When Sam Pittman worked in the financial services industry, managing money for institutions and high net-worth individuals, he saw firsthand the opportunity the average investor was missing to grow their retirement savings.

The former U.S. Marine, with a Ph.D in Operations Research from the University of Washington, was creating sophisticated investment strategies for ultra wealthy clients and institutions. But he grew increasingly surprised as he witnessed many middle class investors jumping in and out of risky investments, often paying high fees, and very often trading at the worst possible time.

“It seemed there was a need to empower common investors with the same type of strategy employed by the ultra wealthy,” Pittman said.

With a mission to bring institutional style portfolio strategy to individual investors at a reasonable price, in 2009 he co-founded Portfolio Research in Issaquah. Pittman’s aim was to help common investors improve their return and control their risk through asset allocation.

For most of last year, he led a team developing a web-based investment platform that provides common investors with a choice of six different allocation strategies, targeting various risk or volatility levels. Portfolio Research also put together a number of portfolio management and rebalancing tools, and a long-term retirement planning model, that allows investors to forecast their wealth.

Pittman soon found the perfect partner in Seattle-based wealth manager, Joseph Maas, who brought operational and compliance expertise to the fledgling business. In spring of 2010, the company’s initial product, I-Pro Investor Suite was launched.

“Since fees are among the greatest inhibitors of long-term growth, we decided to focus on strategy and tools to empower investors,” Pittman said. “Most investors know how to buy and sell funds in their 401Ks, IRAs and other accounts, but lack the type of sophisticated strategy and analytics used by institutions.”

Whilst managing risk and responding to volatile market conditions requires advanced analytics, often crafted by teams of Ph.Ds and Chartered Financial Analysts, Pittman believes that I-Pro Investor Suite brings this to the common investor.

I-Pro Investor Suite is completely automated, though for now Portfolio Research is offering 60-minutes of one-on-one upfront training to help investors get started. The company is initially targeting the Seattle area, with seminars and initial consultations. But Portfolio Research seeks to bring sophisticated investment strategies to investors around the world.

“Small changes in an investor’s annual return caused by fees and inefficient investing can make huge differences over time,” said Maas said. “If a 35-year old investor puts $100,000 in his account and it earns a compounded return of 10 percent it will grow to over $1.74 million when she reaches 65. But at 8 percent it reaches only $1 million. It is only a little extra effort to rebalance your portfolio but it allows an investor to generate a slightly higher return, which generates significantly more wealth at retirement. Imagine the difference in retirement living. Withdrawing 4 percent a year from $1 million is $40,000 – withdrawing 4 percent a year from $1.74 million is nearly $70,000.”
Pittman said that through diversification, thoughtful re-balancing, and controlling fees, Portfolio Research can help investors achieve higher returns over time with the same amount of risk.

“Each investor should understand and feel comfortable with the risk that they are taking,” he said. “Within this level of risk it just makes sense for investors to balance their portfolios to achieve the highest return for the risk taker – what we call an efficient portfolio.”

Portfolio Research will be offering a number of free educational seminars and webinars in the coming months.

For more information phone 425-654-1260, e-mail admin@portfolioresearchllc.com., or visit www.portfolioresearchllc.com