GAME OF DRONES

A Hawk’s Eye on Investment Strategies
and Retirement Solutions
A Conservative Approach to Asset Management and Long-Term Planning
by diane e. alter
Wealth Management
www.assetsgrow.com
The wealth management industry in the United States is in
the midst of a number of dramatic changes resulting from
the 2008 financial calamity, as well as from a number of
long-term trends in the industry. Full-service firms have been
steadily losing advisers and assets as they move toward more
independent and self-directed channels. This shift followed the
Great Recession of 2008 and has picked up steam as big brokerage
firms – under constant scrutiny for a number of misdeeds – lose
their clout, along with investors’ confidence.
“Today’s financial world is experiencing a state of revolution,”
Peyton R. Hawkes, president of Hawkes Wealth Management,
told “The Suit.” “We have perhaps never seen the tenets of economic
policy more precariously poised for change. In fact, we are
watching credit, once the primary tool for growth, being tossed
away. The financial crisis bought numerous challenges. Client satisfaction
sits at historic lows and there is a greater emphasis on
transparency.”
Boasting more than three decades of financial experience,
Hawkes Wealth Management has been serving the Binghamton,
NY area since 1981. The firm’s approach is one of transparent and
conservative asset management, with a focus on long-term planning.
“We use strategic diversification, spread among appropriate
asset classes,” Peyton explained. “This lessens the kind of extreme
volatility that has scared scores of investors from the market. We
don’t chase hot stocks or Alpha (a term used for investors aiming
to outperform a benchmark such as the Dow or the S&P 500 Index).
We employ a risk-targeted method of investing which we
carefully monitor and tweak as economic conditions or a client’s
lifestyle warrants.”
Clients run the gamut from those in need of a detailed and sustainable
retirement plan, to those who want the firm to have full
management of their assets, to individuals who prefer the self-directed
approach and favor a cursory plan. “Our ideal client shares
our investment philosophy, is realistic, doesn’t expect miracles
and is open to change as needed,” Hawkes detailed.
Change is good – but plenty of today’s investors are opposed to
any adjustments. Still fixated on the dot.com boom and bust, painful
financial meltdown and flood of scandals that blemished Wall
Street, investor preferences are now switching direction toward
simpler, less risky and easily understandable products. There is a
heightened sensitivity to price swings and an increased appetite
for yield amid five-plus years of a near-zero interest rate environment.
These are not obstacles for Hawkes – they are opportunities.
That mindset is what he uses to approach what he considers to
be “the fatalistic investing approach” of today’s youth. “They live
for today and aren’t focused on their future. What I’d like to see is
for young people to develop a savings habit. Saving even a little
bit now can reap big rewards later.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.31