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FAQs & Resources

  1. Who Can Benefit From Merchants Trust Company’s Services?
  2. What Does Our Typical Client Look Like?
  3. Identifying Situations Where Merchants Trust Can Help
  4. What differentiates your investment process from that of others?
  5. What role do you play in the estate planning process?

1. Who Can Benefit From Merchants Trust Company’s Services?

  • Individuals and organizations looking for assistance with their investments who choose to delegate the management of their investments in an effort to attain a better result than they would achieve on their own, due to one or more of the following:
    • A scarcity of time
    • A lack of interest
    • A lack of investment experience and expertise
    • Insufficient resources
    • A tendency to let emotions control investment decision

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2. What Does Our Typical Individual Client Look Like?

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3. Identifying Situations Where Merchants Trust Can Help

  • Individuals experiencing major financial changes
    • Considering retirement or recently retired
    • Changing jobs with retirement plan balances to roll over
    • Recently inherited money
    • Death of spouse
    • Selling a business
    • Relocating to Vermont
    • Dissatisfied with existing investment advisor
  • Non-Profits, foundations and businesses
    • Looking for professional management of your investments
    • Dissatisfied with existing investment advisor

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4. What differentiates your investment process from that of others?

  • We believe in a higher level of diversification than many other investment managers. We believe that not only is it important to diversify among individual companies / industry sectors and maturities, but it is equally important to diversify among different asset classes and different managers.
  • We believe that active management means not only extensive research and management of individual securities, but an equivalent focus on the valuations of a number of different asset classes.
  • We believe that long-term investment returns can be enhanced and risk reduced through the use of tactical asset allocation (making changes in the amounts invested within the different asset classes based on relative valuations).
  • We believe that no one organization has a monopoly on the best research capabilities or the most talented money managers. After extensive research and due diligence, we hire the most successful mutual fund managers to identify and take advantage of investment opportunities within each asset class. We have no affiliations with specific mutual fund companies and are able to independently choose from a universe of over 10,000 available funds.

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5. What role do you play in the estate planning process?

We often serve as what could be called a financial interpreter. Based on our knowledge of our clients’ personal and financial objectives, we help them communicate with their attorney or accountant to identify and implement the most effective strategies

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