Individuals & Families

Why trust Riggs Wealth Management with your hard-earned cash?

For the first 19 years of my career, I was a stockbroker with major Wall Street brokerage firms like Prudential Bache, First Union Securities (now Wells Fargo Advisors), and Merrill Lynch. During those years, I spoke at dozens of seminars promoting the virtues of Modern Portfolio Theory. ¹ I now refer to that as Pie Chart Investing. This method of building portfolios dominates my industry and you will find it on virtually all 401k platforms.

Then came the .com implosion of 2000-2002 and the liquidity recession of 2008-2009. In neither case did the pie charts protect portfolios.

I went independent in October of 2001, right after the attack on Manhattan. Shortly thereafter, I converted my business from commissions to Advisory Fees. I knew that I needed a better method of building portfolios then the pie chart. My business model became to manage your money the same way I manage my own ². Because my revenue is fee-based, when your portfolio grows in value I make more money. When your portfolio goes down in value, my wife gets mad!

I use a very old form of technical analysis, based on point and figure charts, to help identify what parts of the financial markets to focus on, and probably even more importantly, what parts to avoid. For example, prior to and during the liquidity recession of 2008-2009, no bank stocks were in my portfolios.

This form of analysis is not market timing and it certainly is not perfect. It is designed to measure and control risk.

Our motto is that it is ok to be wrong, but not ok to stay wrong!

The world is my oyster. All markets around the world are available to us today. When it is time to own bonds, I will own bonds. When it is time to be investing in emerging markets, you will see that. Same with stocks, currencies, gold, copper, and other commodities. My job is to seek out those parts of our global markets that are doing better and to put our money, yours and mine, in a position to grow.

I buy my own research. I use no proprietary funds or platforms. I have no quotas to fill. I only work for you.

On this website is a blog that records the newsletters I send my clients. In these newsletters, I communicate my feelings about the markets, the economy, and how I am investing their money. I encourage you to peruse them.

^{1. Many get confused and think Modern Portfolio Theory is a Law. No, it is a Theory. In the physical world, there are Theories and there are Laws. Theories are guesses supported by data. Laws have been proven by the preponderance of study.}

^{2. Not everyone has the same investment objective or risk tolerance. This comment is true if, like me, you are a Growth oriented investor with a higher and longer term risk tolerance.}