Our firm was founded on one principle: always do what is in the best interest of the client.

At The Fauser Group, we’re interested in your life the way you live it, not as it appears on paper. We craft a truly personalized investment plan that’s defined by what you want, and adapts when what you want inevitably changes. We want to know you and grow with you. We’re committed to supporting your financial goals for a lifetime, not just the meantime.

We love what we do. And we want to help you live life splendidly.

 Our Investment Philosophy

Benjamin Graham, one of the most influential investors in American history said “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”  Our investment philosophy aims to take full advantage of both truths.

Our long term strategy is based on the traditional academic principles of modern portfolio theory and academic research that have demonstrated that investment markets are generally efficient in the long run.  As such, The Fauser Group primarily uses a passive investment strategy for the core of our portfolios.  The primary vehicles we use to implement our long term strategy are Individual Stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) which are extremely low cost, tax efficient, transparent, and liquid.  We do not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets based upon the predictions of ‘experts’ or the ebb and flow of business activity and are more comfortable staying the course.  We believe that the risks of not being invested are huge compared to the risks of being invested, and that a well-diversified passive index investment portfolio that is periodically rebalanced offers the investor the greatest opportunity to pursue their financial goals. We believe that investing is not a competition for market returns or a race with your neighbor.  It is about providing long-term financial security.  No investment strategy will make up for inadequate savings.

In order to help manage risk, a portfolio must be properly diversified at all times.  This means not simply owning a large number of stocks and bonds, but spreading investment assets over many asset classes, each of which may behave differently in response to varying economic and market conditions.  We believe global allocations offer less risk than investing exclusively in your home country.  By building a portfolio that invests in asset classes that are not perfectly correlated with one another, we strive to create a more optimized portfolio that minimizes risk for a given level of return or maximizes return for a given level of risk.  We are, however, value investors at heart.  We will not purchase an investment just because traditional asset allocations call for it to be included in the portfolio.  We want to buy high quality assets that are trading at fair value or below, and sell assets than are trading at premiums to historical norms.

“Modern” portfolio theory has actually been around since the 1950’s, and markets have evolved quite a bit since then, to say the least.  The internet, huge financial institutions, hedge funds, and computerized high frequency trading have made the short term voting machine much more volatile than in the past.  We view this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle.  To take advantage of increased volatility, we layer in a tactical component to the core portfolio.  These satellite positions are trades that could be as short as 1-2 days, or as long as 1-2 years.  Our clients can choose how much of their portfolio they wish to have allocated to tactical positions.  We are passionate and relentless in our pursuit of these opportunities for our clients.

The final part of our approach to portfolio management involves managing costs and taxes.  We strive to seek low cost investments within each asset class, we monitor trading costs, we attempt to be very tax efficient, and we keep our management fees competitive.  Additionally, we harvest losses in taxable accounts on an ongoing basis, not just at the end of the year.  Given the volatile nature of today’s markets, it makes sense to use any downturn in the market to realize losses by selling one ETF or Individual Stock to repurchase something very similar.  This is especially true for clients such as ours that have very little or no transaction costs.  The more losses we can harvest along the way, the less you will pay in capital gains taxes in the end.

Solutions

Comprehensive Investment Advisory

As part of our Comprehensive Investment Advisory service, you will be provided with both asset management and financial planning services.  This is our most robust level of service, designed to integrate the management of your investable assets into every other aspect of your financial life.  We leave no stone unturned as we help you formulate or refine your goals, review your assets, liabilities, income and expenses, and ensure you have properly addressed your estate, tax planning, and protection needs.  From helping you manage your 401k Plan, to walking through a house you are contemplating purchasing, we are with you every step of the way to help increase the quality of your financial decisions.  Together, as a team, we can move mountains.

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Consultative Approach

There’s something to be said for an advisory relationship that is essentially a partnership. Our clients are very smart and quite successful in their chosen career paths. If their passion was financial planning and investment management, they could have been successful in this field as well. However, their passions lie elsewhere and they are extremely busy living life. As such, they have decided to bring in an independent third party to help guide them through the difficult financial decisions they face. While they would certainly make some great financial decisions on their own, and they bring considerable value to the partnership, they are able to reduce mistakes and make a higher percentage of great decisions in collaboration with The Fauser Group.

As experts in our field, we realize that we are not experts in EVERY field. Depending on what is learned about your situation, we may enlist our team of professional alliances to offer deeper insight in areas that may warrant more collaboration. We can work closely with your existing professional relationships, or make introductions to our trusted partners. It’s all part of delivering the best client experience we possibly can.

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Tailored Guidance

The foundation for a successful client relationship is rooted in having a deep understanding of your needs. Yes, we will crunch the numbers. But, we will also speak honestly and go beyond the numbers in order to gather the information necessary to paint a complete picture of your vison for the future. Every client is different, which is why we prefer to tailor our service to each individual client.

All investing involves risk. It is our duty to understand your risk tolerance and be sure that our recommendations are consistent with your needs and objectives. We also understand that your risk tolerance, needs and/or objectives are subject to change, and believe that effective investment management involves consistent and open communication. Once we’ve set your plan into action, periodic check-ins on a timeline that fits your busy life enable us to proactively make any necessary changes. And it goes beyond just your action plan; let’s talk about your big goals, old and new. That trip to Italy, the summer house on Orcas, your dream wedding. Are you ready to buy your first house or gearing up to sell one you’ve owned for 30 years? We will help you understand your current financial abilities and advise whether the timing is right…or if you might want to hold off for a while. The value in our total package lies not just in the numbers, but in the satisfaction of knowing that your assets are working for you, and not the other way around.

What We Offer

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Investment Planning/ Investment Policy Statements

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Education Planning

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Income Tax Planning

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Financial Independence/ Retirement Planning

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Capital Needs Analysis (Goal Funding)

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Employee Benefit and Stock Option Planning

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Tax minimization strategies

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Risk Management (Life & Disability Insurance)

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Estate Planning

A Different Approach

The Fauser Group is an independent, forward thinking firm that combines sophisticated investment management and financial planning with good old fashioned customer service.  We believe consumers deserve a much better experience than the financial services industry has provided in the past.  Our mission is use our wealth of industry know-how to provide consistent value that is unparalleled by our peers.

Asset Management

If the additional financial planning capabilities that the Comprehensive Advisory Service provides don’t fit your needs, our Asset Management is the perfect ala carte option. This service is still tailored to each individual investor, but will focus solely on your investable assets.

As investment managers, our preference is to primarily use individual stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs).  We believe this is the most cost effective and tax efficient way to manage assets, however we also acknowledge the role of bonds, options and other public and private securities or investments and take a core satellite approach in creating your well-balanced portfolio. Individual investment strategy is tailored to your specific needs and may include some or all of the previously mentioned securities. Portfolios will be designed to meet a particular investment goal, determined to be suitable to your circumstances. Once the appropriate portfolio has been determined, portfolios are continuously and regularly monitored, and if necessary, rebalanced based upon individual needs, stated goals and objectives.

Our approach is one of long-term investing paired with some shorter term trading to take advantage of market volatility.  Our portfolios are globally diversified and contain multiple asset classes. Fees for this service are charged based on assets under management, as we believe this arrangement is the most transparent, flexible, and least subject to conflict. We don’t sell proprietary products so you can be assured our advice is 100% objective. For more information, please see our Investment Philosophy.

Financial Planning & Consulting

We provide a variety of standalone financial planning and consulting services for the management of financial resources based upon an analysis of your current situation, goals, and objectives. Financial planning services will typically involve preparing a financial plan or rendering a financial consultation based on your financial goals and objectives.

We genuinely want your money to work for you, so that you can enjoy the wide world around you. We’ll form a comprehensive analysis that goes beyond your investment portfolio, and explore a financial plan that factors in tax considerations, life expenses and budgeting, cash reserves, estate plan, and savings goals. It’s an invaluable tool to assess your current and future financial well-being.

We’ll always perform a 360-degree view of your plan. We’re happy to develop strategies for education planning, and set you up with our trusted insurance partners. We’ll make sure taxes are considered across the board, and we’ll track the viability of any new investment opportunities as they present themselves.

Financial planning services will typically involve preparing a financial plan or rendering a financial consultation for clients based on the client’s financial goals and objectives.

About Us

What we do

In short, we work with you to enhance your financial decisions. We craft detailed, comprehensive plans specific to your life and work. Once we have a clear picture of your goals and concerns, we follow a thorough process of evaluating assets, liabilities, income, and expenses against the desired outcome. We work for you, and your future.

Who we serve

Our clients are local, involved, and community-minded people who prefer a layer of integrity mixed in with their financial future. They’re executives, salespeople, managers, business owners, parents. They’re our friends, family, and associates. And you.

How we do it

We expect to meet multiple times in the first month of the relationship to speak to you honestly, gather all of the data, formulate goals, analyze the situation, and make initial recommendations. From there we’ll track progress and make proactive changes, always managing expectations. We’re experts in the market, we’re flexible, and we’re ready to talk about the best approach for you.

Why we do it

Relationships, more than account values, matter. We want to keep our practice relatively small so that we can continue to know our clients well and give them the highest level of service. We believe that the existing financial services model is broken, and our firm’s goal is to deliver an experience that our competition can’t match.

Your Team

Mike Fauser

Mike Fauser

Owner, Principal Advisor

Lana Fauser

Lana Fauser

Marketing Manager

Kristen Clawson

Kristen Clawson

Director of Client Experience

Whitney Garner

Whitney Garner

Strategic Planning Specialist