What Strategy does TCP use? – We actively manage investments using technical analysis to identify market trends and investment vehicles. Active management is quite different from the typical buy, hold, and hope mechanics of a diversified static portfolio.
What type of investments do you use for V08 and AAU? – All investments are mutual funds within ProFunds. The menu of funds we use consists of approximately thirty funds representing major indexes and sectors including domestic, international and emerging markets.
Why Mutual Funds? - We use index and sector mutual funds rather than individual stocks as that is where our expertise lies. We are aggressive in our investing style and a mutual fund reduces some of the volatility by offering a diversification of companies within the index or sector.
Why ProFunds?
TCP does not receive any type of compensation from ProFunds by using them as our exclusive investment vehicle.
What investment choices do I have with TCP?
V08 – The term V08 is simply a designation assigned by ProFunds to our aggressive trading group.
The V08 was our original investment style and continues to be our most aggressive choice.
While it has a higher risk than AAU, it also has the potential for a higher return.
Features of the V08:
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AAU – The term AAU is simply a designation assigned by ProFunds to our less aggressive trading group.
The AAU offer clients a more diversified and less volatile investment choice yet maintain the TCP strategy of actively managing an account through various market cycles.
Features of the AAU:
401k – TCP manages these accounts for employees of specific companies i.e. - Kraft Foods, Quad/Graphics, Baylor Medical Center, FMA of Texas, HPA of Texas, TSP Federal employees, RadiMedical Systems and Oneida Nation Governmental. Fund choices are limited to the funds offered within an institutional 401k.
Leverage – Leveraging of funds is done by ProFunds using various trading instruments. What it means to us is if an index fund goes up or down by 1%, the fund will go up or down approximately 2%.
If a sector fund goes up or down by 1%, the fund will go up or down approximately 1.5%
Risk – Risk is a measure of the volatility of an investment. With higher risk comes the potential for higher rewards. Given the higher risk of the investment vehicles we use there is a greater potential for losses to occur. Modern Portfolio Theory suggests that an investor have a diversified mix of stocks, bonds and cash to reduce market risk. We do not offer this type of portfolio. Our two investment styles are the aggressive V08 (usually using two leveraged funds) and the less aggressive AAU (using 4-5 equally weighted funds). We have reviewed all funds offered by ProFunds and have selected those which we feel are most suitable for our investors that offer a wide range of sectors and indexes. Examples of funds we do not currently use because of their excessive volatility or lack of diversification are Precious Metals and Mobile Telecommunications.
TCP believes that the buy and hold method of investing has considerable risk especially in a bear market. We feel that our management approach using trend and momentum indicators is an excellent means to profit and protect your portfolio.
Technical Analysis – Technical Analysis is the chart analysis of price and volume changes in equity performance. Like weather forecasting, technical analysis does not result in absolute predictions about the future. Instead, technical analysis can help investors anticipate what is "likely" to happen to prices over time by identifying the major long-term trend. Technical analysis can be used for any time frame but we feel it is most suitable and profitable when viewed from a weekly to monthly perspective.
TCP uses technical analysis of market data to determine trend and momentum of the markets. We attempt to find historical chart patterns similar to the current conditions and then look for past tendencies which may assist in determining future price movements. We utilize daily, weekly, and monthly data to develop our models with the goal of detecting current market direction.
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Back Testing – This is a strategy that uses historical data to optimize technical indicators. TCP models are back tested and updated periodically to reflect current market dynamics. We never change trading strategy without first going through a rigorous back test.
Trading Frequency – TCP actively trades funds as dictated by market conditions. This does NOT mean we are day traders. While on rare occasions the market forces us to reassess a losing trade in the first few days after initiating that position, more commonly our trades are held in the range of weeks to months. When this happens, it means there is a solid trend in place and this is the type of scenario most beneficial when using our back tested methodology.
Minimum Investment – There is no set minimum to begin an investment with TCP. We evaluate each new client case by case. Age, employment, wealth, and future commitments are some of the factors considered.
Investable Assets – A person’s/family’s liquid securities such as:
Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, REITS, CD’s, Money Market, Cash. Does not include items such as Home, Car, Personal Property.
Custody of your Investment – The custodian of your money is ProFunds. TCP is only allowed to trade your account and, except for quarterly management fees, cannot withdraw funds from an account. You may add or withdraw funds from these accounts as you choose.
Quarterly Reports – These are issued by ProFunds. You may setup on-line viewing of your account with ProFunds and check on your account at any time.
Fees
V08 account = 0.5% of assets under management per quarter (approximately 2%/yr)
AAU account = 0.25% of assets under management per quarter (approximately 1%/yr)
401k and 403b accounts = 0.25% of assets under management per quarter (approximately 1%/yr)
If a person leaves TCP during a quarter there are no fees charged for that quarter.
There are no charges or penalties to start or end an account with TCP.
How to Enroll with TCP
We will assist you with the paperwork.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Detailed trade information, available upon request.