Kirk Spano: Investment Management and Financial Planning

Hello, thank you for taking the time to read my site.

When I began practice in the mid 1990s we were just entering a great bull market in common stocks.  It was a great time to invest.  By late 1998 some of the great voices of finance started to warn us.  Jim Rogers, appearing on CNBC for the last time before a three year drive around the world, told us the American stock market was entering bubble territory.  His advice, look outside the United States for investments and pay attention to commodity linked investments.  From 2000 to 2002 Rogers was proven right, as we felt the strains of irrational exhuberance and a large stock market crash came, followed by huge gains in commodities. 

During the next few years, we reflated the stock bubble on the back of massive household and national debts, and an expanding class of complicated investments called derivatives.  Warren Buffet commented that we were "selling the farm to live high on the hog" and creating "financial weapons of mass destruction."  We now find ourselves post another large crash and facing economic challenges not seen in generations.  Recently, it looks like many have been pumping into a bubble of fixed income, which could destroy another layer of wealth should we see inflation sometime in the next decade. 

Over the past twenty years of study and practice I have developed the greatest level of respect in the investment approaches of the world's greatest investors.  Their methods of reducing risk while maintaining opportunities for strong investment returns are my strongest influences in managing your portfolio, not the sales driven financial industry.  It is the lead of people like Buffett, Rogers, Marc Faber, Bill Gross, Julian Robertson, George Soros and other independent minds that I follow.

I include Socially Responsible Investments in many portfolios for ethical reasons and because I believe many of these investments offer a massive opportunity over the coming decades.  Investing in cleaner energy, water resources, sustainable agriculture and global healthcare appear to promise returns that could outpace the broader markets.

My clients and those who attend my workshops will share that I clearly love what I do and that I am genuinely trying to help people.  I work to bring a level of service to the broader investor community that too often has been reserved by the financial industry for only the extremely wealthy, well connected and certain large institutional investors.  At my workshops I strive to funnel down and explain the overwhelming universe of economic and financial information in an easy to understand and actionable way.  I invite you to attend one of my quarterly financial workshops, I believe you will be happy you attend.

If you have a small group of friends, family or co-workers who would like to spend 30-45 minutes with me some morning discussing the financial issues important to you, please contact me to arrange "Coffee with Kirk."  These informal sessions are designed as a brief introduction followed by a question & answer session when you can ask about the issues at the top of your list. 

Please register to read my current letter to clients for more insights into my practice, the economy, investment opportunities and financial dangers.  Also, please visit my frequently updated links page to find helpful resources, to read what I am reading and see important interviews.

I am accepting clients who are serious about their financial future.  By virtue of you making it to this site and reading this far, I suspect you are one of those people.  I invite you to get in contact with me so we can discuss what a working relationship would be like.  Whomever you decide to work with, I wish you the best.

Cordially,

Kirk Spano