An Evidence-Based Approach to Addressing Risk and Return in the Markets for Northwest U.S. Investors

67 WALL STREET, New York - October 29, 2012 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Investing Strategies Report offering a timely review of the market for serious investors and industry executives. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Socially Responsible Investing - Value Investing - Small-Cap Investing - Evidence-Based Investing - Risk Management - Downside Protection

Companies include: S&P 500 (SPX) and many others.

In the following excerpt from the Investing Strategies Report, an expert money manager discusses his investment philosophy:

TTWST: When we spoke last year, you talked about Empirical Wealth Management expanding. Is that still an objective?

Mr. Smith: Yes, it's definitely a longer-term objective we have. We would like to expand our presence nationally by hiring advisers and and serving clients around the country. Currently, we have physical offices in Seattle, Portland, Eugene and in Tacoma, and we plan to open an office in Alaska in 2013. We believe our approach to delivering financial advice is unique and there is demand for it in other markets.

WST: The firm's investment philosophy centers on evidence-based investing. Would you please explain that more for us?

Mr. Smith: Sure, the ideal of an evidence-based approach to investing is actually borrowed from the concept of evidence-based medicine. In that case, a common definition is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current, best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. Integrating individual clinical expertise with the best, available external clinical evidence from systematic research." In our case, the patients are the individual investors that we serve acting as their personal financial advocate. It is our job as their adviser to connect our expertise and the latest, independent research to their unique financial objectives and personal characteristics.

Being an evidence-based adviser means that you won't engage in strategies when the most current and widely accepted evidence leads you to believe that the strategy is not in the best interest of the client. You will use strategies that are grounded in evidence to build customized solutions that meet your client's financial objectives and their personal preferences without compromising your fiduciary responsibility to place their interests first. This commitment to the evidence means that, at times, you will not be able to satisfy every potential client, and often you will lose opportunities to advisers offering approaches that promise something where no evidence exists that they can deliver what they are promising.

For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.