Questions every fiduciary should be able to ask — and get answered.

Court Investment Services is an independent investment advisory firm. We make our advisory fee clear and review investment expenses for each portfolio, so fiduciaries can fully understand all costs.

We believe clients and fiduciaries should always know exactly what they are paying — instead of searching for hidden costs in commissions, product structures, or legacy holdings.

We go beyond calling a portfolio conservative, moderate, or aggressive. By analyzing the actual holdings, we estimate a clear 6-month downside and upside range.

We also stress-test the portfolio to see how it might perform in both tough and positive markets. Our goal is to provide a clear, documented understanding of risk — not just a general label.

We choose ETFs based on independent research, careful analysis, and clear documentation. We look at many ETFs, focusing on how they perform compared to peers, forward-looking ratings, costs, tax efficiency, diversification, correlation, and how well they fit in the portfolio.

We believe fiduciaries should understand why each investment was chosen — and be able to review the supporting analysis.

When we use individual stocks, especially in large or highly valued positions, we ensure there is clear documentation for each decision. Our process may include valuation analysis, dividend history, independent research, price-to-profit comparisons, and technical analysis.

This gives us an objective way to decide if a stock is undervalued, fairly valued, or expensive — and whether it makes sense to hold, reduce, diversify, or use it for income over time.

We believe portfolios should never be managed without careful thought. We look at current valuations, opportunities, risks, fixed income yields, and each client’s needs before deciding how to position a portfolio.

Our approach aims to balance current opportunities with caution — instead of just following recent top performers.

Yes. In our January 2022 newsletter, we talked about the risks of low yields, longer maturities, and rising interest rates in fixed income. We explained that to lower interest-rate risk, we might choose shorter maturities and higher-quality bonds like U.S. Treasuries.

We also pointed out that higher rates could offer better opportunities to buy fixed income at higher yields over time. That newsletter documents how we managed duration risk and fixed income positions to help avoid bond losses.

We do not pretend to know the future, but we believe every firm should explain what they currently find appealing and what they see as risky.

We generally prefer investments with strong research, fair value, low costs, tax efficiency, and a clear purpose in the portfolio. We are more careful with expensive or crowded market areas, long-duration bonds when rate risk is high, concentrated positions without a plan, and portfolios with high costs, hidden overlap, or poor diversification.