Investment Philosophy

What We Believe In

Echler Solomon Feng provides investment management where the prospects for reward are higher than the associated risks. Our investment activities operate in alignment with the philosophy detailed below:


The Importance Of Managing Risk

Outstanding investment performance is not our sole priority; we much prefer to achieve superior results without taking significant risks. Big profits in times of plenty are not a measure of a manager's talent; it takes outstanding performance in times of turmoil to demonstrate that those good-time gains were secured with ability, not merely the toleration of above acceptable levels of risk. So, rather than only looking for potential profits, we place high importance on avoiding losses. It is our belief at Echler Solomon Feng that, especially in the volatile markets in which we sometimes operate, if we steer clear of the failures, success will surely follow.


The Importance Of Dependability

Achieving excellent results in good years and underperforming in bad years is not good enough. We believe that an exceptional performance record should demonstrate a consistent, higher average performance rather than a mixture of spectacular successes and woeful failures.


The Importance Of Market Inefficiency

We believe that applying talent and honest hard work can lead to better market awareness, and thereby to potentially better investment performance. However, that is not the case in efficient markets where large numbers of people share almost the same access to information and act impartially to build that information into prices. We believe less efficient markets enable that talent to shine, and without emotion should pay rich dividends for our clients, and these are the markets in which we choose to invest.


Macro-predictions are not essential when investing

We believe that achieving outstanding results time after time can only be accomplished by the exceptional understanding and knowledge of companies and not through efforts at predicting what is about to take place with the economy, interest rates or the financial markets. As such, it follows that our investment process is wholly bottom-up, based on private, company-specific research. We use general portfolio structuring as a defensive instrument to help us prevent risky concentration, rather than as a tool to facilitate the retention of more of the things that do well.


Macro-predictions are not essential when investing

We believe that achieving outstanding results time after time can only be accomplished by the exceptional understanding and knowledge of companies and not through efforts at predicting what is about to take place with the economy, interest rates or the financial markets. As such, it follows that our investment process is wholly bottom-up, based on private, company-specific research. We use general portfolio structuring as a defensive instrument to help us prevent risky concentration, rather than as a tool to facilitate the retention of more of the things that do well.


The Advantages Of Specialization

Specialization provides the undeniable route to the performance that we, and our clients, want. Accordingly, we determined that each of our portfolios should do just one thing — perform one single investment discipline — and do it to the maximum ability. We decide the parameters for each investment specialty as unambiguously as possible and do not stray from that narrow edict. By following this course, there are no surprises; our actions and performance always follow directly from the task at hand.

The availability of specialized portfolios allows clients who are focused on an individual class to have precisely what they want.


Rejection Of Market Timing Ability

As we do not have faith in the prophetic ability needed to correctly time markets, we invest portfolios as fully as is appropriate at the time. Trepidation about the market situation may cause us to lean toward more defensive investments, be more selective or act more purposefully, but we never move to liquidate. Clients come to us to manage their wealth to the best of our abilities, and we must never cease to do what we know is correct. Holding on to investments that fall in value is not pleasant, but missing out on profits because we did not buy what we were employed to buy is unforgivable.