Posts Tagged ‘Harvey Rowen’

What’s New on Starmont.com – Winter 2012 Update

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

There never seems to be a dull moment even in the “dead of winter” as we freshen up Starmont.com to keep you up to date on what is going on.  Lots has been happening keeping us busy preparing for year end and starting off a new year.  At the same time we sent out timely communications to our Clients, a priority, and contributed our thoughts to media and through our blogging.  Here’s what’s new… 

Harvey Rowen opens his kimono  and shares his personal and professional sides in an interview with Servcorp.  Servcorp is the company from whom we rent our San Francisco office. 

We’ve been busy Bloggers!  Vivian Groman’s blog 5 Tips To Become a Better Investor was picked up by not only Starmont.com, but WomenAdvisorForum.com and Forbes.com.  Make sure to follow Vivian on Forbes.com here: http://blogs.forbes.com/people/viviangroman/

Harvey’s blog was also featured on Forbes.com 5 Questions to Ask Before Picking a Mutual Fund in 2012.  It seems 5 was a popular number this month. 

Harvey was quoted in a recent MarketWatch.com article Where To Put Your Money If The Bond Bull Stumbles where he shares his perspective on bond investing.

As always we strive to keep our Clients informed on the market and Starmont’s investment actions.  You can read two emails we recently sent to our Clients, When will investments go up? and Tax Loss Harvesting & Asset Allocations.

Hope you stay warm and healthy through the rest of this season.  Do not hesitate to reach out if we can be of any service to you or yours.

The Starmont Team

5 Questions To Ask Before Picking A Mutual Fund In 2012

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

As Featured on Forbes.com

by Harvey Rowen

When Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) like myself choose investments for clients we have a fiduciary responsibility to find the most appropriate investments. We want to avoid taking too much risk while also looking for returns above the benchmark.

We take that responsibility very seriously. We look for mutual funds, for example, that we believe will provide good returns without taking unwarranted risk, funds we think will be stable for the long run and will put the investor first.

Over time, we have developed an effective technique for selecting what we consider to be best-of-breed mutual fund managers and investment companies. As an investor, you can use this same approach when researching where to invest your 401k, IRA, college savings fund or other investment.

Get the answers to these questions before you invest in a new fund.

1.  Have returns been generally consistent through both up and down markets? (more…)

Harvey Rowen Interviewed for Servcorp Spotlight Newsletter

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Last month Starmont’s Harvey Rowen was interviewed by Servcorp and highlighted in their monthly newsletter!  Servcorp is the company Starmont leases their San Francisco office from at 555 California Street.  This office has made it much easier for our Clients to meet with us and through Servcorp Starmont has access to offices in Irvine, CA and New York allowing for convenient places for us to meet with Clients on both coasts.

Here is the interview…Harvey shares his personal history as well as his perspective on the advice business – Read on and Enjoy!

Client Spotlight
This month, our feature client is Harvey Rowen. He is the CEO andFounder of Starmont Asset Management. One of the things I most admire about Mr. Rowen is his dedication to his clients. Being an Asset Management company, the economy has been rough on his industry, but he constantly strives to keep all his clients financially secure and happy. Mr. Rowen is currently a full-time Executive Suite client at our 555 California Street center, and working with him has not only been an exciting experience, but he is also someone I can look up to. I asked him some questions so we could get to know him a little better:

Tell me a little bit about yourself. 

Born, Chicago, Ill.  (more…)

Client Communications: Tax Loss Harvesting & Asset Allocations

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
January 3, 2012

To Our Valued Clients and Friends, 

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be a year of peace, happiness, prosperity, and a lot less stress!Starmont spent the last week of December reviewing taxable accounts, and seeking to “harvest losses” by selling positions in those accounts that had losses, so as to offset taxable gains in those accounts. In some cases we were able to eliminate all taxable gains; in most cases we were able to eliminate some but not all of the taxable gains, and in some cases we had no losses in the taxable account to harvest. The end of December is the one time of the year that those of us at Starmont wish we had more losses in our Clients’ taxable accounts.You will be receiving confirmations from Charles Schwab, or e-mail notices from Schwab letting you know that confirmations are available to you on-line, reflecting the sales. We will be e-mailing to Starmont Clients, and to your CPAs, the final Gain/Loss report for all taxable accounts prior to the January 15th due date for final estimated income tax payments for 2011.The sales left large amounts of cash in taxable accounts. (more…)

Client Communications: When Will Investments Start to Go Up?

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

November 28, 2011

To Our Valued Clients

As the attached chart shows, in the past 115 years there have been four secular bull (up) markets in the United States, and four secular bear (down) markets, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).

A secular bull market is a long term upward trending market, where each successive high point is higher than the previous one.

Conversely a secular bear market is a long term downward trending market, where the trend does not rise above the previous high.

According to the attached chart, the four secular bull markets lasted 43 years in total, while the four secular bear markets lasted 72 years. Yet the cumulative return for the secular bull markets was 1,601.06%, while the cumulative return for the longer lasting secular bear markets was 4.05% (through December 2010).  For that reason the DJIA over that period of time has gone from about 50 to over 10,000.

(more…)

Client Communications: Third Quarter Reports

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

October 25, 2011

To Our Valued Clients

Here are your Third Quarter Reports.

The Quarter to Forget, an October to Remember (so far)

As we told you in our October 7th e-mail, the third quarter produced the worst results for stocks and bonds since the market meltdown in the Fall of 2008, wiping out 2011 gains and putting returns solidly in the red as of September 30th.

The good news is that October has been a very strong month and returns for 2011 have returned to the black, or are close to it, as I write this in the last week of October.  If this week is decent, your Schwab October statements will bring a smile to your face and some joy to your heart.

Europe and Congress: Full of Promise but Resolution Still Elusive

Just as fear of a European meltdown and some troubling economic data about the pace of GDP growth and unemployment caused the terrible third quarter, the belief that European leaders now are serious about solving that problem and some solid U.S. earnings reports and resultant low p/e ratios, have caused the October rally.

In order for the rally to continue (more…)

Press Release:Starmont Jumps On Schwab RiA Bandwagon!

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

 Starmont Asset Management to Participate in Schwab RiA Campaign

 For Immediate Release                                            

Contact:       Sondra Harris/Sondra Harris PR/(415) 888-2394/ sharrispr@comcast.net

San Francisco, October 20, 2011—Starmont Asset Management LLC, an independent wealth advisory and investment management company, announced today that it will participate in the advertising campaign being launched by Charles Schwab & Co. to promote registered investment advisors (RiAs). 

Charles Schwab already has placed its campaign banners on the websites of the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, Economist and Atlantic, using the special Schwab RiA Logo that Schwab has developed for this campaign.  And this weekend (October 22-23) Schwab will run a two page ad in the Wall Street Journal print and electronic editions touting the use of RiAs by investors.

Said Harvey Rowen, CEO of Starmont, “We will be communicating with our Clients about this campaign using the RiA Logo.  We also will be developing a special section on the Starmont website for information Schwab has developed about the benefits RIAs provide to investors.” 

Mr. Rowen, former President of the Charles Schwab Trust Company, continued,  “Starmont houses our Clients’ assets with Charles Schwab. We are delighted that they have decided to make a considerable effort to educate investors about RiAs and how they differ from other investment advice providers.”

Starmont Asset Management is an independent wealth advisory and investment management company serving affluent individuals and families, and their businesses.  Its goal is to preserve and grow its Clients’ net worth by constructing and managing a diversified tax sensitive investment portfolio, using traditional and “alternative” investments, and by providing ongoing advice to its Clients on all matters impacting their financial affairs over the course of their relationship with Starmont.

End

Invitation: What’s Driving Your Investment Performance?

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Find Out What’s Driving Your Investment Performance  – Has Fear Replaced Reason?

We are experiencing unprecedented volatility in the financial markets. As you watch your investment performance, your stomach may be queasy from what feels like a never-ending rollercoaster ride! And the volatility continues with no apparent reprieve.

Many seasoned market analysts would say that this cycle of volatility is largely driven by headlines and will most certainly end. These analysts think that fundamentals (reasonable analysis), and presumably more predictable times, will once again prevail over the financial markets. Others disagree and claim the market has shifted from what has historically driven performance to what is being called the “new normal,” a normal that most of us will not necessarily like.

Please join us for a discussion with Starmont’s Harvey Rowen and Steve Cassriel, Vice President at Dodge and Cox Funds, a firm which has been investing on behalf of investors like you for over 80 years. Steve will talk about the role of fundamental investing-why and when he thinks fundamentals will prevail and value based investing will once again drive the markets.

 See more details below…

WHEN

Conference Call  – through your phone or PC with slides

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

12:30 PM TO 1:30 PM (Pacific)

RSVP

To register and receive webinar call-in instructions email Suzanne Monaco at smonaco@starmont.com

(more…)

Client Communication:Déjà Vu All Over Again

Monday, October 10th, 2011

October 7, 2011 

To Our Valued Clients, 

The last few years have been very volatile. In reporting to you on where we are today, I thought that it might be helpful to review where we have been over this wild ride, how Starmont has been able to preserve and grow your assets during this time, and what we plan to do going forward. 

How We Got To Where We Are

In 2007 Starmont became concerned with the write downs US banks were taking on the mortgage backed bonds they carried on their books. Our concern was that those write downs could lead to failed banks and to a serious disruption in our country’s financial system and markets.

In December 2007 we started to sell down the equity funds held in our Clients’ portfolios. We continued selling through June 2008. We invested the proceeds of the sales primarily in bond funds.

In September 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America, and the U.S. government “invested” $80 billion in AIG.

The result was a panic in the financial markets, (more…)

Client Communication: Portfolio Adjustments

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
September 20, 2011 

To Our Valued Clients, 

We finished trimming equity allocations last week, as we said we would do in our previous e-mails. 

It was a good week for equities, mostly because of positive news out of Europe, but the outlook is still cloudy-at best. 

Vivian and I went to a PIMCO conference last week.  They are still on the “bumpy road to a new normal” theme, and the new normal is not positive.  Their current forecast for the next 3-5 years: 

  • –One or more members of the European Union will default or restructure their debt, causing dislocations across the financial markets;
  • –The United States will deal with its debt problem through a combination of austerity (driven by Congressional Republicans) and inflation (driven by the Fed).  Neither is good for the stock and bond markets;
  • –The Emerging Countries (led by China, and including India and Brazil), will continue to grow, but at slower rates as they try to contain inflation in their economies.

While PIMCO is not necessarily right, (more…)

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