Investments

SS&H Financial Advisors, Inc. utilizes fundamental & technical analysis to offer advice on the following publicly traded securities:

• Common Stocks
• Preferred Stocks
• Securities Traded Over-the-Counter
• Foreign Issues - ADR's
• Exchange-Traded Funds
• Mutual Fund Shares
• Corporate Debt Securities
• Money Markets
• Commercial Paper
• Certificates of Deposit
• Municipal Securities
• United States Government Securities
• Government-Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) Agency Securities
• REITs

We maintain working relationships with many brokerage houses and oftentimes find their research insightful.  Some of these include:

• Charles Schwab & Company
• Comerica Securities
• Merrill Lynch
• UBS Financial Services
• Wells Fargo Advisors

Sound investment decisions result from knowledge of market trends such as the direction of interest rates, inflation, the level of unemployment and its impact on the economy, demographic changes and worker productivity.   Economic as well as financial indicators such as changes in gross domestic product, changes in unemployment claims, the shape of the yield curve and changes in money supply are some of the guideposts that we monitor to discern these market trends.  How these trends impact investments is as important as the individual security selections themselves.

We are constantly reading, analyzing and rooting out details about the companies we follow.  The economy has cycles and just as these cycles ebb and flow, so do the fortunes of companies.  Company financials, price-to-earnings ratios, debt levels, return on equity, dividend rates and growth potential are all part of the investment process, whether selecting a company stock or its bonds as an investment.  In addition to financial newspapers and magazines, we also rely on company press releases and annual reports.  This is a listing of just some of the additional sources of information we use in our research.

• Dr. Mark Skousen’s Forecast & Strategies
• Jim Powell’s Global Changes & Opportunities Report
• Motley Fool
• Seeking Alpha
• The Kiplinger Tax Letter
• Wall Street Journal
• Zacks Investment Research
• Schwab Institutional Services
• Seeking Alpha
• Barron's

Investment theory and historical data indicate that over long periods of time there is a relationship between the level of investment risk assumed and the level of return that can be expected.  A comfort level with investment risk (a clients risk tolerance) influences how aggressively or conservatively a portfolio can be invested.  Risk needs to be balanced with the need for returns to achieve investment goals. Investors may be exposed to the following types of risk:

• Credit or Default Risk - is the risk that a company or individual will be unable to pay the contractual interest or principal on its debt obligations. This type of risk is of particular concern to investors who hold bonds.  Government bonds especially those issued by the federal government, have the least amount of default risk and the lowest returns, while corporate bonds tend to have the highest amount of default risk but also higher interest rates. Bonds with a lower chance of default are considered to be investment grade, while bonds with higher chances are considered to be junk bonds.
• Country Risk - refers to the risk that a country won't be able to honor its financial commitments. When a country defaults on its obligations, this can harm the performance of all other financial instruments in that country as well as other countries it has relations with. Country risk applies to stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options and futures that are issued within a particular country. This type of risk is most often seen in emerging markets or countries that have a severe deficit.
• Foreign-Exchange Risk - applies to all financial instruments that are in a currency other than your domestic currency. As an example, if you are a resident of America and invest in some Canadian stock in Canadian dollars, even if the share value appreciates, you may lose money if the Canadian dollar depreciates in relation to the American dollar.
• Interest Rate Risk - is the risk that an investment's value will change as a result of a change in interest rates. This risk affects the value of bonds more directly than stocks.
• Political Risk - represents the financial risk that a country's government will suddenly change its policies. This is a major reason why developing countries lack foreign investment.
• Market Risk - This is the most familiar of all risks. Also referred to as volatility, market risk is the day-to-day fluctuation in a stock's price. Market risk applies mainly to stocks and options. As a whole, stocks tend to perform well during a bull market and poorly during a bear market - volatility is not so much a cause but an effect of certain market forces. Volatility is a measure of risk because it refers to the behavior, or "temperament", of your investment rather than the reason for this behavior. Because market movement is the reason why people can make money from stocks, volatility is essential for returns, and the more unstable the investment the more chance there is that it will experience a dramatic change in either direction.