Horizon Investments: Financial Security to Live Life on the Investor's Own Terms

Investment management is an emotional subject in that it deals with an individual’s aspirations about where they want to see themselves and their loved ones and the society in general in the future. And what makes investment management tougher is that each individual’s vision about retirement differs by a large degree. With such high stakes, investment advisors have a humongous responsibility to not only do well in their job but also the higher calling of assisting individuals and families to secure their futures. However, the path to future financial well-being is strewn with challenges. Many investment management plans are based on the yesteryear models that are out of touch with people’s current lifestyles, preferences, and priorities. And the recent upheaval of COVID-19 has only disrupted the lives and altered the future planning of millions already.

Against this backdrop, Charlotte, NC-based Horizon Investments questions why an individual’s future should be dictated by static models that take a miracle to bear fruit. Horizon has replaced the traditional investment models with an investor’s goals as its priority and has investment strategies that reflect that priority. Strategies that can equip investors with the financial security to live on their own terms. The company’s goals-based investment strategy can help investors position their wealth to support the key financial results they seek throughout their lives.

This investment strategy encompasses three main phases: gain, protect, and spend. Gain is more preferred by individuals who are in the early years of their plan and are generally more open to risk with the desire for high capital growth. Protect deals with balancing market risk and equity growth and is opted by people who are entering the mid years of their plan and who will be planning for retirement. Lastly, spend is the final stage of the plan where the priority is to get maximum regular income while not being exposed to excessive market risks.

We are an agile shop that develops prototypes quickly and builds the features iteratively by working with our core group of advisors for their valuable inputs and opinions

Such careful and informed categorization reduces the burden and tension that advisors often experience in understanding their clients’ long-term vision and financial qualification. An advisor can log in to Horizon’s portal to build a new proposal that starts with gauging client’s risk tolerance, which is done by answering a Risk Questionnaire, and assessing which phase the client lies in as per Horizon’s goal-based model. Based on the risk tolerance and the phase, the portal offers different portfolios and services that the advisors and their clients can review together. Once the client selects a portfolio, advisors can feed additional investor details, including age, state, qualified account, and other details, along with the portfolio they have selected into an illustrator tool. The tool provides a graph of where the investor stands today and how the growth will look like over the stipulated investment period. If the investor has a particular figure in mind, they can see the probability of hitting the target. Advisors can make edits to the portfolio based on the insights, review with the client, and finalize and print it or share via email. The portfolio remains safe on Horizon’s portal for later review.

Apart from the customization that Horizon offers to advisors, it also works on a range of enhancements internally as part of its efforts to stay ahead of the market developments. Horizon voluntarily develops new features and taps advisor feedback for their efficacy in the market before they are released. “We are an agile shop that develops prototypes quickly and builds the features iteratively by working with our core group of advisors for their valuable inputs and opinions,” says Kevin Delo, Senior Managing Director, Horizon.
Founded in 1995, Horizon has had a successful journey and continues to grow by meeting unaddressed needs in the market. Many broker dealers continue to come to the firm and use its tools to build personalized solutions for their own business.