We are proud to say we are seasoned veterans of the financial industry. Since Wes McCain founded Towneley in 1971, we have been serving our clients’ needs by maintaining vigilance while embracing opportunities to grow in tandem with the marketplace.
In our early years in New York, we focused on managing equity and fixed income accounts for both individuals and institutions. Soon our client base grew to include medical associations, colleges and Fortune 500 companies. We opened the Laguna Hills, California office in 1982 to provide a west coast presence.
Vetting new financial instruments and staying current with new investment approaches and best practices is in our DNA. In 1987, we were an early adopter of mutual funds, introducing our flagship strategy, the Multiple Mutual Fund Strategy. This investment approach arose from our belief that mutual funds offer a sensible, cost-effective means of global diversification. At the time, we were only one of a handful of innovative advisors investing in foreign equities through mutual funds. That same year, we launched the first of four mutual funds, the Eclipse funds. From 1992 to 2006, we founded and managed three long/short strategy hedge funds for U.S.-based investors, offshore investors, and retirement plans.
In order to accomplish two strategic objectives, Towneley sold the assets managed by our New York office in 2000. Those assets, including the Eclipse funds, represented roughly three quarters of our business. The sale freed us to distill the knowledge we had accumulated over the years and focus it on developing portfolios tailored to meet each client’s specific needs. More importantly, by exiting the fund management business, we eliminated the myriad of conflicts of interest that arise when an advisor invests its clients in proprietary funds.
Our ETF strategy, the Global Balanced Strategy, was introduced in January 2005. This strategy targets high total return with moderate risk over the long term.
Since the beginning, we have experienced a lot of changes. However, for over 45 years one thing has remained constant: our belief in the power of teamwork. It’s a difference that sets us apart and makes us stronger. From our founder, Wes McCain, to our current leadership, long-tenured staff and more recent additions, we have devoted ourselves to best serving our clients and their financial needs with this important difference; we call it the You Difference. This sense of ownership and accountability is more than a client service theme; it is woven into the fabric of our organization and successfully led us to becoming an employee owned company in 2013.
At Towneley, we believe investing is most successful when it is led and managed by a team of professionals who have both experience and integrity. We welcome the opportunity to introduce ourselves and explore how together we can help you achieve your goals.