to only a handful of strategies and sub-asset classes. And because we don’t charge additional fees on alternatives, we continue to ensure that our incentives are aligned with our clients’. 

It's the best of both worlds: With Whittier Trust’s hybrid architecture, clients get customized, direct exposure to stocks, bonds, and real estate, as well as access to the best private equity, private debt, and hedge fund managers with no extra charges. It’s a structure that has evolved organically over time to best serve our clients’ needs. “You reap higher returns because we can minimize taxes and eliminate layers of investment products and embedded costs,” Kendrick says. “Our clients get the kind of results you’d expect from the single-family office model of direct ownership, but with the scale advantages of a multi-family office. And as we continue to grow and learn about our clients, we’re always looking for new solutions that will further their goals.”

For more information about how a hybrid team of internal professionals and the right external experts can help your investment portfolio, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Jan 17th

Strategic Wealth Planning for UHNWIs for the Second Trump Administration

The new year will present challenges and opportunities for ultra-high-net-worth individuals as they re-evaluate their portfolios and long-term financial plans in light of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. Strong partnerships between UHNW clients and their advisors will be essential during this transition and the ensuing four years. Proactive planning will be key, especially given potential shifts in tax laws, market dynamics and interest rates.

Tax Law

Before Trump’s election in November, many ultrawealthy families were scrambling to optimize their estate plans ahead of the scheduled sunset of the Tax Cut & Jobs Act to take full advantage of exemptions while they remained in place and to adjust estate plans when and if those exemptions reverted at the end of 2025.

The policy uncertainty in 2024 paved the path for families and their advisors to give more consideration to their legacy and how it will affect their extended family in the future. The impending tax law change forced conversations around important estate planning considerations such as dispositive provisions, age attainments, and wishes for the use of the hard-earned wealth for future generations. The difficult decisions around the mechanics of intergenerational wealth were front and center leading up to the election.

However, with the incoming administration, it’s likely that the TCJA will be extended or even made permanent. UHNWIs and their advisors should continue to review their estate plans and build on those important conversations despite having more time to approach their plans strategically.

This extended horizon also allows for a renewed focus on aligning investments and real estate strategies with enduring goals, emphasizing tax efficiency, diversification and legacy planning. Advisors should take this opportunity to evaluate the use of tax-advantaged structures, optimize trusts and consider philanthropic vehicles that can minimize tax burdens while fulfilling broader family objectives.

Market Dynamics

From deregulation to policy shifts on renewable energy sources to protectionist economic policies, Trump’s election will hold many implications for investors and their portfolios.

The stock market’s reaction to the election results was initially positive. The day after the election, 3 in 4 companies traded higher, with the three major indices reaching record highs. As investors digested the possible policy changes under the new administration, markets in November saw a strong post-election rally, led by small-cap stocks and supported by gains in large-cap indices. However, recent Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and signals of a cautious monetary policy approach for 2025 have sparked turbulence, with major indices like the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq experiencing sharp declines in mid-December.

Projected winners are expected beneficiaries of deregulation including banks; energy-related companies (especially in the liquified natural gas space); cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin; technology companies facing increased anti-trust exposure; and Tesla with Elon Musk leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, committee.

Projected losers are companies in the renewable energy space, including EVs not owned by Elon Musk and utilities invested in renewable energy sources. Other losers, given Trump’s protectionist platform, include international companies broadly, and China specifically.

It is still unclear how the markets will treat healthcare companies. Managed care organizations initially saw a bump in anticipation of a hoped-for easing in pricing scrutiny.  Since the election, MCOs have been selling off (CVS Health’s Stock has fallen 24% in December with UnitedHealth Group and Cigna Group also experiencing substantial declines), with the expectation that they may be more heavily scrutinized if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed to head the Department of Health and Human Services. The industry-level volatility may create opportunities for investors with the ability to tolerate short-term pricing aberrations if the policies are more moderate than feared.

Seriously, Not Literally

As the markets react and overreact to policy decisions, we are reminded that the new administration should be taken "seriously" but not "literally." Advisors and clients should keep in mind that administrations rarely achieve everything they set out to do. The challenge will be to react to a broader understanding of what the administration intends to focus on rather than fearing the most radical proposal or enacted policy.

Regardless of what policy shifts come to pass, the time-honored values of successful planning remain the same: prioritizing long-term strategies, tax efficiency and high-quality companies. It’s important for the advisor to encourage clients to stay disciplined, avoid being too hasty to react, and emphasize strategic consistency within a portfolio.

Having said that, it’s also important to communicate often with clients about shifts and expected changes within market cycles, as there are opportunities to be seized within any market environment.

Caleb Silsby is the Executive Vice President, Chief Portfolio Officer at Whittier Trust, overseeing a team that collaboratively manages portfolios for high-net-worth clients, foundations, and endowments. He is credentialed as a CFA Charterholder and CFP professional.

Featured in Barron's. For more information about private market investments, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Jan 14th

Who Should Be the Trustee of My Real Estate Portfolio?

Make sure your family’s property assets are stewarded from one generation to the next.

The story of family wealth-creation in the West is not complete without a discussion of the role real estate has played in building multi-generational legacies. This is true throughout the region but specifically so in California. Almost every entrepreneur has a balance sheet that includes significant real estate assets in addition to whatever operating business may be the primary driver of the family’s fortune. In our experience at Whittier Trust, many of these entrepreneurs think of real estate as the “simple” part of the balance sheet. Buy the property, maintain the property and collect the rent—easy, right?

Those of us who work with families holding large real estate portfolios know all too well that, while it may seem simple on the outside, the day-to-day of owning real estate is far from easy. The glamor in real estate comes from the acquisition and the disposition and rarely from the details of operating the property. As it is often said, the devil is in those details!

Multi-family housing is a good place to start our discussion since it may be the asset class that requires the most hands-on attention by owners. Units must be rented and common areas maintained, but there are a whole host of other considerations. What tools are employed to monitor market rental rates to ensure rents are sufficient? Is there someone in the family who will perform the day-to-day supervision of property management, or will they oversee an outside management company? Who is vigilantly reviewing insurance markets and the myriad of local governmental regulations concerning housing? Property management of multi-family buildings is fairly labor intensive and while the wealth-creating generation may do this work themselves, it is important to consider whether there is someone with the interest and aptitude in the next generation. If not, seeking a professional fiduciary may be a good option.

Commercial and industrial buildings may be less hands-on, particularly if there are triple net leases in place. However, when vacancies arise, the buildings must be properly marketed to maximize the family’s return on the asset. What if there is damage to a building caused by a fire or a natural disaster? Who will vet potential new tenants for creditworthiness and overall desirability?

When talking with families about succession planning concerning their real estate assets, our team at Whittier Trust often finds that the older generation who has been performing these oversight and management activities will downplay the difficulty involved and the skills required to successfully operate the real estate portfolio. We will hear things like “All they have to do is deposit the rent checks and pay the insurance and property taxes.” In our experience of serving as a successor trustee in innumerable trusts with real estate, there is always more to the story than depositing checks and paying a few bills. 

In the worst-case scenarios, we see surviving spouses who have never been involved in operating the real estate being named as the successor trustee. This is usually done to provide the spouse with control, but there are better ways to accomplish this objective. An unprepared or unskilled spouse can easily make costly mistakes. Frequently, the surviving spouse is an older person who may not be fully able to appreciate and understand the responsibilities they’ve been given. They may experience confusion or even be susceptible to undue influence. This is a particularly difficult situation if the surviving spouse is the stepparent of the ultimate remainder beneficiaries. We often see litigation result in these cases. 

A best practice is to be as thorough and thoughtful about the succession plan for the management of the real estate as one would be in the planning for an operating business. Corporate trustees who have a history of direct real estate investment and management of a variety of assets, make good succession partners. The family can always be given control by holding the power to remove and replace the corporate trustee—a far better solution than having an ill-equipped family member serve in a fiduciary capacity. 

Selecting an experienced and trusted partner who can enter the situation when needed helps preserve and enhance the value of the real estate assets for generations to come.

Written by Thomas J. Frank, Jr., Executive Vice President, Northern California Regional Manager, Whittier Trust.

Featured in Mountain Home Magazine. For more information about trustee services or transitioning a real estate portfolio to the next generation, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Jan 6th

Getting Started in Private Market Investment

Investor interest in private markets has surged over the past decade. To understand why, it's essential to grasp what these investments entail and the factors driving their growth. Here, we offer insights into the complexities and benefits of private market investments and outline Whittier Trust's distinctive approach.

Demystifying Private Market Alternatives

Private market alternatives might sound exotic, but they're essentially the private counterpart to public markets. Publicly traded stocks represent ownership in public companies. Private equity is simply ownership of a private company. The key distinction between public and private markets is liquidity. Public shares can be easily bought and sold on exchanges, whereas private equity investments may be subject to transfer restrictions and may require specialized brokers to facilitate transactions.

The Appeal of Performance

So why is investor interest in private markets growing so rapidly? The answer lies in performance. A report by Hamilton Lane found that over the past 20 years, returns from private equity buyouts outperformed global equities on a public market equivalent basis. This trend extends to private credit, which has also delivered more income compared to the public leveraged loan market, particularly appealing during low-interest environments.

Expanded Opportunities and Diversification

Beyond performance, the expansion of investment opportunities is a significant driver of interest in private markets. The number of public companies in the U.S. has declined by 50% since 1996, while private equity firms now own more companies than those listed publicly. Globally, the number of private companies with revenues over $100 million is over eight times that of public companies. This shift provides a broader array of investment options and helps mitigate concentration risk in public markets, where the top 10 firms currently account for over 35% of the S&P 500’s value.

The Whittier Trust Approach

It’s important to note that private markets come with additional risks, costs, and complexities, notably illiquidity. At Whittier, we use private markets to complement our core internal strategies, enhancing returns, diversification, and cash yield. This hybrid approach combines top-tier internal investment management with best-in-class private market managers.

Quality and Alignment of Interests

Quality is a cornerstone of Whittier’s investment philosophy. We believe that quality in public markets, and private markets, and the managers we partner with, are key to compounding wealth. This focus on quality extends to the selection of private market opportunities and partners.

Crucially, Whittier's incentives are aligned with client interests. We are not compensated by private equity managers to raise capital, nor do we incentivize employees to direct client assets to private markets. This conflict-free approach ensures that decisions are made solely in the best interests of clients, avoiding the pitfalls of added fees, commissions, and feeder expenses that can erode returns and turn good investments into poor results.

Strategic Integration and Expertise

Whittier Trust integrates private market investments as part of a holistic, diversified portfolio strategy. We view private investments as an extension of public market opportunities. With companies staying private longer, substantial value creation occurs before potential public offerings. Investing in private entities like SpaceX, which remains private and valued at over $200 billion after 20 years, exemplifies the potential for significant returns.

Final Thoughts

Private market investments offer expanded opportunities and the potential for superior returns, but they come with added risks and complexities. Private investment should be considered when after-tax returns, risks, and correlation characteristics more than compensate for higher costs and lower liquidity.

With a focus on quality, a conflict-free approach, and a strategy that integrates private and public market opportunities, Whittier Trust positions itself as a trusted partner for ultra-high-net-worth investors navigating the private market landscape. Whether you are new to private markets or seeking to deepen investments, Whittier’s expertise and alignment with client interests ensure a thoughtful and strategic approach to wealth compounding.

Written by Eric Derrington, Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at Whittier Trust. Eric is based out of the Pasadena Office.

Featured in Kiplinger. For more information about private market investments, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Dec 19th

Navigating a Challenging Landscape: Key Considerations for UHNWIs Amid Interest Rate Cuts

In September 2024 we saw a Fed interest rate cut of 0.5 percentage points and another rate cut of 0.25 in November. Now, as we start 2025, The Fed is considering additional rate cuts. For ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), shifts in interest rates carry significant implications for wealth management strategies. Lower interest rates—though more elevated than in prior cycles—can influence everything from investment decisions to long-term planning. To navigate this landscape effectively, Whittier Trust advises affluent families to check in with their advisors to assess risks, seize opportunities, and safeguard their legacies.

Here are five essential questions to guide those conversations:

1. How Should My Investment Strategy Adjust to Reflect Market Conditions?

Interest rate cuts tend to buoy stock valuations, often making equities a more attractive option than bonds in certain scenarios. However, the dynamics of today's market—where interest rates remain higher than historical lows—warrant a nuanced approach. UHNWIs should ask their advisors about the wisdom of rebalancing their portfolios to capitalize on sectors poised to benefit from economic growth spurred by rate cuts.

For example, technology and consumer discretionary sectors often thrive when borrowing becomes more affordable, stimulating corporate growth. Conversely, some traditionally defensive sectors may underperform. The goal is to ensure your portfolio is positioned to benefit from rate-driven shifts while maintaining the long-term diversification necessary to weather economic uncertainty.

2. What Role Should Bonds Play in My Portfolio Now?

While bond yields have been suppressed in recent years, even modest increases in yields can make fixed-income assets more attractive as part of a diversified portfolio. Families relying on predictable income streams should consider whether their bond allocations need adjustments to optimize for yield and risk.

Ask your advisor if now is the right time to reintroduce or increase exposure to investment-grade bonds, municipal bonds, or alternative fixed-income vehicles. The relationship between rising bond yields and overall portfolio performance should be carefully analyzed to avoid unintended risk.

3. Is My Portfolio Adequately Hedged Against Inflation?

Lower interest rates stemming from Fed rate cuts often coincide with muted inflation, which can diminish the urgency of inflation-hedging strategies. However, inflation trends are dynamic and UHNWIs must remain vigilant. Ask your advisor to review whether your current portfolio includes sufficient protection against potential inflationary pressures in the future.

Real assets, such as real estate and commodities, can serve as hedges while offering diversification benefits. Meanwhile, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) may be less necessary in a low-inflation environment. An advisor's expertise can help you fine-tune the balance between inflation protection and growth-oriented investments.

4. Are There Opportunities for Alternative Investments in This Environment?

Lower interest rates often drive interest in alternative investments, which can offer uncorrelated returns and enhanced growth potential. Private equity, venture capital and real estate are often key areas of focus for UHNWIs seeking to diversify and capitalize on rate-driven opportunities.

A crucial question to ask your advisor is whether the timing aligns with your financial goals and risk tolerance. In a shifting rate environment, access to exclusive investment opportunities through private markets can complement traditional portfolios, particularly for families with multigenerational wealth aspirations, but it’s important to ensure this decision is right for you.

5. How Can We Leverage Lower Interest Rates for Long-Term Wealth Transfer?

An interest rate cut creates potential opportunities for intergenerational wealth planning. Lower rates can reduce the cost of intra-family loans, making it more affordable to transfer wealth in ways that minimize estate and gift tax exposure. Additionally, strategies like grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs) become particularly attractive in a lower-rate environment. 

Meet with your wealth management advisor to evaluate how the current rates align with your estate planning objectives. By employing rate-sensitive strategies effectively, families can amplify the impact of their wealth transfers while preserving their legacy.

Partnering for Strategic Decisions

Navigating this period of post-pandemic inflation, one currently defined by periodic Fed interest rate cuts requires strategic decision-making and close collaboration with your advisor. Every family’s financial situation is unique, and a tailored approach is essential.

The interplay between interest rate cuts, market trends, and long-term goals underscores the importance of regularly revisiting your financial and estate plans. These five questions provide a strong starting point for meaningful discussions with your advisor, helping you adapt to evolving market conditions while safeguarding your family’s future.

An experienced advisor not only understands the technical aspects of wealth management but also acknowledges the emotional considerations that come with stewarding significant assets. By focusing on both, UHNWIs can position themselves for success across generations, regardless of economic shifts. At Whittier Trust, we’re committed to helping you navigate these complexities with a customized, thoughtful approach that evolves alongside your goals.

For answers to these questions and more, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page. 

From Investments to Family Office to Trustee Services and more, we are your single-source solution.

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Sep 26th

Robert Levy Named Director of Investments at Whittier Trust

Whittier Trust, the oldest multi-family office headquartered on the West Coast, is proud to announce that Robert L. Levy has been elevated to the role of Director of Investments for Whittier Trust Company of Nevada, Inc., as a reflection of his continued dedication and contributions to the firm. In this new role, Robert helps oversee the company’s investment strategy, leads a highly skilled investment team and spearheads the identification and execution of key investment opportunities while guiding client investment policy objectives.

David Dahl, President & CEO of Whittier Trust, commented on Robert’s remarkable career, stating, “Robert has been with Whittier Trust for more than two decades and has consistently demonstrated exceptional investment, acumen and leadership. His track record in identifying profitable opportunities has been instrumental in driving the growth of our investment strategies. We are confident that under Robert’s leadership, our clients will continue to benefit from our firm’s robust investment approaches.”

Robert’s tenure at Whittier Trust began in December 2000, and his contributions have been critical in helping the firm and its clients navigate many complex and unprecedented market cycles. He has played a key role in growing both client portfolios and the firm itself.

As Director of Investments, Robert has a pivotal role in shaping Whittier Trust’s investment philosophy, creating customized strategies for clients, and overseeing the firm’s flagship large-cap equity strategy, known as Corporate America. He will also continue to serve on Whittier Trust’s committee that analyzes, selects, monitors, and advises on external investment managers, ensuring that clients have access to top-tier advisors and exceptional investment guidance.

Robert is an active member of the Nevada community, where he serves on the boards of Whittier Trust Company of Nevada, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada and the Renown Health Foundation. His commitment to giving back is also reflected in his role as Trustee of the Joshua L. Anderson Memorial Foundation and College Scholarship Fund.

For more information about Whittier Trust's investment strategies and portfolio management services, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

 

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Mar 20th

Six Reasons Why Most UHNWIs Choose a Multi-Family Office

Your family office is a point of pride as well as a smart way to manage your business and personal affairs. But you don’t have to have a gold nameplate and command your own staff to reap all of the family-office benefits. In fact, a multi-family office typically offers greater advantages—and ironically, more control—than a single-family office. Here are six ways that a multi-family office gives you more.

Security & Compliance

Infrastructure, cybersecurity, compliance training . . . it’s tedious, it’s frustrating, and if you’re not out in front of it, you're putting yourself at risk. That’s a lot of pressure for your staff and family. At a multi-family office, we have expert teams on top of changing trends, regulations, and demands.

Flexibility to Evolve

It’s a common misconception that a single-family office will better address your family’s unique needs. But how can it, when it means you have to hire staff for each new development in your life? When your time is spent handling payroll, office space, and interpersonal dynamics, you’re left with less control of your life. The multi-family office infrastructure is designed to give you all the flexibility you need without worrying about reducing, reorganizing, or adding to your team. We hold your business and interests together as you evolve.

Trust & Objectivity

How well do you know your staff and trust their commitment to your goals? Are you certain they won’t be swayed by their own interests? Can they safely suggest different points of view, or do they perhaps feel pressure to agree and conform? How do you gauge their loyalty while allowing dissent? By its very nature, the multi-family office has checks and balances against rogue players or people pursuing their own self-interest. We act as fiduciaries, bound to manage your affairs to your greatest benefit, not ours.

Proactive Leadership

Successful executives are problem-solvers and often visionaries as well, always looking down the road for the next big thing and for solutions to potential issues. But a healthy company doesn’t rely on one leader to see everything. The cross-pollination among executives at a multi-family office creates an acutely proactive environment. Staff at a single-family office, on the other hand, tend to be more reactive to their specific set of circumstances, because focusing on that one family’s needs is the efficient thing to do.

Plus, some multi-family offices, such as Whittier Trust, have robust service offerings spanning various departments. Whether you need help launching a family foundation, acquiring or managing real estate, exploring alternative investments, or working through estate planning options to fit your unique needs, it’s all under one umbrella and at our fingertips.  

Privacy & Continuity

By definition, a single-family office should excel at protecting your privacy. But it can be difficult when multiple branches of a family want to keep their affairs separate. Sometimes you may even end up competing for staff loyalty. Your advisors at a multi-family office act as neutral mediators to help prevent these sorts of conflicts and maintain each family member’s interests and privacy. You can rely on that same team to help facilitate succession planning and generational wealth transfer and provide continuity for decades.

Help with Family Dynamics

No matter which type of office you have, family governance is typically led by a powerful patriarch or matriarch. But with a multi-family office team, there’s a counterbalance to that control dynamic. There are other voices suggesting governance structure and helping organize a family council or regular family meetings, ensuring everyone is heard and respected, and that everything can run smoothly.

How to Transition

So what if you currently have a single-family office and want to transition to a multi-family office? It doesn’t have to be complicated. There are natural points in any business for pausing and reassessing, and given how expensive and stressful a single-family office can be, simplicity and cost-effectiveness are always good reasons for a change. 

Let everyone know it’s time for a fresh analysis and audit of operations. Make it clear that during this transition, you will be analyzing risk and cash flow, prioritizing different investments to accommodate family member’s preferences, digitizing documents, etc. Perhaps you will be adding new services as well, such as philanthropic strategy, trust services, real estate, private equity, or direct investment in alternative assets. Because your team at the multi-family office will be accustomed to working with a wide variety of families, you can maintain relationships with existing staff and integrate key players into your new multi-family office.

Why Whittier Trust

Whittier Trust brings your investments, real estate, philanthropy, administrative services, trust services, and more under one roof—without you having to manage it. You maintain control over your portfolio, while your trusted team of advisors ensures that your investments work in concert with your estate plan. You get holistic, personalized, and responsive service with scalable efficiency. And you and your family get your lives back to enjoy.

For those seeking a seamless transition to a multi-family office, Whittier Trust stands out as an optimal choice. By entrusting your affairs to Whittier Trust, you not only maintain control over your portfolio but also gain access to a dedicated team of advisors committed to aligning your investments with your estate plan. Experience the benefits of holistic, personalized, and responsive service, all while enjoying the freedom to focus on what truly matters—your life and your family. Make the switch today and discover the peace of mind that comes with having Whittier Trust by your side.

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Written by Elizabeth M. Anderson, Vice President of Business Development at Whittier Trust. For more information, start a conversation with a Whittier Trust advisor today by visiting our contact page.

 

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Feb 1st

The Magnificent 7 and the Imperfect Index

Despite domestic and geopolitical uncertainty, equity portfolios performed quite well in 2023 as measured by the S&P 500 Index. The market return was largely driven by the seven largest constituents of the S&P 500, also known as the Magnificent Seven. The Magnificent Seven includes: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Tesla. These companies account for over twenty-eight percent of the S&P 500 Index and collectively more than doubled in 2023.  The spectacular returns concentrated in a few names left the average stock returning less than half of the S&P 500 Index overall.  The Magnificent Seven masked the underlying share price weakness of most stocks in the S&P 500 Index.  The concentration of returns and weightings raises the question of whether the S&P 500 Index should be dissected for opportunities and imperfections.

S&P 500 Index

This leads us to our next point in which we discuss the construction of the S&P 500 Index and lessons to learn from the evolution of the index.  The S&P 500 Index is often referred to as a “passive index,” meaning there is not an active manager changing the constituents of the Index on a regular basis.  It may come as a surprise that in any given year there are several changes to the S&P 500 Index.  As companies are acquired, merged, or face challenging times, they must be replaced in the index so there remain exactly 500 companies.  Over the past decade a shocking 189 companies were added to the S&P 500 Index! 

Before we delve into the implications of the 189 additions to the “passive” S&P 500 Index, we should highlight that over 28% of the S&P 500 Index is now in just seven companies, aka the Magnificent Seven.  These seven companies are the largest because of their extraordinary performance over the past 15 years.  The magnificent seven returns (measured in multiples) since the market peak before the Great Financial Crisis (12/31/2007) through the most recent quarter (12/31/2023) are as follows:

  • Apple 32.1x
  • Google (Alphabet) 8.1x
  • Nvidia 63.4x
  • Amazon 32.8x
  • Tesla 156.3x (since IPO in 2010) (1.1x since S&P 500 Index inclusion in 2020)
  • Microsoft 14.5x
  • Meta 12.0x (since IPO in 2012) (6.5x since S&P 500 Index inclusion in 2013)

Usually, we talk about stocks and bonds in percentage terms reserving double digit multiples on investment for only the best Venture Capital hits.  In this case, writing about Apple stock’s 3,113% return (32.1x multiple) if purchased at one of the worst times in history (right before the financial crisis) through today seems absurd.  Thus, we can simply say that an investment in 2007 would today be worth 32.1x as much including dividends (equally absurd you say!).  This is a great reminder of how favorable investing in high quality companies can be over long periods of time.  (Imagine a game table in Las Vegas that gave you a greater than 50% chance of winning each day, a greater than 65% chance of winning over one year and a nearly 100% chance of winning over multiple decades.  You would want to play that game and only that game for as long as you possibly could.)  While the magnificent seven have all returned multiples of investment since 2007, the S&P 500 Index has also returned a handsome 4.5x (347%) return over that time frame. 

The 189 additions to the S&P 500 Index

Now back to the 189 companies that were added to the S&P 500 Index in the last decade. The 189 additions have been selected by a committee known as the S&P Dow Jones Indices Index Committee (within S&P Global).1  These additions have to be disclosed before they are added to the index.  Thus, the average of those 189 stocks saw a bump immediately before they were added to the S&P 500 Index.  On average, those 189 stocks returned 11% over the three month period prior to the announcement date.  As more and more investors allocate a portion of their portfolio to index funds, the newly added stocks see more and more demand for their shares ahead of being included in the index.  According to the Investment Company Institute, midway through 2023 there were over $6.3 trillion dollars invested in S&P 500 Index funds in the United States.  As a company is added to the S&P 500 Index there is significant buying power behind that addition.  

Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven stock price appreciation in 2023 reflects their strong fundamentals.  These seven companies generally have high margins, low input costs, strong balance sheets, and no unionized labor.  Conveniently avoiding the major pitfalls of 2023.  Perhaps more importantly, the strong performance from the top seven companies and the outsized weightings of those companies, obfuscates the weakness of the other 493 stocks that are on average still down from the beginning of 2022.  After two years of negative returns for the majority of the stocks in the index, perhaps there are some bargains out there for long-term investors.

Conclusion

We can draw a number of conclusions from the above analysis:  

  1. The S&P 500 Index returns over the next few years will be heavily dependent on the Magnificent Seven. Fortunately, the majority of the Magnificent Seven have low debt levels, high profit margins, low labor expense relative to revenue, and are cash generative (higher interest rates may boost earnings).  
  2. The imperfect index will continue to evolve and change despite the passive moniker.  
  3. Being attentive to potential index inclusions will be ever more important as the size of assets invested in the index grows faster than the index itself.
  4. 2023 market returns have been skewed by the Magnificent Seven leaving potential bargains beneath the surface.  
  5. Finally, investing in high quality companies may pose risks in the near term, but continues to look favorable over extended periods of time.

 

Endnotes:

      Source:  S&P Global
      Source:  Bloomberg Intelligence
      Source:  Investment Company Institute

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