Our Philosophy
Long-term financial goals for our investors are capital appreciation, limited volatility, and quick recovery times from market losses. Astor achieves these goals by diversifying investments among various asset classes, using low-cost investment products and adding style diversification. Our objective is to produce positive returns with less risk in all market conditions.
Our Strategy
Astor’s proprietary macro-economic model, “The Astor Model” developed by Robert Stein is the principal basis for investment decisions. The model analyzes economic data such as GDP, inflation, unemployment, money flows and overall market conditions to determine the current phase of the business cycle (expansion, peak, contraction or trough). Once the business cycle is identified, Astor, through active management within separately managed accounts, rebalances its investment portfolios. Active rebalancing occurs only when the economic cycle changes.
The Astor Advantage
Astor’s management style focuses on the overall markets and the economy rather than individual stocks and bonds. Individual’s investments may not be as diversified as perceived, even if investors hold several different mutual funds and a variety of stocks. Achieving true diversification with a stock portfolio can be challenging. Individual stocks are typically more risky and volatile than an index, while some mutual funds can be costly, illiquid, inefficiently taxed, and they generally under-perform their benchmarks. Most importantly, equity investments are generally of the “buy-and-hold” variety, which completely ignores the value of style diversification and active management. We believe that positive returns can be realized in any market, regardless of its direction. By investing long or short in the market through the broader averages, we can more efficiently take advantage of economic conditions and flows of capital. The result is superior returns to traditional equity strategies with less risk and lower drawdowns.
