The investment strategy is the core of most people's long-term financial planning.
My goal is that the portfolio strategy I recommend will not only significantly improve your odds of achieving your goals, but that it will also have significant value that far exceeds the cost you bear.
The essential driver and determinant of your portfolio strategy will be your financial plan. Your strategy will not be built on how to "react" to the current economy, current market events, or volatility—rather, it will be built to help weather the difficult times successfully while taking advantage of periods of growth.
I believe the asset allocation decision is the dominant factor in determining your long-term return. If your portfolio is in line with your goals and if you're confident in it, you should be able to exhibit the patience and discipline to trust it and not be tempted to react to the media, trends, or current events.
Disciplined and patient adherence to a well-diversified asset allocation strategy will be the greatest contributor to your success as an investor.
Having helped you develop a portfolio you have this kind of confidence in, I believe my real work is in helping you to stay on plan, managing your portfolio to your plan (monitoring the managers we've selected and rebalancing periodically), and maybe more than anything, helping you to manage your “behavior” as an investor, helping you to avoid the big mistakes that many other investors will make, keeping you true to your strategy.
*Asset Allocation does not assure a profit or protect against loss during a declining market.