Mr. Sutherland: FIM Group became 25 years old this year, so we've been around a while. We've always been global money managers. We primarily work for individuals and trusts, retirees, entrepreneurs, business people and regular folks that have accumulated some wealth. Most all of our clients live in the U.S. As investors we believe price matters, and that we look to make sure our portfolios are full of sustainable investments that are risk-adjusted bargains. We believe that it's appropriate and important to be proactive and forward-looking in order to spot trends. For example, it's obvious that the world is no longer dominated by the United States from an economic point of view. We think that the U.S. will probably be stable in its GDP while significant growth will happen over the next 10 or 15 years in emerging countries that become strong, sustainable economic powers in their own right.
Consider Singapore, China, emerging Europe, emerging South and Central America, and India. It is obvious that these countries are no are longer dependent on America, Europe or the developed dominant countries of old, and realize that they can acquire the necessary technology and skills to be hyper-competitive without help from the U.S. and developed world. That's a huge shift for U.S. investors but most still seem stubbornly domestically oriented. That's never been the way we've managed money. Rather, we've managed money on a global basis, not caring where a company's home office was located. Naturally you have to be forward-looking and look at business practices, government regulations, currencies and cultures in any country you invest in. I think indexing is a loser's strategy. That's why most investors fail. Accepting the mediocre oriented indexing or benchmarking silliness is why people don't often meet their goals. They don't hire money managers with any significant track record of success. They hire them off a brochure or a great telephone pitch. We've been around a long time, and our clients are happy because we've kept our forward-looking orientation as well as a global view.
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