Dealing with the Certainty of Uncertainty

Uncertainty is always part of investing.

A key to positive results is how you plan for it and how you deal with it as volatility arises. For some investors, it may seem that the issues they face today are much more complex and daunting than those in the past, and in some ways that is true.
Although the specific questions and concerns you face may change over time, the timeless nature of uncertainty is why we encourage investors to focus on the basic question of, “what is your taste for risk?” We believe the biggest risk investors face is not a down market, but the risk not fully understanding their investment plans, which can lead to poorly timed decisions with potentially negative financial results – and more importantly, it can make a trying time even more challenging for a client.

Investment success is the result of both investment performance and investor behavior, and it's important to manage your portfolio’s short-term and long-term life goals so we can help you make decisions within the context of what's most important to you. Your “all-weather” plan is designed to be durable enough for the long-term, but also stable enough not to go off-course when times get tough. While each client’s plan is flexible enough to accommodate significant life changes, it will continue to be laser-focused on well-defined objectives.

Preparing to Manage Emotions Amid Changing Circumstances

An important consideration when choosing an appropriate mix of assets is risk tolerance. Understanding your tolerance for risk is essential to staying the course with your investment plan. A common way to measure your risk tolerance is how uncomfortable you feel when market volatility surges and the value of your portfolio fluctuates significantly. Determining how prepared you are to look beyond short-term market dips and ride out the bad times without abandoning your strategy can also assist in gauging your risk tolerance.

Our disciplined investment process is designed to give you confidence that your life goals can be accomplished. We help you manage things you can control and separate out the things you can’t control.

Managing what you can control:


  • Age when you retire
  • Amount you save annually
  • Retirement income
  • Amount you leave in your estate
  • Risk in your portfolio
  • What you donate to charity
  • What you gift to your children
  • Funding education

Navigating what you can't:

  • Annual market returns
  • Volatility of market returns
  • Sequence of market returns
  • Timing of unexpected cash flows
  • Inflation rate
  • Tax law changes
  • Unexpected life events
  • Health changes
  • How long you live
  • Social Security and Medicare changes

eMoney Advisor®

Connecting your money to what is important in your life


You’ve worked hard to get where you are in life. Now your money can work hard for you with our LifeSync® experience. LifeSync is our approach to planning that helps align your financial objectives with your personal aspirations to help create the unique path to the life you want to live.

Find out where you stand

Your path starts by understanding your relationship with money. Throughout your life, what lessons have you learned? What compromises or adjustments have you made to get you where you are today? These personal insights will help guide you to the future you aspire to live.

Explore your future possibilities

Consider all the possibilities that your money can bring to you. Travel? Build a home? Start a business? Only by recognizing, communicating and documenting your desired outcomes can you and your advisor create a path toward reaching them.

Create your path

You and your advisor are now ready to design your personal path with our robust eMoney Advisor planning tool. Throughout your life, your advisor with eMoney, will provide you with the choices,information and action steps that will help guide you to the future you imagine.