Walker Capital Consulting Group, LLC

Walker Capital knows that costs play a significant role in the performance of your portfolio. The two main culprits are fees and taxes. Our fees are among the most competitive in the market.  Compared to standard fees in the Hartford area, you could save up to 40% with Walker Capital. Example:  assume a $1,000,000 portfolio growing at 7% annually for 20 years. By using Walker Capital a client may be able to save over $150,000 in fees alone (Compared to a composite of fees in the Hartford market).

The second issue is capital gains tax. Our stock portfolios are built using exchange traded funds (ETFs). ETFs benefit our clients because they are low cost, highly diversified and make little or no capital gain distributions. Unlike typical mutual funds, ETFs are passive investments. When comparing performance figures it's very important to know the after tax return on your investments. A recent Morningstar study on the effect of taxes brings this issue into focus; 81% of Large-Cap blend managers underperformed their index benchmark before taxes. After taxes, that number increases to 94%!

(Source: Morningstar, 12/31/94-12/31/04. US equity mutual funds. Russell indexes. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All total returns reflect 10-year annualized figures. Funds are categorized by Morningstar objective)

Exchange traded funds are investments designed to replicate an index strategy. An index may represent an investment style, geographical location or sector of the economy. Of course, you can't invest in an index, but you can invest in an exchange traded fund which closely replicates that index. Exchange traded funds trade like stocks and diversify like mutual funds. They cost a fraction of what mutual funds charge and are the fastest growing investment vehicle in the market today. In addition, ETF's distribute virtually no internal capital gains because of their passive approach. We use exchange trade funds because they are low cost, tax efficient and style/sector specific. Walker Capital portfolios typically consist of 8-10 exchange traded funds representing over 4,000 stocks. Our portfolios represent 9 major investment styles, all 10 economic sectors and over 18 countries.

A recent study by the Vanguard Group from 1995-2005 highlighted the fact that nearly 75% of managers underperformed their index benchmarks. These managers underperformed by an average of 2.2 percentage points annually. This is significant. Consider this example: a $1,000,000 portfolio growing at 7% compared to 9.2%. Over 20 years the difference of 2.2 percentage points adds up to nearly $1,600,000. Wouldn't you prefer that money in your pocket?