BELIEF - Risk Budgeting

We believe Risk Budgeting is a critical element in creating client portfolios. A client's risk budget is based on the individual's financial goals, ability to handle risk and overall time horizon. CLS portfolio managers then allocate client accounts by overweighting strong asset classes while keeping the risk level consistent. Once a risk budget is assigned, that risk cannot be over-spent, nor can it be underused. Risk Budgeting manages the level of risk within your portfolio.

The key to risk budgeting lies in the CLS risk continuum. Many investors believe bonds are less risky than stocks and that all stocks are aggressive, while all bonds are conservative. However, through our risk budgeting methodology, we understand that risk actually appears on a continuum with some equities containing less risk than some bonds, and vice versa. By maintaining a risk budget and making trades based on both asset class and investor risk, we are able to capitalize on areas of growth, and underweight asset classes that are underperforming.

Key Points of Risk Budgeting

  • Even in the same asset class, some funds are much more volatile than others
  • Some bonds can be riskier than some stocks
  • The risk level of stocks and bonds varies widely
CLS Portfolio Characteristics:
  • CLS portfolios are actively managed
  • Not considered market timing or other more aggressive forms of tactical asset allocation
  • Portfolio risk is controlled through counterbalancing trades
  • Outperformance is sought through overweighting favorable asset classes
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