Our Expertise

Investment Advisory Services

Dunn Mistr Tederick, LLC, has extensive investment experience and offers a full range of investment advisory services to investors.  We offer our services as fiduciaries and work to reduce risk and enhance returns in helping our clients achieve their financial objectives.  We do this by gaining a clear understanding of our clients’ tolerance for various types of risk and their time frames for achieving stated goals.  Some clients need to maximize total portfolio return as a means of achieving retirement goals while others should focus on preservation of capital as a means of living on the income from that capital.  We would be glad to discuss your needs and risk tolerance and develop a specific investment strategy that will help you achieve your goals and provide you with financial peace of mind. 

Academic studies have shown that selection of asset class predominantly determines the total return of a given portfolio. In general, assets are divided into four categories:  real estate, equities (e.g., stocks), fixed income (e.g., bonds), or cash (e.g., money market accounts, T-bills, commercial paper, short-term CDs).  Each category of assets may be further subdivided into various asset classes.  For example, stocks may be further classified as value or growth, foreign or domestic, and large or small company capitalization.  A study by Gary Brinson shows that approximately 91.5 percent of a portfolio’s return is determined by selecting the asset class, 4.6 percent is determined by selecting the security, 1.7 percent is determined by selecting the time to invest, and the remaining 2.2 percent return is not accounted for (or attributed to an error factor).  Thus, asset class selection is, far and away, the most important determinant of a portfolio’s total return.

We believe that most investors will benefit in the long-run from a well-diversified portfolio.  We do not believe in or use market timing or similar transaction-based techniques as no study has shown that market timing works over longer time frames.  We focus our efforts on long-term investment strategies and employ more sophisticated and proven wealth management techniques, including Nobel Prize winning portfolio strategies. 

Dunn Mistr Tederick, LLC, is proud to add value for its clients by helping them to keep investment expenses down and helping them to minimize expense ratios, transaction costs, and unneeded portfolio turnover.  Our status as an investment advisor enables our clients to access institutional money managers, investment vehicles, and funds not generally available to retail investors.  Serving as a “ fee-only” investment advisor enables us to access additional investment offerings, vehicles, funds, and strategies. 

We hold our client accounts at the Institutional Division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.  “Schwab Institutional” provides high-quality, discounted services for investment advisors and their clients.  We will consider other custodians that can provide comparable services.  We strive for the highest level of personal service and client satisfaction.

Financial Advisory Services/Financial Planning

Establishing financial goals and providing a smooth path for realization of those goals is the most fundamental service that we provide for our clients.  It is an immense challenge in today’s environment where the resources of American families are spread too thin and the culture of our society does not encourage us to live within our means.  Americans save, on average, less than 2% of their incomes while consumer debt has tripled in the last twenty years.  Nonetheless, it is critical that we plan and save for the future and we commend and support those who take steps toward these important goals. 

Dunn Mistr Tederick, LLC, provides comprehensive, objective, and individualized planning services based on each client’s unique financial goals and circumstances.  Our comprehensive services frequently involve the following:

• Estate Planning
• Retirement Planning,
• Income Tax Planning,
• Goal Setting and Related Retirement Projections,
• Budgeting and Related Cash Flow Management,
• Risk Management and Insurance Analysis (including analysis for life, disability, health and long-term care), and
• Education Planning. 

We provide specific recommendations for our clients and assistance implementation to ensure that financial goals are attained.  We also work closely and seamlessly with our clients’ other advisors, such as their attorneys, accountants and insurance agents, who may play an important part in the implementation of our financial advice. 

Business Consulting Services

Most small business owners would prefer to spend their time focused on growing and developing their businesses.  We are able to eliminate some of the day-to-day and long-term financial worries for our small business owners by keeping them educated and informed—of market changes, of tax law changes, of new investment opportunities and so much more.  We also help many of our small business clients by analyzing, implementing and managing retirement plans that maximize their tax positions and retirement savings.  We attempt to demystify the financial situations of our clients and make it easier for them to focus on growing their businesses or other life pursuits.  Examples of the other business consulting services that we offer include:

• analyzing and managing business cash flow
• developing exit strategies for business owners in preparation for retirement, death, or disability (e.g., development of buy-sell agreements)
• acquiring new sources of financing or venture capital 
• designing and implementing executive and other employee compensation
• providing health care analyses, such as evaluating the appropriateness of high-deductible plans, health savings accounts, and flexible spending accounts
• educating clients on opportunities to hold or manage real estate as part of their retirement portfolios (IRAs)
• planning for or assisting with the sale of closely-held businesses including valuations
• developing insurance programs for life and disability insurance on business owners and key executives
• structuring substitute creditor agreements to deal with debt on the death of a business owner