Investment Management

There are several reasons someone might hire an investment adviser.

Some people simply don't know how to build or manage a portfolio and want help making those decisions.

Others understand investing reasonably well but don't want to spend the time managing it themselves.

That second group is easy to overlook.

Managing investments means more than picking a few funds. Someone has to decide how the portfolio should be allocated, invest new cash, rebalance, manage withdrawals, pay attention to taxes, and keep multiple accounts working together.

As someone's financial life becomes more complicated, that becomes another ongoing responsibility.

A business owner may have the knowledge but not the time. 

Someone approaching retirement may have managed their own accounts for years but no longer want to be responsible for every decision. Another investor may simply decide there are better uses of their attention.

So the question isn't always:

Do I know how to manage my investments?

Sometimes it's:

Do I want to keep doing it myself?

For clients who don't, investment management allows them to delegate that responsibility to someone whose job is to manage the portfolio, make the necessary decisions, and actually carry them out.

Before starting Ridge & Republic Financial, I spent years investing, studying markets, building portfolios in the context of my own personal investing, and working through many of the same questions clients face today. 

My background also includes years as an economics and finance teacher and as a business owner outside of financial services. That combination shaped how I think about investing. I tend to look at portfolios through the same lens I use when thinking about businesses and markets: incentives, risk, cash flow, opportunity cost, and how individual decisions fit into the larger financial picture. 

I enjoy that work. 

A lot of people don't.

Even people who understand investing may eventually reach the point where they have too many accounts, too little time, or simply no interest in making every portfolio decision themselves.

That is one of the reasons I built investment management into Ridge & Republic Financial.

My job is not just to recommend investments. It is to understand what the portfolio is supposed to accomplish, establish an appropriate strategy and risk level, and then actually manage the accounts within that framework. Ultimately, my job as an investment manager is to help support clients by taking an important responsibility in support of their financial goals. 

Adam Betzelberger

Ridge & Republic Financial

Before deciding what to buy or sell, I want to understand what the portfolio is supposed to accomplish. As a fiduciary adviser, I am legally required to act in your best interest. To find out how to do that, we start with discovering what "best interest" is for you.

How much risk is appropriate? When will the money be needed? How much should remain liquid? Are you still accumulating assets or beginning to withdraw from them? Do Social Security, a pension, business income, or other investments already provide part of your financial foundation?

Those questions help establish the portfolio's asset allocation and the amount of investment risk that makes sense.

The investment policy then becomes the framework for managing the portfolio over time. 

It gives us something to return to when markets rise, when they fall, and when there is a new reason every week to believe the investment strategy should suddenly change.

The goal isn't to predict which investment will perform best next quarter. It is to establish what the portfolio is supposed to do and manage it accordingly.

Ridge & Republic Financial is based in Beavercreek, and I work with individuals, families, retirees, and business owners throughout the Dayton area and across Ohio.

A lot of investment-management conversations start with fairly ordinary questions. Someone may have several old retirement accounts and want them organized. They may be approaching retirement and wondering whether the portfolio still fits. They may have accumulated a meaningful amount in IRAs, brokerage accounts, or a TSP and no longer want to be responsible for every trade and rebalance themselves.

That is where discretionary investment management can be useful. I establish the strategy with the client first, including risk, time horizon, liquidity needs, tax considerations, and how the investments fit with the rest of the household. From there, I can manage qualifying accounts and carry out the investment decisions within that framework. 

Discretionary management is often particularly useful for busy professionals and family people who want to delegate this part of their financial structure.

For local clients, the investment picture often includes more than the accounts I directly manage. A household may also have a 401(k), TSP, pension, Social Security, business interests, cash reserves, or other assets that need to be considered alongside the portfolio.

For households with $600,000 or more under management, comprehensive household financial planning is included in the relationship, including planning for assets that remain outside my direct management. Otherwise planning is still included, but limited to the scope of the specific assets under management. 

Whether the question is how to organize investments, how much risk to take, what to do with an old retirement account, or simply whether someone else can take over the ongoing management, those are the kinds of investment questions I help clients work through in Beavercreek, Dayton, and throughout Ohio.