Our Investment Approach
Be invested at a comfortable level of risk, thoughtfully positioned to seek greater expected return.
Mark Mowrey, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Our Philosophy
Be Invested at a Comfortable Level of Risk
The initial directive, 'be invested' suggests what to do, not how to do it. Determining, 'a comfortable level of risk,' is among the first objectives of our early work with clients. From there, we position the portfolio in an effort to increase the potential for outperformance relative to the markets in which it's invested.
We've learned a great deal about markets over the past century. The most vital bit of wisdom? The market is smarter than any of us, as it naturally incorporates the collective knowledge of all investors. Second most influential bit of wisdom? Still too few people believe the first bit. Rather than try to be the smartest people in the room, we bound our decisions with a simple set of rules:
01
Accept That Risk and Return Are Linked
The more return we seek, the more risk we must accept. Working to align your portfolio to a level of risk you can sustain through full market cycles is of first priority.
02
Diversify Broadly and Deliberately
Enhancing diversification with an eye toward reducing overall portfolio risk remains one of the most reliable advantages available to long-term investors.
03
"Tilt" Toward Return Factors
We generally emphasize security characteristics and investment approaches shown to support greater-than-average returns over time.
The Process
How We Manage Your Money
Each client is different in attitudes regarding market risk and needs to take on market risk in order to achieve longer-term financial goals. Indeed, 'investing' can be seen as the easier part of the process.
The greater challenge can be deciding where we want to be and how we might be able to get there. In turn, though we likely will need to adjust the plan to accommodate life's sometimes joyous and sometimes not-so-joyous surprises, we'll want to stick to the plan.
Our investment management work is just one component of a broader planning focus that seeks to:
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Develop a realistic range of long-term financial goals and devise a rational investment plan to achieve them.
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Recognize and manage through the fiscal and emotional barriers that can limit progress toward those goals.
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Serve as a trusted partner, providing a voice of calm when market storms arise and a voice of reason when they appear exuberant.
Mark Mowrey, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Leadership
Meet Your Chief Investment Officer
With a career in investment research and management spanning more than two decades, Statera's Chief Investment Officer, Mark Mowrey, CFA, brings uniquely broad and relevant expertise to the firm. Graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, his roles included sell-side equity research and financial journalism prior to his work in investment management and firm leadership.
YOUR PORTFOLIO
What to Expect
As a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), we are relatively unconstrained when it comes to building investment portfolios. Even so, we have found over the years that a relatively straightforward approach can support client confidence through market cycles while also providing the means for potential market outperformance.
Through that lens, our approach seeks to achieve greater comfort in our work through efficient and explicit risk management and enhanced comprehension of the investment characteristics we are seeking to emphasize in our portfolios.
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01
The first question
To those ends, every investment decision begins with a fundamental question: how much investment risk is appropriate given the objectives the portfolio is intended to support. Because investors often pursue multiple objectives simultaneously—such as retirement income, future spending needs, legacy goals or charitable endeavors—the appropriate level of risk may differ across those goals.
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02
Adapting for return
A desired exposure to aggregate investment risk having been assigned, we variously adapt portfolios to enhance exposure to investment characteristics that historically have been associated with higher expected returns. These principles form the foundation of our investment process.
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03
Models as starting points
Our models, in turn, establish strategic allocations across asset classes and investment strategies, providing a disciplined framework for portfolio construction. While that framework promotes consistency in the investment process, we do not view models as one-size-fits-all solutions. Rather, we view them as starting points.
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04
Choosing the foundation
Our advisors work with clients to evaluate investment objectives in the context of their broader financial plans and to develop an understanding of the role each portfolio is intended to serve. From there, advisors and the Investment Team determine which of our investment models may provide the most appropriate foundation for pursuing those objectives.
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05
Your circumstances
Individual circumstances including tax considerations, account types, liquidity needs, concentrated positions and other client-specific factors often warrant additional adaptations to portfolio construction or implementation.
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06
And then, ongoing
Thereafter, at least once per year, but preferably more often, advisors will sit with clients to discuss portfolio performance and positioning, while also addressing changes in financial situations and longer-term plans to see if any adjustments to reposition portfolio allocation(s) are necessary. Thus, as individual financial circumstances evolve, portfolio allocations and implementation decisions may evolve as well.
We believe this approach helps balance the consistency of a disciplined investment process with the flexibility required to address the unique circumstances of individual clients.
The objective is not to fit clients into a model, but to utilize models as tools in the construction of portfolios intended to reflect each client's distinctive goals, constraints and opportunities.
Insights
Latest from Insights
Tilting Against the Tide
We continue to find a strategy that tilts against the rising tide of genAI exuberance a sensible stance for those similarly concerned about the potential for eventual investor disappointment
January 27, 2026
