Investment Philosophy

“To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insight, or inside information.  What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework.” | Warren Buffett

Wealth creation and wealth protection begin by adhering to a time-tested and proven investment philosophy.  The three cornerstones of my investment philosophy are:

  1. Preservation of capital - investing with a "Margin of Safety"
  2. Achieving a reasonable/desired rate of return
  3. Minimizing taxation

These cornerstone objectives are best achieved by following proven investment methodologies.  This minimizes learning curves and have great potential to produce high levels of financial success and stability over time.

By adhering to proven investment disciplines that are integral to first-class professional investment management, we, as prudent investors, greatly enhance our ability to achieve our financial goals and objectives.  We can benefit from the disciplines and philosophies of:

  • Warren Buffett.  The legendary investor whose holding company is Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and who is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.  His philosophy has been to buy only excellent businesses in strong, long-term growth industries, and to hold them for the long-term.  This investment methodology has awarded long-term investors with superior returns, and because of the strict discipline of buying businesses at substantial discounts, has preserved their capital while providing a “Margin of Safety”.
  • Franklin Templeton Investments.  Sir John Templeton established a world-class investment management firm by adhering to a disciplined investment philosophy and approach.  The firm's approach to investing has been to buy great businesses at points of maximum pessimism.   This approach has rewarded investors with superior long-term results while preserving capital.  

To summarize, each investment is carefully considered based on the following:

  • Superior management
  • Time-tested and proven investment philosophy
  • Minimal risk through true diversification across many countries and industry sectors
  • Investment in high-quality businesses
  • Investments that are highly tax-efficient

It is important not to succumb to market timing or investing in a manner that would be considered speculative in nature.  The reasoning is that I would rather be certain of a good return than hope for a spectacular one.  

In summary, I am confident that by adhering to proven methodologies and following a sound intellectual framework to the investment process, we can hold high-quality investments with the objective of preserving capital and achieving a superior rate of return over the long-term.
 

Samuel Madio, CPA, CGA, CFP, EPC, Senior Financial Advisor