Investment Management

What is P&A’s investing philosophy?

Patience and discipline are an investor’s best friend, while fear and greed are their enemies. We don’t try to time the market.
Keeping your investment costs low means more of your money is compounding for you. High fees make it more challenging to achieve successful financial outcomes.
Market volatility is normal and to be expected. It also presents opportunities.
Having a defined account review process ensures your accounts receive the ongoing attention they deserve.
We eat our own cooking by investing our personal monies in the same investments and strategies that we use for you.

Charles Schwab is our preferred custodian. They are an independent, third-party who holds your investment assets. When you add money to your account by check, you will make the check out to Charles Schwab, not to Pittenger & Anderson.
Schwab was founded in 1971 and has been a pioneer in lowering investments costs for the investing public over the last 50+ years.
Schwab carries SIPC insurance covering fraudulent activity and protection against insolvency in the amount of $500,000 per account type on your behalf. They’ve also purchased excess SIPC coverage up to $600 million in aggregate.

Unlike most financial advisors, we don’t sell products or earn commissions, nor are we paid by any of the investments we use in your account. Our sole compensation is a transparent management fee billed to your account quarterly and based on the quarter-end account value.
Our management fee varies depending on the size of your accounts and the investment strategy we utilize. Retirement accounts start at 0.75%. After-tax investment accounts begin at either 0.75% or 1%, depending on the strategy used. You can view our fee schedule here and find out Why investment fees matter.
For example: If your IRA account is worth $500,000 at the end of the quarter, your quarterly fee would be $938. This fee is calculated by multiplying $500,000 by 0.75% and dividing by 4.
Our management fee covers our Financial Planning and Complimentary Services.

Yes! None of the securities we invest in have lock-up periods, surrender charges, or other hooks that penalize you for accessing your money. We can liquidate an investment and have the funds to you within a couple of days.
There are a handful of ways to access the money in your account. You will receive a Schwab checkbook on your brokerage account and a debit card if you like. Additionally, you can establish an electronic link between your brokerage account and your personal checking account (called a MoneyLink) that allows for easy and quick money movements to and from each account.
You can also wire funds from your brokerage account or we can have Schwab mail you a check.
Brokerage accounts have margin lending capabilities, too, meaning you can borrow against the value of your account. For example, you’re looking for a short-term bridge loan when buying a new house and waiting for your old one to sell.
If you have known cash needs or recurring monthly withdrawals, we can set up a cash reserve in your account to fund these for a period of time.

As a team, we formally review your accounts each quarter. After our review, we will reach out to update you on how your account is doing and to see if there’s anything we can help with.
You will have 24/7 access to your account information via the P&A Client Portal and the P&A app. You can view your account info through the Schwab Alliance website, too.
Included in the portal and on the app are performance reports showing how your account fared against its assigned benchmark, net of all fees and expenses. See “How we benchmark performance.”
While our goal is to beat the benchmark assigned to your account, your success likely doesn’t require you to outperform some index. See “What is performance?”
We measure success by our efforts to help you maximize your financial life so you can spend your time on what matters most to you. Whether that’s family time, community involvement, or leaving a legacy.