Helping Clients Navigate Their Unique Financial Journey for Over a Decade
Steve Wang- Financial Advisor
Steve is originally from the Philadelphia area & currently resides in the Charlotte NC area with his wife and two girls. He started investing when he was a sophomore in high school thanks to his high school Calculus teacher. Since graduating from college he has been dogmatic about personal finance. Helping people in a very direct and meaningful way is something Steve really values. Financial advising allows him to do just that. Steve offers a straightforward approach to educating and equipping his clients to pursue what they value most. Steve worked as a Financial Advisor and Senior Financial Advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors for over 10 years before joining the largest independent broker-dealer LPL Financial and starting True Crown Financial. Steve enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, running, and occasionally playing soccer.
Services
FEE ONLY FINANCIAL PLANNING
$1,500 Retirement Only
$2,000 Retirement + Education or Large Purchase
$2,500 Retirement + Multiple Planning Needs
Annual fee, includes quarterly meetings.
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
1.25% of AUM < $500,000
1.00% of AUM $500,000+
Includes semi-annual meetings.
WEALTH MANAGEMENT (Planning + Investments)
1.50% of AUM < $250,000
1.25% of AUM $250,000 to < $500,000
1.00% for $500,000+
Includes quarterly meetings.
Why Should I Invest?
Below are the average returns from 2009-2023 for different asset classes:
14.0% US Large Cap Stocks
13.6% US Mid Cap Stocks
11.3% US Small Cap Stocks
9.7% 60%, 40% Portfolio 60% Stock, 40% Bonds Portfolio
2.7% Investment Grade Bonds
2.6% Consumer Price Index (a common measure of inflation)
0.8% Cash Alternatives
If you had only stayed in cash you would have lost significant buying power relative to inflation especially when compounded. Investment grade bonds barely outpaced inflation. There was a drastic increase in growth even in the moderate 60%, 40% Portfolio and even more pronounced growth in US stocks. Obviously, past performance doesn't guarantee future results. However, it does beg the question, "If you are looking to accumulate wealth, how much money can you afford to have invested in historically underperforming assets?".
Morningstar Direct. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
Is It Risky to Invest? How long and How...
The above chart from The Measure of a Plan shows US Stock Market's Annualized returns over 1,5,10, and 20 year time periods. Over 1 year periods there are definitely more up years than down, but there are some big moves both ways. So 1 year periods can be pretty unpredictable. However, as you progress to longer time periods there are fewer down periods and they are much more mild. In short the longer the time period the more predictable the results become. It is really note worthy that in the history of the US Stock Market there are no market declines over any 20 year period. So your time horizon matters a lot when evaluating risk.
Generally speaking there are only a few stock that tend to create the large majority of the gains. For example between 1990 and 2018 only 811 company stocks or 1.33% of the total 62,000 global common stocks evaluated created all of the net global wealth over that time or $44.7 trillion. This is according to a study done by Hendrick Bessembinder of the Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. This is not unique if you look back at names like General Electric, Xerox, IBM, 3M, Gillette, Eastman Kodak to name a few that made up some of the Nifty Fifty of the 1960-70s or more recently FAANG stocks or the Magnificent 7. In short, the odds of picking the next meteoric stock is slim and allocating large portions of long term money in that pursuit seems unwise. Beyond that the high fliers of today typically don't stay that way forever. Since it tends to only be a few companies that drive the gains that overshadow the losses of other stocks, if you own the majority of the market you are much more likely to own the companies that will provide the vast portion of the market growth. Further, when the once hot company's stock seems to slow as it is unlikely for a company stock value to grow on to infinite by 15%, 20%, or 30% a year forever, and a new company stock becomes a rising titan you are more likely to own it if you own the majority of the market.
Created by: The Measure of a Plan
Sources: Robert Shiller & Yahoo Finance
Winner-Take-All Phenomenon Rules the Stock Market, Too. Any gains are attributable to a relative handful of companies. Bloomberg, July 29, 2019 by Barry Ritzholtz
Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss
Should I Work with a Professional?
Morningstar puts out its annual "Mind the Gap: A Report on Investor Returns in the U.S." which compares the returns of retail investors versus the investment itself. In the 10-year period (2013-2022), fund investors lagged the very funds they owned by 1.7% annually. This "investor return gap" has remained relatively in line for the nearly 2 decades of the study. So due to investor behavior they lost out on 22% of the 7.7% annual average return. Needless to say when compounded over time this can a be a drastic drag on wealthttps://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/getty/134214747/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:600,cg:trueh creation. Morningstar attributes this to mistimed sales and purchases. This only tends to be heightened during times of market volatility.
That's enough about retail investors, how much can Financial Advisor really help?
In 2014, Vanguard published Quantifying Advisor’s Alpha research, which found that advisors using wealth management best practices can add up to, or even exceed, 3% in net returns for their clients.
"Mind the Gap: A report on investor returns in the U.S.."
Jeffrey Ptak, Amy C. Arnott
Morningstar, July 31, 2023
Quantifying Advisor’s Alpha 2014
"Putting a value on your value: Quantifying Vanguard Advisor’s Alpha"
Source: Vanguard Investment Advisory Research Center
All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss
Fee Only Financial Planning for Young Professionals
Put the power of compound interest to work for as soon as possible.
You need to make every dollar count in your prime earning years.
Avoid chasing unicorns with large amounts of money.
Focus on high probability, high return asset allocation for the long term, while minimizing the drag of fees.
We create a clear strategic road map to help you pursue your unique financial goals and help you track your progress.
All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
Wealth Management Approaching & In Retirement
You have done a good job of accumulating assets, now comes more complicated phase of withdraws. In this phase you want to shield your wealth from risk and market downturns. Financial advisors have access to exclusive products that aim to mitigate risk and potentially maximize income. David Blanchett & Paul Kaplan of Morningstar find that sound financial planning decisions can increase retirement income by 29%, or 1.82%/year of higher returns.
"Alpha, Beta, and Now...Gamma"
David Blanchett and Paul Kaplan
Morningstar, Aug 28, 2013
All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
Contact Us
It is never too early to get started on your investment plans. Tell us more about your goals and we can craft a plan to help you pursue them.
True Crown Financial
Open today | 09:00 am – 05:00 pm |
