Why We Are Different

Since Personal Wealth Strategies was founded in 1996, the company has relied on the sound financial principles to help its clients achieve their most important goals and dreams. Using these academically based strategies, many of our clients may have been able to avoid some of the pitfalls that befell other investors during “The Great Recession”. This method of asset allocation allowed many of our clients to stay true to their plans and ignore the screaming headlines and panicked selling that often only worsens an already bad situation. A bit of our story will help explain why we are so deeply satisfied with this approach.

David Bailin, the founder and president of Personal Wealth Strategies, graduated from Lehigh University as a double major in marketing and finance. He started working for a major insurance company as an insurance underwriter. After 12 years, he was promoted to director of field operations, training insurance agents and supervising them on their appointments. However, his dream of helping everyday men and women was not fulfilled.

It was then that David decided to take a chance on his dream. Despite the financial demands of being married and having a young son, he left the insurance company, let go of his management salary, and opened his own financial advisory and insurance office. Essentially, he had gotten near the top of the corporate ladder only to realize it was against the wrong wall. David wanted to be his own boss, and he was stubborn enough to believe that clients would find their way to financial professionals who possessed values similar to their own. It was from this start that Personal Wealth Strategies rose to serve hundreds of clients today.

Understanding How It Works

These days, many financial advisors give lip service to prudent investment strategies but most appear to be just repeating words back from a brochure and don’t really understand how and why they work. While “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” may indeed be the general idea, things are actually a lot more complicated than that.

Consider the old expression: “I need to know what time it is, not how to build a watch.” That’s a reasonable approach…as long as somebody along the way knows exactly how the watch is built. While many of our clients want only to know what time it is, it is our responsibility to study how the watch is built and monitor that it is working properly.

The key here is to avoid “Swiss cheese” financial planning, which happens when investors are so focused on one segment of their portfolio that they ignore additional areas such as estate planning, insurance, wealth protection, or other issues, leaving large holes in their overall financial well being. Far too many people focus only on areas of concern with which they are confident and feel comfortable. This can lead to a strategy full of holes, and unfortunately, it is only a matter of time until life finds the weakest link in your armor. Avoiding such weak links, just like avoiding losing your wealth once you’ve created it, is at the heart of our philosophy.

Making Smart Decisions

When we first sit down with clients to hear what they truly value, we find most aren’t interested in extravagance. Instead, they want comfort, safety, and security, and the knowledge that provisions have been made for their family. Unfortunately, so much of the financial press and far too many financial advisors are geared towards the opposite; towards “get rich overnight” schemes and ways to “beat” the market. People fall in love with these schemes, but they have little to do with their real personal set of values, resulting in a major disconnect.

We are able to reconnect our clients to their core values. Instead of taking the chance that we’ll bet on the right manager or right stocks, we bet on years of academic research and the law of probabilities. We then build custom portfolios based on a comprehensive wealth management strategy that can often avoid the holes that might otherwise exist.

We think you will find our approach to financial planning and wealth management enlightened and refreshing. Why not reach out to Personal Wealth Strategies today and learn about a different way to manage your money?