Paige Courtot

Case Western Reserve names Carver Financial Services, Inc. to 2018 Weatherhead 100

September 4, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

September 2018 Carver Financial Services Inc. was recognized by Case Western University as a 2018 Weatherhead 100 company. The Weatherhead companies are recognized for their percent of revenue growth over the past five years.

The rankings are based on data from the following: 12-month period of net sales from 2013 – 2017, 2013 net sales must be at least $100,000, headquartered in Ashland, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull or Wayne County, not a franchise or subsidiary of another company between 2013 – 2017 and must be a for-profit organization. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Case Western University / Weatherhead 100 is not affiliated with Raymond James.

12th Year in a Row, Carver Financial Services wins Fast Track 50 Award for Lake & Geauga Counties

August 23, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

September 2018, Carver Financial was once again recognized as one of the Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 winners. The Fast Track 50 recognizes the contribution of local companies to Lake and Geauga county economies. The Fast Track 50 Committee compiles a list of the fastest-growing companies in Ohio’s Lake and Geauga counties. Companies are ranked by sales and employment growth over the previous five-year period and the top 50 are recognized. Carver Financial Services Inc. has consistently been recognized on this list for the last nine years.

The 2018 Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 honors companies and individuals in Lake and Geauga counties who have shown growth. The Fast Track 50 Committee compiles a list of the fastest-growing companies in Ohio’s Lake and Geauga counties. Companies can nominate themselves. To be eligible for the award, companies must be located within the two-county region, be organized as a for-profit business, and must meet a minimum sales profit. Companies are ranked by sales and employment growth over the previous five-year period and the top 50 are recognized. Winners are chosen by a math formula: 80% of weight is given to sales growth and 20% of weight is given to employee growth. To more fairly compare larger and smaller companies, the Fast Track 50 is divided into Established and Emerging categories. For 2018, Established companies must report revenue of at least $2.75 million in 2017, the baseline year for all evaluations. Emerging companies are required to have 2017 sales of between $250,000 and $2.75 million. There are 25 companies on each list. Out of 100 firms nominated, 50 received the award. This ranking is not indicative of future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients’ experience. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Raymond James is not affiliated with The Fast Track 50 Award.

June 2018

June 25, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

Annual Report 2018

June 25, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

March 2018

March 25, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

Randy Carver Named to 2018 Financial Times 400 Top Financial Advisers

March 24, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

March 22, 2018 – Mentor OH – Randy Carver has been named to the 2018 edition of the Financial Times 400 Top Financial Advisers. The list recognizes top financial advisers at national, independent, regional and bank broker-dealers from across the U.S.

This is the sixth annual FT 400 list, produced independently by the Financial Times in collaboration with Ignites Research, a subsidiary of the FT that provides business intelligence on investment management.

Financial advisers from across the brokerage industry applied for consideration, having met a set of minimum requirements. The applicants were then graded on six criteria: assets under management (AUM); AUM growth rate; experience; advanced industry credentials; online ccessibility; and compliance records. There are no fees or other considerations required of advisers who apply for the FT 400.

The final FT 400 represents an impressive cohort of elite advisers, as the “average” adviser in this year’s FT 400 has 28 years’ experience and manages $1.4 billion in assets. The FT 400 advisers hail from 38 states and Washington, D.C.

The FT 400 was developed in collaboration with Ignites Research, a subsidiary of the FT that provides specialized content on asset management. To qualify for the list, advisers had to have 10 years of experience and at least $300 million in assets under management (AUM) and no more than 60% of the AUM with institutional clients. The FT reaches out to some of the largest brokerages in the U.S. and asks them to provide a list of advisors who meet the minimum criteria outlined above. These advisors are then invited to apply for the ranking. Only advisors who submit an online application can be considered for the ranking. In 2018, roughly 880 applications were received and 400 were selected to the final list (45.5%). The 400 qualified advisers were then scored on six attributes: AUM, AUM growth rate, compliance record, years of experience, industry certifications, and online accessibility. AUM is the top factor, accounting for roughly 60-70 percent of the applicant’s score. Additionally, to provide a diversity of advisors, the FT placed a cap on the number of advisors from any one state that’s roughly correlated to the distribution of millionaires across the U.S. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. The FT is not affiliated with Raymond James.

Barron’s again names Randy Carver to Top State By State Advisor Ranking list, Nationally and Ohio

March 20, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

March 12, 2018 Randy Carver was again named to Barron’s Top State By State Advisor Rankings list nationally and for Ohio. Randy was ranked as one of the top five advisors in Ohio. According to Reuters (February 11, 2015) there are roughly 285,000 financial advisors in the United States. Barron’s listed their top 1,200 putting Randy in top 4/10ths of 1% of all advisors.

To see full listing click here.

Raymond James is not affiliated with Barron’s. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors have paid a fee in exchange for this recognition. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. This recognition is not indicative of future investment performance and may not be representative of individual clients’ experience. . Rankings are based on data provided by the nation’s 4,000 most productive advisors. Factors included in the rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. Investment performance isn’t an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients’ risk tolerance than by an advisor’s investment-picking abilities.

Why am I not Beating the S&P 500?

January 16, 2018 // by Paige Courtot

Focus on Your Goals – Not Beating the S & P

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, or S&P 500, is a leading indicator of U.S. equities and is meant to reflect the risk/return characteristics of the large-cap equities universe. The question of why someone is not beating the S&P index generally comes up when the markets have continued to move higher, which is what we experienced in 2017.

Maybe That’s the Wrong Question

There are many answers to that question, which we get into below. But is this is even the right question to ask? A better question might be, is your goal to beat the index or to maintain your lifestyle and standard of living? Is your goal to beat the index mathematically or to accumulate real wealth? Are you happy making more than the S&P when it’s going up but potentially losing more when it goes down?

We believe a broadly diversified portfolio can provide a potentially greater level of return for any given level of volatility than a single asset class like the S&P 500 can over meaningful periods of time. Historical facts support this idea. When markets do well (or poorly) over one or two years, that is not indicative of long-term performance. Also, we believe that a portfolio must be designed to meet both your near-term and long-term income and growth needs — not just to earn a given rate of return.

So how long is “long term”? James Glassman, a Kiplinger columnist, says, “When you purchase a stock, you should think of yourself as a partner in the business forever — or until you need the cash. But forever, or even 30 years, is way out on the dim horizon. A more manageable view might be 15 years. If you invest $10,000 today in a stock that returns an average of 12 percent per year (a return that is 2 percentage points higher than the historic long-term return of S&P’s 500 stock index), you’ll end up with about $55,000.”

A Diversified Portfolio Can Outperform Large-Cap Equities Alone

The S&P index has been one of the strongest-performing asset classes recently. Therefore, if someone has a diversified portfolio, they are likely making slightly less than they would if they invested only in large-cap equities. On the other hand, when the S&P has gone down in the past, the diversified portfolio has likely outperformed large-cap equities and provided continued income to maintain investors’ standards of living.

It is also important to consider what your net income is for tax purposes. A properly managed portfolio can help mitigate income tax issues, whereas simply buying an index proxy (like an S&P index fund) cannot.

Focus on Your Personal Needs, Not on Indexes

We view a portfolio as a tool for helping you maintain and enhance your standard of living. So we are looking at maintaining the income you need over time, regardless of what the broader markets, including the S&P 500, do. We are also looking at returns over longer periods, which will include negative markets. November 2017 was the 13th consecutive “up” month, the best run for the S&P 500 since it ran off 15 straight months of gains from March 1958 through May 1959. While we are optimistic about the longer-term trend of the markets, there will be corrections, and we want to make sure these don’t impact your income or lifestyle.

With our practice the allocation of your portfolio is based on your needs, risk tolerance, tax situation and long-term goals. A portfolio that is just in the S & P 500 can be more volatile than a more broadly diversified portfolio, provide less income and may have negative tax consequences.

In the 70 years from 1947 to 2016, the S&P 500 had 27 declines of at least 10 percent but less than 20 percent, or once every 2.6 years. In the same 70-year period, the S&P 500 had 11 declines of at least 20 percent, or once every 6.4 years. The last “10 percent correction” for the S&P 500 was a 13.3 percent drop over the three months that ended on February 11, 2016. The last “20 percent or more bear” for the S&P 500 was a 56.8 percent drop over the 17 months that ended on March 9, 2009 (source: Yahoo! Finance).

We believe it is not what you make that is important, but what you keep net of taxes, fees and expenses. The S&P does not take these numbers into consideration.. If you earn 10 percent and the S P earns 12 percent, you may still be beating the S&P if you are in a 25 percent tax bracket. You cannot invest directly in the S&P index; you must invest in an investment that tracks it. Index funds and other proxies may have funds and expenses not reflected in the index itself. This adds additional expense and may have negative tax consequences.

Come to the Carver team for Custom Allocation

So why would someone maintain a portfolio lagging the S&P? Most likely because it’s not designed to beat the S&P Index — nor should it be. Unlike many practices, we do not use models. Instead we custom-allocate your portfolio based on your income needs, risk tolerance, tax situation and myriad other factors. Moreover, the portfolio is just one tool that can help you achieve your personal goals and vision. When the broader markets are doing well, it’s natural to compare your returns to the best index, but it’s not the best way to judge how you are doing and how you are positioned for the future.

Please contact us, without cost or obligation, to discuss your personal vision and how we can help you achieve it: Randy.carver@raymondjames.com or (440) 974-0808

The information contained in this blog does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, tax rules or developments referred to in this material. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any opinions are those of Randy Carver and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Expressions of opinion are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Investing involves risk, and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected. Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors. Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website’s users and/or members. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that’s generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as “The Dow”, is an index representing 30 stocks of companies maintained and reviewed by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Index performance does not include transaction costs or other fees, which will affect actual investment performance. You cannot invest directly in any index and past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.

November 2017

November 25, 2017 // by Paige Courtot

FORBES recognizes Randy Carver as one of the “Top Wealth Advisors In the United States”

October 12, 2017 // by Paige Courtot

September 26, 2017 FORBES recognized the Top Wealth Advisors in the United States. For the second year in a row Randy Carver was recognized on this prestigious list. “This recognition is a testament to the commitment and professionalism of our entire team”, commented Carver. Randy Carver and his team manage $1.2 billion in assets for clients globally.