what we do

“In an industry where outsourcing is on the rise,
we started HarborLight so we can provide
financial planning and investment
management directly to you.”

- Dr. Jason Draut, CFP®, and Chris Sheehy CFP®
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WHY CHOOSE HARBORLIGHT INVESTMENTS?

At HarborLight, we understand how important your money is to you, so we don’t outsource the critical functions of managing it. Instead your investment management and financial planning is handled in house, directly by your own experienced wealth manager.
This way:
You get the advantage of an experienced professional reporting directly to you and watching your money
Your wealth manager knows your whole financial picture, so your risk is managed according to your preferences and needs
You get information about your investments directly from the portfolio manager, so you can be as active a participant as you like

The Experience You Want

Believe it or not, there’s no experience requirement for financial advisors.  As a result, many advisors come from varied backgrounds and may not have the experience you’d expect.  At big name firms, advisors might receive more training on sales than they do on actual investment theory.  

At HarborLight, we’re very different.  Our financial advisors have significant real world experience managing money.  Even better, most of their experience was in very demanding institutional environments.

Dr. Jason Draut, CFP®

Dr. Jason Draut, CFP®, managed institutional and model portfolios for Blackrock after receiving his PhD from Harvard. He also engineered investment software for MSCI, a leading global provider of portfolio analysis tools.

Learn more about Jason

Chris Sheehy, CFP®

Chris Sheehy CFP®, spent years with the largest institutional broker on the NYSE Equity Options trading floor in San Francisco, and later worked at a private equity firm that invested in pre-IPO companies.

Learn more about Chris

What does this experience do for you?

We’re experienced navigating complex investment landscapes and changing markets
We’re focused on risk management strategies from our institutional experience
We don’t limit your investments to only US markets, which can be a handicap to you in certain market cycles

And, we’re fee-only, fiduciary advisors, meaning we always put your interests first.

Our Investment Philosophy

First of all, we understand how hard you’ve worked to get to where you are today.  So our first rule is to help protect what you have with careful risk management and diversification.  

We use modern portfolio theory and seek to minimize your expenses by selecting low-cost investment products.

What’s Modern Portfolio Theory, or “MPT” for short?

With Modern Portfolio Theory, we strive to construct a portfolio for you that gives you the best possible return given your desired level of risk.  The theory suggests that it is not enough to look at the expected risk and return of one particular stock.  Instead, an investor benefits from diversification.  By investing in many stocks or funds instead of fewer, you get the benefit of less risk.  Put simply it means not putting all of your eggs in one basket.

Understanding your specific needs and preferences is an important step in the investment process. We build a diversified portfolio that is appropriate for you, taking risk, expected returns and costs into consideration.

Ongoing Monitoring of your Investments

Many advisors will spend time up front and then put your investments on auto-pilot for the most part.  At times, this strategy seems to work fine, but it can be hazardous when market cycles change.  We saw the results of that in the dot.com bust and again in 2008, when even those with advisors were overly concentrated in stocks.  

That’s why we actively manage your money.  We keep watch and will be in contact with you when adjustments are needed.  We strive to keep your risk level always aligned with the risk you want to take, and not let your portfolio get too far off balance.

That way you can sleep better at night knowing we’re routinely monitoring your holdings.

Accountable to You

Not all advisors provide you with independent performance reports, and if they do, many times they don’t subtract fees and expenses.  So you don’t get the full picture of how well your investments are performing for you.  

At HarborLight, we are committed to transparency, so we provide easy to understand performance reports that show data only after all expenses and fees have been excluded.

Client Portal

Rather than having to review a stack of confusing paper statements each month, you’ll have access to a secure Client Portal to track the performance of your investments. This crisp, clean personal website displays all the important data you need in an easy-to-understand format.  And it’s always up to date and at your fingertips either by computer or on any mobile device.

Login to your Client Portal

INTERACTIVE FINANCIAL PLANNING

Investing is only one part of the puzzle.  Financial planning takes your wealth from numbers on a page to the life that you want to live.  Our wealth managers are also CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, so we’re prepared to help you plan your future and achieve your goals.  

Here’s what our comprehensive financial planning covers:

Budgeting and cash flow
Retirement Planning
Education planning and college funding
Social Security Planning
Tax Planning
Estate planning strategies
Asset planning strategies

We use some of the best financial planning software available to help you understand your current situation and ultimately realize your goals.  Planning for your financial future is an ongoing process and we update your plan as often as needed to reflect both life and economic changes.

KEEPING YOU INFORMED

There’s nothing worse than not feeling informed or in control of your money.  At HarborLight, we understand you need to be kept up to date.  That’s why we ensure you get the information and answers you need, when you need it:

Frequent meetings in a way that’s most convenient to you (either in person at your home or office or remote via skype or phone)
Same day return call policy (applies to email or text too), but usually we’ll get back to you even quicker
Quarterly performance reports that are net of all fees and expenses
Online dashboards that show you all your financial information in one place, updated real time

And, we’re available any time for you if you have questions, either by email, phone or text.  

All of our services are provided for one simple, transparent fee*.

GROWING WITH YOU

As your wealth grows, so does your need for help.  It may shift from more basic requirements to a focus on tax reduction and asset protection, for example.  At HarborLight, our experienced professionals are able to help you at any phase of your life, as your wealth grows:

Asset protection strategies
Tax strategies
Estate planning strategies
Business exit planning strategies
Charitable giving plans

A MODERN APPROACH

A financial plan that’s boring and hard to understand does little good for you and ends up collecting dust on a shelf.  That’s why we use a modern approach.  Instead of a 50 page document, you get a personal website that updates in real-time and provides the information you need in visual format.  All explained to you in plain English.

Jason Draut, CFP®
[email protected]
516 El Cerrito Plaza
El Cerrito, CA 94530
510-558-8272
Chris Sheehy, CFP®
[email protected]
180 7th Ave Suite 204
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
831-291-3843
© 2020 HarborLight Investments