Mr. Wibel: Foothills Asset Management is an independent registered investment adviser. We're based in Scottsdale, Arizona. We are a fee-only investment adviser, so we don't sell any investment products and we don't derive any income from commission. Most of our clients are high net worth individuals or retirement plans or endowments and foundations. Most of our clients live in Arizona but we work with people from California to New York. Philosophically what we really try to do for our clients is provide them with sound advice that can help them achieve both their short- and long-term financial goals. I think we've become known for being attentive to client needs. One of the things that has separated us from many others, especially in the last year or two, is that we spend a lot of time upfront with clients trying to understand not only their investment goals, but their tolerance for risk and their investment psychology. When one works with individuals, no matter how good the returns are, if clients are not sleeping well at night you won't have a good long-term relationship. Our typical clients are people who have been successful but they don't have the time, temperament or inclination to do their own investment work. Frankly, they have things they would enjoy doing more than following the markets as long as they know somebody in whom they have confidence is paying attention to their investment portfolio.
TWST: How have you coped with the turmoil in the markets over the last year and
dealt with the concerns and expectations of your clients?
Mr. Wibel: First of all, I think our asset allocation was more conservative than
a lot of other investment advisers. That comes from trying to understand the
"sleep-at-night" factor for each of our clients. I was talking to a woman the
other day who said, "You know, as I've been working with you, I have found you
are much more rigorous about defining risk than other advisers I have talked to.
My asset allocation has been more conservative, but it has really helped me to
get through this difficult time."
We have not had a lot of inbound calls from clients who have been frightened
about what's going on in their portfolios. That's not to say they haven't been
concerned but we have been very proactive in making calls to them, talking them
through what has been going on and reminding them what both the near- and long-
term strategy is.
Tickers included in this excerpt: COP, DVN, GOOG, LLTC
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