To stand out advisors need to be willing to take a stand, even when it comes to clients' portfolios.
We always have an opinion, said James Odorczuk. Thats what clients want. You cant just set it and forget it. A lot of clients are unhappy with a passive investment style.
Odorczuk, who says he is very tactical when it comes to asset management, has plenty of help when it comes to shaping and expressing those opinions. He leads his team along with Ross Dolgoff.
I was in Lehman Brothers associates class of 1999 and he was in the class of 2000, Odorczuk said. We knew each other because Ross had been in business school with my wife. We set up an informal arrangement in 2002 and formalized it in 2003.
In 2005 the team moved to Bear Stearns, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2008.
Today, the pair are the senior members of the JORD Group, which consists of seven, soon to be eight, according to Odorczuk.
Some of them are early stage advisors, he said, while others are engaged in marketing and prospecting. Ross and I find it hard to find time for marketing. Besides, its a selling point for us, having a talented group on the team.
The team also provides checks and balances in making investment decisions.
It happens daily, Odorczuk said. We might be discussing a certain segment of our municipal bond portfolio. Do we hold? Swap? Go long? Melding various viewpoints, the team will decide how to act.
Recently, he said, we looked at the current macro and political situation and decided to sell some assets on the fixed income side that we had purchased years ago. We realized gains and positioned clients for the beginning of the next cycle.
Once Odorczuk and his teammates make such decisions, they dont leave early to play golf, as he puts it.
We keep our hands directly in the game, he said. We may make mistakes, but we dont compound them. Well use stop-loss orders and other techniques to keep our exposure down if something is not working. Being wrong is one thing, but we dont want to be very wrong.
