MISSION STATEMENT AND INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY

Michael D. Miller

General Securities Principal & Senior Financial Advisor

I help people invest their money.

PROPRIETARY MONEY MANAGEMENT 

These financial services consist of  managing investment assets with more active client participation using a disciplined process of securities selection. Portfolios are constructed of quality companies whose stocks have the potential for growth well above the expected returns of the popular indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, The Standard and Poor’s 500, or the NASDAQ Composite. 

Specifically, I use a bottom up approach whereby outstanding stocks are selected before considering the impact of economic trends.  This approach assumes that an individual company can do well even if its specific industry is not doing well.  The selection process begins with a computer screening from a database of approximately 1700 companies. To be considered, these companies must show historical stability of earnings as well as future expected growth of earnings.  That list is shortened further by requiring that the stocks of these companies have investment fundamentals greater than those of other companies in the same industries.  Examples of those fundamentals considered include but are not limited to:  debt/equity ratio, price/earnings ratio, price/book value ratio, return on equity, and cash flow.  This screening produces a shortened list of 30- 40 companies.  It is from this list that my clients portfolios are constructed. 

These portfolios are structured with an emphasis on diversification among various industries and economic sectors.  The securities will be held in portfolios as long as they continue to meet or exceed the criteria used to select them—with particular emphasis on expected earnings growth.  Thus, a buy and hold approach is employed as long as the security is performing satisfactorily.  Only those investors deemed aggressive require a “market timing approach” that is; taking advantage of short term moves in securities prices. Furthermore, to minimize losses and preserve gains, conservative options strategies may be employed when appropriate.

  PRIVATE MONEY MANAGEMENT

Using this method , I direct clients to a private money manager best suited for their investment goals. These managers provide full time management of individual and retirement plan portfolios. The private money manager evaluates the overall markets and individual securities in order to select suitable investments, to keep the portfolio properly allocated and to take advantage of opportunities in specific financial markets. These managers are reviewed and clients’ portfolios are monitored regularly to ensure that the manager is performing satisfactorily and meeting the clients investment objectives. Detailed quarterly performance reports are produced for evaluation.

Mike Miller

Diversification strategies cannot assure profit or guarantee against loss. With the bottom up approach mentioned above, there is no guarantee against loss due to market risk, or business risk associated with investing in specific company stocks.