Built upon our deep investment experience, Ensemble Capital Management also offers a comprehensive and superior range of wealth management services and solutions to our clients to meet their unique financial needs.
Our team of dedicated specialists advances your objectives with a primary focus on efficiency. Our financial recommendations always integrate with your desired lifestyle to solve your financial goals. Our excellent client service, independent advice and experience make our recommendations simple and effective to implement.
Unlike many advisors who place clients in a “model portfolio” that reflect their generic investment needs – aggressive, conservative, income, etc – we custom build each portfolio from the bottom up to fit each client.
When building your portfolios we take into account both quantitative and qualitative aspects of your personal situation.
Most importantly, every trade we place on your behalf will be made with your particular situation in mind. Rather than trying to make you conform to a cookie-cutter investment model, we spend the time and energy needed to customize a portfolio built just for you.
Before liquidating your existing portfolio, we examine your tax situation and the implications of any unrealized gains or losses you might have. If warranted, we will continue to hold certain legacy positions in order to defer gains or losses until a more opportune time.
In addition to tax related motivations for holding legacy positions, occasionally a client will have a holding of special importance. In these cases, we are happy to hold the position on a permanent basis while keeping the client updated on the investment characteristics of the holding.
Being located mid-way between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, it is not unusual for our clients to work for companies whose prospects are driven by many of the same inputs that drive financial markets. If desired, we can customize your portfolio to help diversify some of the risk embedded in the nature of your work.
In general, we attempt to maximize the total return, both income and capital appreciation, of our clients’ portfolios. However, if you require a certain level of current income, we will customize both your equity and fixed income holdings to meet this need.
Whether you are working and building your portfolio, in retirement or overseeing a complex multigenerational asset base, Ensemble Capital can provide the advice you need. As registered investment advisors our work with clients goes far beyond picking stocks and bonds. When you hire Ensemble Capital, one of our portfolio managers will become your personal financial advisor assisting you in making complex financial decisions.
If you are working and building your wealth, we’ll help you consider how much you will need to support your lifestyle after you retire and the tools available to help you get there.
If you are retired, we’ll work with you to understand how much spending your portfolio can support over the long term and advise you on the investment approach that is most likely to meet your goals.
Ensemble Capital is proud of the fact that many of our clients have two or three generations of family wealth under our management. If you are looking to put money into trust for your children or grandchildren or help fund their education, transfer assets to the next generation or otherwise coordinate multigenerational wealth management, we’ll work closely with you to make sure that this complex planning process is managed seamlessly.
After discussing your goals for your various portfolios, we’ll recommend an asset allocation that will best support your plans. Importantly, we’ll discuss the implications of various asset allocations so that you fully understand the basis for our recommendations.
If you have stock options or restricted stock, we will advise you on the best way to diversify your holdings or build a broader portfolio around these core concentrated positions.
Our clients rely on us for a variety of financial advice. When we do not have expertise in the specific topic, we make it our job to locate the right person to help.
Our 6-step wealth management process is based on the Financial Planning Practice Standards of the CFP® Board. Whether you are focused on a single issue or a more comprehensive and complex plan, we will help you achieve your financial goals:
This first step helps you understand the planning process and determine whether the focus will be
on one particular planning interest or creating a comprehensive plan.
We will monitor your progress towards your
goals and help you take into account life events
that may change your initial situation or goals.
We discuss your goals and gather
the data we needed to create your plan. We
ask about your financial situation and any
other relevant information.
Once you decide which recommendations
you wish to implement, we can help guide
you through the implementation process and
coordinate with other professionals, such as
attorneys, accountants, or insurance agents.
We will perform a comprehensive
analysis to assess your current situation
and determine what you must do to
meet your goals.
Based on the analysis of your financial status, we
will develop and present concrete recommendations that
address your goals. We will walk you through our recommendations
and the implications of each particular alternative so you can make
an informed decision about your action plan.
Once you decide which recommendations
you wish to implement, we can help guide
you through the implementation process and
coordinate with other professionals, such as
attorneys, accountants, or insurance agents.
We will monitor your progress towards your
goals and help you take into account life events
that may change your initial situation or goals.
in partnership with 
The process includes a few, easy steps:
1. Develop a Strategy
In a 60-min Zoom Reflection Session with GiveTeam develop your family giving strategy and mission.
2. Decide Giving Budget & Vehicle
Meet with your Ensemble Capital financial advisor to discuss your giving budget and appropriate giving “vehicle.” (optional)
3. Identify Nonprofits to Fund
In a 45-min meeting with GiveTeam, receive a report with curated Giving Opportunities – 9-12 specific nonprofits aligned with your goals – to consider funding.
4. Impact
Make donations to nonprofits!
The financial advisor landscape includes stock brokers, registered investment advisors, wealth managers, financial planners and many other financial professionals, all of whom play different roles and have different responsibilities to their clients.
Although many advisors use different terminology, in general advisors come in some version of the following:
Ensemble Capital is a fiduciary investment manager. We are paid to deliver objective advice.
Ensemble Capital offers investment management of custom-built portfolios. We invest in individual stocks and bonds based on our independent, objective research.
Even the most attractive business does not have unlimited value. Frequently, the market will have excessively optimistic or pessimistic expectations about a company’s prospects, which are often reflected in stock valuations. Our objective is to identify companies with outstanding profitability and growth characteristics, at times when the market does not fully appreciate them.
We always seek to pay a compelling price for the businesses in which we invest. A fundamental element of our research process is estimating what a potential investment is worth — that is, its intrinsic value. Alongside our company’s due diligence, we use several methods to derive that estimate. We consider traditional valuation metrics, but we also generate an informed estimate of the economic profits a company can deliver now and into the future. We only invest client capital in companies which trade at a meaningful discount to our intrinsic value estimate, taking great care not to assume that every great company is also a great investment opportunity.
We believe that there are two key elements of successful portfolio management that are not practiced by the majority of investors. While it is possible to be successful without abiding by these guidelines, not sticking with them makes superior performance much more difficult to achieve.
Like the Pareto principle (the majority of the beneficial effect arises from the minority of the causes), Ensemble Capital invests in highly-focused, customized client portfolios of 15 to 30 securities. Selected by our own proprietary research, we believe these positions offer the greatest potential for market performance, as supported by academic research, real-world studies, and our own firm's superior performance over the last 15 years.
Close contact with our clients is how
Ensemble Capital provides
superior financial advice.
Our client service model is based on the idea that complexity should always be minimized. Our clients feel that they have a clear understanding of their current financial situation and future objectives which leads them to make superior financial decisions.
Always. We are fiduciary investment advisors. We are legally bound to put our clients’ interest first and foremost at all times.
Our clients have a clear understanding of the degree of financial independence that their current assets offer and they know the level of assets they want to build up to in order to achieve the level of financial independence they desire.
Our clients feel confident in the plan designed for them by our team. While they understand that we cannot predict the future, they feel confident, well informed and prepared when market volatility or unexpected events occur.
Our clients value being serviced by a team of specialists, with each member having an advanced expertise in their own area. From in-depth investment questions to holistic wealth management, our clients feel supported by our team of professionals.
Our clients appreciate that we are the right size for them. Ensemble Capital is large enough to have all of the resources of a large firm, yet small enough so that each employee knows our clients personally.
When you first engage our services, we have an in-depth conversation about your financial situation and set long-term objectives. But an initial meeting only sets initial goals. Over time, we’ll be in regular contact with you in person, by phone or by video conference.
We think the best financial advice is delivered within the context of a relationship built upon trust. By keeping in close touch with you, we seek to build a more nuanced understanding of your financial life, goals and needs.
Ensemble Capital employs every technology that assists our investment process and strengthens our relationship with you. Whether you are partial to online meetings, in-person consultations, or paper communications, our approach to technology is based upon your preferences. Our watchwords are “simplify” and “enhance,” and we employ any or all of the following tools to achieve those for you:
Interactive, online,
and mobile reporting
Website with
personal portal
Online and video
conferences
E-signature
Regular updates via
conference calls and blog posts
Secure and fast
document sharing
However, no technology can replace face-to-face meetings and our preference is to schedule regular in-person meetings while using other forms of communication to augment our relationship with you.
The Ensemble team is committed to protecting the firm and our clients from cybersecurity threats. To ensure our program’s effectiveness, we implement the following steps:
An extra layer of security above a username and password
Additional verification conducted on transfers to 3rd parties
Password testing to ensure maximum strength and updating on routine basis
Disk encryption utilized on mobile devices
Analysis and evaluation of the cyber security protocols in place with our partners
Automated patch deployment and confirmation reporting
Quarterly network vulnerability scanning conducted
Continuous simulated phishing attaches sent to all employees
Regular, relevant, and high quality cybersecurity-related training conducted on a continuous basis
Identifying and blocking malicious files in online libraries with ATP for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams
Annual penetration testing conducted by an independent third party
Active blocking of suspicious DNS queries
Continuous threat monitoring performed by an independent third party with deep financial services experience
