The Fortius investment process follows four simple steps:

1. Identify Investment Goals

Before we can begin managing assets we need to know what the needs are. We utilize a detailed review process and risk tolerance assessment as well as our years of experience to help clients uncover both their stated goals and unstated goal.

2. Develop an Asset Allocation Plan/ Investment Policy Statement (IPS)

With information gained from our discussions about goals we will help our clients develop and plan for the mix of assets to be used to manage their account. Referred to as an Asset Allocation plan (AAP) this will lay out the amount of someone’s asset to be invested in the various market categories…such as Stocks, Bonds, Commodities and Cash. This AAP will be combined with other factors specific to each client, such as investment restrictions, liquidity preferences, and rate of return targets to for an Investment Policy Statement. (IPS) The IPS will serve as a guideline for the way the account(s) should be managed going forward. While not a contract, it will provide direction in writing from client to advisor and will be followed until updated, changed or withdrawn by the client.

3. Investment Selection

Once the guidelines are set it is our job as advisors to select the most appropriate investments to accomplish the goals defined by our clients. We can often develop an investment plan in more than one way and therefore the knowledge gained from the first two steps in the investment process is crucial in determining the resulting portfolio. While will prefer to use simple to understand, low cost products such as index funds or ETFs, we will opt for other options where we feel they can add value. All investment selections are made by an investment committee rather than one advisor so clients can be assured that we are not making decisions in a vacuum but rather careful thought is being given to each selection and these choices must hold up against the critique of all investment committee members.

4. Monitor Progress and Rebalance

One of the most difficult parts of successful money management is not putting together the portfolio but monitoring it closely and rebalancing when necessary. The whole idea behind rebalancing is to make sure a portfolios risk characteristics are maintained at the appropriate and agreed upon levels even though the markets are constantly changing. A portfolio holding an allocation of Stocks and Bonds during a period of rising stock prices will see this portion of the portfolio increase relative to others in the portfolio. This process will, over time, lead to the potential that during a decline in stock market performance the portfolio is more exposed to stocks than it should be. (See below examples). Rebalancing corrects this by selling areas of the portfolio that have increased in allocation above desired targets (selling highs) and buying areas of the portfolio that have decreased in allocation below desired targets (buying lows).

Portfolio	Market Return	Non-Rebalanced Portfolio
50% Stocks	Stocks up 20%	60% Stocks
40% Bonds	Bonds down 12.5%	35% Bonds
10% Cash		5% Cash

Portfolio is now exposed to a downturn in the market with 60% in Stock instead of the intended 50%.