In Perspectives

Dice-Photo-For-Blog-Post-4-14-2015It has happened a number of times since I began my career in investment management. The topic of investing is brought up in conversation and it is immediately compared to gambling, where the odds are stacked against you and you only win if you are lucky.

Both gamblers and investors share some similarities. Both risk capital in hopes or expectations of a larger sum in return. Both must also weigh the amount of capital they are willing to put at risk based upon the odds of winning and losing. In both cases, the higher reward relative to risk, the higher the amount of capital that is typically wagered or invested. After that, the two diverge greatly in their characteristics and ultimately what they seek to achieve.

Those who gamble do so for the thrill of it, not for the expected return. They love the thrill of plunking down a large bet and rolling the dice, just as those who speculate and “trade” love to hammer the mouse to purchase a security only to sell it minutes later. The only chance of profit a gambler or speculator has is sheer luck and odds which are always stacked against them.

Investors on the other hand are able to stack the odds in their favor through the use of a long time horizon and operating in a capitalistic society. By placing their capital at risk and buying an ownership stake in companies through common stocks they are rewarded when those companies generate a profit and return capital to shareholders. Over a long time horizon the companies composing our broad economy have shown an ability to continuously increase profits and continuously reward the capital that they have used. Taken together, those who invest in broad market indices or high quality companies for long periods of time are likely to be rewarded through both an increase in investment value and the distribution of earnings. Now those are odds I am willing to bet on.

Legacy Trust and Your Right to Financial Privacy

At Legacy Trust we have established policies and practices that respect the financial privacy of all individuals who use our trust company. We believe it is critical to comply with the laws and regulations designed to secure your financial privacy. Your relationship with us as our client is very important to us, and we want you to understand our policies and practices about handling your information.

This Policy applies to you – This Policy applies to our relationships with individual clients who inquire about or obtain products or services from us for personal, family and household purposes.

Strict security measures – We take the security of information very seriously. We have established security standards and procedures to prevent access to client information. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to guard client information.

Limited employee access – We have established procedures to limit employee access to information to only those employees with a business reason for accessing such information. We educate our employees about the importance of confidentiality and client privacy. We take appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce employee responsibilities regarding client information.

Why we collect information – We collect information about you to:

  • accurately identify you;
  • protect and administer your records, accounts and funds;
  • help us design or improve our products and services;
  • understand your financial needs;
  • save you time when you apply for new products and services; offer you quality products and services; and comply with certain laws and regulations;

We collect information – We collect and maintain your personal information so that we can provide investment management and other services to you. The types and categories of information that we collect and maintain about you include:

  • Information we receive from you to open an account or provide investment advice or other services to you (such as your home address, social security number, telephone, financial information and investment objectives).
  • Information that we generate to service your account or from our transactions with you (such as account statements and other financial information).
  • Information on your transactions with nonaffiliated third parties.

We have established procedures so that the financial information we collect is accurate, current and complete. We are committed to work with you to promptly correct any inaccurate information.

Our selective sharing of information – In order for us to provide investment management and other services to you, we do disclose your personal information in very limited instances, which include:

  • Disclosures to nonaffiliated companies as permitted by law, including those who help us service your account (such as providing account information to brokers and custodians).
  • Other limited disclosures as permitted by law, for example, required reports to government entities.

We do not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes. We do not sell your information.

Former clients – If you end your relationship with us, we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this notice.

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USA PATRIOT Act

Important Information About Procedures For Opening A New Account

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, Federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who opens an account.

What this means for you: When you open an account, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver’s license or other identifying documents.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause; however, federal law prohibits us from waiving these requirements.

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