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CastleMoore helps people manage their life savings. We are not stock brokers or mutual fund salesmen. We are discretionary investment managers specializing in "buy low, sell high" strategies instead of "buy and hold" strategies like all the others.

Our competition is the stock brokerage industry, the mutual fund industry and the "value" or "growth" money managers like, RBC Private Counsel, BMO Harris Private Banking, TD Asset Management or CIBC Wood Gundy Consulting.

At CastleMoore we manage our clients' investments through a methodical and disciplined set of systems that removes individual bias and emotion from the investment process. What we do works. We rely heavily on loss avoidance techniques based firstly on supply and demand analysis; secondly, on the traditional approach.

Our clients are investors that have little tolerance for investment losses. They expect to get their money's worth, and appreciate CastleMoore's all-inclusive and comprehensive fee schedule. If we are required, because of dangerous markets, to be more active, CastleMoore bears the extra cost of the more frequent transactions.

 
 
Safety First
Safety Second
Active vs. Passive
Independent Advice
Systematic & Disciplined
Stringent Ethics
Opportunistic
Tax Approach



We believe strongly in capital preservation. Big losses are hard to recoup. Don't listen when they say "Don't worry, the stock market will go back up." It is safer to avoid those big stock market declines. Safety first.

Our strict loss-avoidance techniques make it easier to achieve long term portfolio growth. We don't have to waste time making back a huge loss.

In addition, if you reduce the size and shorten the duration of a financial loss you will mitigate a serious side-effect of suffering losses - a disruption in the confidence of your portfolio management plan. A loss of confidence can cause you to "freeze," to not take proper defensive investment action. That's how large losses get even larger.

Remember: it's better to "not make money" than it is to "lose money."

   



One way that CastleMoore is like the large institutions is our clients are protected by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. We also carry separate insurance through The Travelers Companies Inc. to further protect our clients' accounts.

We live in difficult times. Governments are worried that the banking system is at risk and have taken responsible action to prevent problems. In times like these, we need take responsibility and to be extra vigilant in choosing our financial partners. "Big" is no longer "best." "Big" has become "too big."

It is important in these times to understand the difference between bank accounts, brokerage firm cash and margin accounts. In your bank account or brokerage margin account, your investments are commingled with the bank or brokerage firm's investments. CastleMoore accounts are held in brokerage cash accounts; your investments are segregated from the broker's investments. In normal times, this is not a problem, but we are being extra vigilant at this time.

   



At CastleMoore we do not use the "buy and hold", techniques favoured by so many investment managers today. Our clients expect their assets to be conservatively placed in investments showing current or near term sustainable economic growth.  We pay attention to the "supply and demand" for all investment asset classes.   Accordingly, clients expect that we buy AND sell, and not just buy, for their portfolios. This approach makes the difference in our results and separates CastleMoore from the majority of brokers, mutual fund salesmen and banks.

   



Because all our staff has worked for large national and international investment companies we understand the importance of independent advice.  We do only one thing at CastleMoore: manage investment portfolios.   We cannot be all things to all people and so are not trying to control all aspects of your financial life – we are not a financial supermarket.  This clear focus within our daily routines not only benefits our staff, but more importantly is critical to the results our clients receive.  When you call us, we know what your call is about. 

   



Study after study shows that most investment decisions by brokers, mutual fund salesmen or individual investors are based on emotion.  Emotional decision-making, whether in life generally or in the investment process, leads to loss and confusion.  Poor portfolio management techniques, we all know leads to loss of wealth.  At CastleMoore we rely on proven and back-tested techniques to allocate client funds across many asset classes. For most investment managers, the buy or sell decision can be difficult.   Our methodology lets us at CastleMoore sleep at night knowing that we have complete confidence in a system, a system where our emotions and our "opinions" have been removed.

   



For most clients Compliance probably means very little – to CastleMoore it is everything.   Because we are a small firm we have been able to create from scratch, a stringent internal code of procedures. These procedures ensure that all clients are treated in a fair fashion, that they receive the proper investments for their accounts and that their accounts are carefully monitored.  Part of our success in this area is also attributable to our partnership with NDEX Systems which helps in the monitoring of all account positions and performance.  At CastleMoore, we strongly believe in the compliance process, and can provide our rules to any client whenever they ask.

   



Deploying our clients' (and our own) assets are a serious matter.  If we cannot find a suitable opportunity we do not invest.  Our clients understand when they work with CastleMoore we sometimes have high cash reserves positions to take advantage of declining markets.  CastleMoore's systematic and methodical approach to investing, tells us where we should be placing client assets. In short, we only invest when it's right to do so.

   



We do not solve tax problems. We create tax liabilities... by creating profits.  We do work with our clients' tax advisors to help control the tax problems that we generate.  At CastleMoore we feel that we aren't truly doing our job unless we are raising the value of their portfolios.  Creating artificial "tax losses" is not part of our job. To us, the goals are protection and growth of investments. Exception: if any clients have special tax needs we certainly accommodate customised situations.  But our focus and our disciplines are on generating profits and preventing loss, not creating tax losses.