In Perspectives

One of the most important aspects of investment success is an alignment of thought and decision making with the relevant time horizon. That is, if we want attractive results five years from now, we should be making decisions today that are most likely to generate those attractive results in five years, given the current circumstances.

We can’t focus 99% of our time on what we think will happen over the next six months and hope that it all works out after five years. This is a recipe for disaster. Yet it is a disaster that plays out over and over again, with increasing frequency, in our 24 hour a day media system in which market pundits seem convinced that buried treasure lie in predicting what the market will do over the next six months. This may make him or her look smart if they turn out to be correct, but it provides little value to any person invested in the market for long term results.

This very temperament is a symptom of being human; and the short term thinking in today’s financial markets is a situation analogous to a healthy diet. Everyone knows the benefits of eating healthy each and every day. That is, you live happier and most likely for longer. Yet it is apparent given our society’s health issues that most of the population doesn’t have the ability to think beyond how delicious that dessert will taste after the already belt busting trip to the buffet. The same is true for most participating in financial markets. The desire for immediate results often sedates rational decision making, jeopardizing the need for long term security and steady returns.

This is a tough pill to swallow, I know. I am a sucker for ice cream myself. But it is essential to understand that investors can only be successful if they make decisions that are aligned with the end goal, outside of a little luck. That is why we remain steadfast in our approach to investment management. While it may not taste as good all the time, this disciplined approach has the highest probability of reaching the end goal. We remain true to this discipline as we believe that the need for long term security should never be traded for the prospect of short term results. That is why we will never purchase securities that are speculative in nature. This is a discipline we think all investors should adapt, as it would make for a more rational world. However, we also believe it is likely that many participating in the financial markets will find the prospect of near term returns irresistible, extrapolating the vagaries of the market.

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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