As the frenzy of tax season subsides, now is an opportune time to examine your financial records and make sure that everything is in order. One goal for our clients is to help them organize their financial “household,” which not only makes record-keeping easier, but also helps a financial advisor have a comprehensive picture of… Read More >
News & Insights
Should We Rebalance Our Stock Portfolios?
When we manage client accounts, we typically devise asset allocation policies (or portfolio models) that specify the amount (in percentage terms) that we will try to hold of each investment option in the account. As time goes by, the investment options will inevitably have different returns and the holdings will almost never match the model…. Read More >
Barron’s Explains Dimensional Fund Advisors
In its first issue of the year 2014, Barron’s published a cover story on Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA), an investment management firm whose funds Porter, White & Company has frequently recommended. DFA funds are not generally available to the public but may be purchased in accounts managed by financial advisors who share DFA’s approach to… Read More >
Michael Stone Promoted to Associate
Porter, White and Company is pleased to announce that Michael Stone has been promoted to Associate. Michael has been active in the firm’s investment banking practice since January 2011. Michael’s focus at Porter White includes business valuations, financial advisory services for both growing and distressed companies, and general investment banking services relating to private debt… Read More >
How Costly is New Capital?
A lot of companies approach us to raise capital. The reasons are varied – product development, plant expansion, company acquisition, working capital –and the sources of capital available to a company depend on the size, lifecycle stage, and future prospects of the company. While new capital may come with restrictive covenants and other levels of… Read More >
This Sucker Will Go Down
“If money doesn’t loosen up, this sucker will go down.” –George W. Bush “I believe this was the greatest economic statement of all time.” –Warren Buffett A few weeks ago, Warren Buffett paid former President George W. Bush a high complement by heaping accolades on a typical Bushism,[1] “If money doesn’t loosen up, this sucker… Read More >
Job Recovery – Are We There Yet?
While the great recession is starting to fade and markets are reaching new highs, the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates at historically low levels. One explanation for the Fed inaction is employment levels. There remain fewer people working now than at the end of 2008. The following employment chart explains part of the story… Read More >
How Does a “Maze” Explain What We Do?
On our investment banking home page, the image of a maze is used as a symbol of what we do as analysts and bankers. As analysts we solve financial puzzles, and as bankers we manage the process of raising capital. A maze is a series of pathways, most of which lead to a dead end. … Read More >
How Markets Work
The first component of our investment philosophy is that “markets work.” This statement evokes the notion that markets are good at setting prices. The recently announced Nobel laureate, Eugene Fama, who is credited with coining the term “efficient markets,” put it as follows: “In an efficient market, prices fully reflect available information.” If you believe… Read More >
Michael Stone Receives ASA Accreditation
Porter, White & Company is pleased to announce that Michael Stone recently earned the Accredited Member designation with the American Society of Appraisers in the Business Valuation discipline. Advancement to Accredited Member is granted after completion of education requirements, approval of over 4,000 hours of full-time valuation and appraisal experience, and an appraisal report review… Read More >
The Value of Advice
In this first video, Goodloe talks about the genesis of our investment management business and the value of advice we bring to our wealth management clients. Value of Advice for Wealth Management Clients from Porter, White & Company on Vimeo. This video addresses the retirement savings challenge — knowing how much clients need to save… Read More >
Managing in Troubled Times
While the “great recession” may finally be in the history books, it is a fact of life that in good economic times or bad economic times, companies may find themselves in financial distress. The potential reasons for this are countless– competitive pressures, investment decisions gone wrong, changing consumer tastes, technology changes, poor inventory controls, management… Read More >
Insights for Companies in Distress
Forward-looking financial statements are associated with many significant financial transactions. Credible financial projections are particularly important when a business encounters financial difficulty, and frequently become a necessary condition of forbearance by a creditor, or of new or additional financing by an investor. Since the finance and accounting areas of middle market companies are usually overworked… Read More >
Insights on Tax Deferred Accounts
I. Overview We are frequently asked by clients if they should pay for IRA related fees out of their IRA account or out of their checking account. At first, the answer appears simple: why would someone want to effectively reduce their IRA contribution by the amount of the fee deducted from the account? It turns… Read More >
PW&Co Named NABCAP Premier Advisor 2013
Porter White Investment Advisors, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has again been included in the Premier Advisor List of the National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices (NABCAP). Porter White is unusual in its ability to provide middle-market investment banking services (including valuation and capital raises) in addition to investment management services. The… Read More >
Should Spend Rates Be Reduced?
I. Introduction In an investment commentary published a year ago, we examined the cost of locking in a fixed stream of payments and found that the price of guaranteed returns had increased. Unfortunately, real interest rates have continued to fall and guaranteed returns are now even more expensive. Figure 1: 10-Year US Treasury Rates (Real)… Read More >
PW&Co Managing Whitecap AL Funds
PW&Co is pleased to announce that it is now acting as the Alabama Manager for the Whitecap Alabama Growth Funds I and II. In this role, PW&Co will provide two members of Whitecap’s five member Investment Committee and will be responsible for sourcing new CAPCO investments in the State of Alabama, as well as managing… Read More >
Pictures of Risk and Return
The most important decision made by an investor in marketable securities is how to allocate investment capital among debt and equity. To help our investment advisory clients make the debt-equity decision, we present information in thought-provoking formats, such as the charts “Pictures of Risk and Return.” I. Purpose Pictures graphically illustrates the performance of different… Read More >
