Our Approach

At Mitchell Sinkler & Starr, several distinctive strengths define our approach to meeting your needs.

We are consultative.

Rather than acting with full discretion, we serve most clients in an advisory role, researching investments, shaping recommendations, and sharing these with our clients for their final decision.

We are committed to an individualized approach.

No two clients of Mitchell Sinkler & Starr are quite the same, so no two portfolios we manage are the same either.

We are diligent.

Our culture as a firm is built on attention to detail, on careful, consistent execution, and on a determination to put in the work required to deliver real value.

We have no known conflicts of interest.

Without the incentive of commissions and with a deep belief in our fiduciary responsibility to clients, we work to serve your interests and your interests alone.

The Advantages of Customization

The portfolio managers at Mitchell Sinkler & Starr construct each client’s portfolio from the ground up to meet that client’s unique needs. It is an approach that is highly uncommon in the world of financial services, where many advisors slot clients of certain types into certain model portfolios.

At Michell Sinkler & Starr, however, we are not interested in serving a client of your type—we’re interested in serving you.

Our People

True customization takes more time and attention than more standardized approaches, but it offers important advantages.

Greater tax efficiency—To minimize the impact of taxes, your investment strategy needs to recognize all the unique aspects of your situation, for instance, taking into account low-cost equities you might hold. Simply liquidating these to buy stocks or funds that appear to offer greater growth could result in significant capital gains. The answer may be to plan a strategic transition over time, rather than to sell and reinvest.
A more precise balance of investments—By understanding your appetite for risk, willingness to accept volatility, and desire for growth, as well as the importance you place on priorities such as protection of principal and an assured income stream, we can create a portfolio that meets your highly specific needs and goals.
A more valid opportunity for Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)—More and more people are interested in ESG investing (focused on Environmental, Social, and Governance issues). Many, however, find that the funds created to appeal to them define social responsibility in very different ways than they do. By choosing each of the companies you invest in, Mitchell Sinkler & Starr can create a portfolio that truly aligns with your values.

Our portfolio managers typically build portfolios from investments of these three types:

Individual equities, carefully chosen on the basis of our own detailed research.
Fixed-income instruments, also vetted through our own analysis.
Low-cost index-based funds.

We recommend individual equities over mutual funds because of the costs involved and because choosing individual equities offers the chance for more precise customization.

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