Who we are
Curran & Lewis Investment Management, Inc. (referred to as “we,” “our,” “us,” or “Curran & Lewis”),
has been registered as an investment advisor since September 1996. James P. Curran, President and
Chief Compliance Officer, is the principal and sole owner of Curran & Lewis.
Services we offer
The Curran & Lewis approach to the investment management relationship is built around a goals-based
financial plan. This process starts with a review of your life goals such as your retirement income needs,
your plans for educating your children, your travel plans, etc.; but also often includes the not-so-obvious
topics like your health, your parent’s financial situation, and your grandchildren’s needs, just to name a
few subjects that are often discussed. Our goal is to know enough about you and your family to enable us
to take into consideration both your aspirations and your concerns. Through this process we often
discover what keeps you up at night, and what gets you out of bed in the morning. Many clients have
found this process to be enjoyable and enlightening. To our delight, we have found that this review often
gives people a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
Only when we have a thorough understanding of your objectives, your worries, and your aspirations will
we begin the process of recommending a portfolio. In addition, we often help you assemble a team of
other professional advisors. We regularly recommend consultations with estate planning experts, tax
professionals, long-term care specialists, etc.
With the complete unpredictability of future economies, markets, and taxes, our experience has taught us
that the best result for clients is not a one-time plan, but an ongoing relationship. An ongoing relationship
that helps you reach your goals, helps us achieve our primary objective of being a partner in your
financial success.
At Curran & Lewis Investment Management, Inc., we practice a diversified investment strategy, which
includes five primary asset classes: Cash, Bonds, Domestic Equities, International Equities, and Real
Estate Equity (REITS). In addition, these main asset classes may also be broken down further by size and
value components. Our goal is to capture the long-term returns of the various asset classes by employing
lower costs institutional mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) whenever practical. This
approach allows you to capture the return of the asset class while reducing the average costs of
implementation.
Our core investment philosophy is built upon the following beliefs:
1. Market timing is not possible over the long run. There is no credible evidence that shows anyone
who has been effective at timing the tops or bottoms of markets over several market cycles.
2. Attempting to pick the winners and losers in the stock market by active stock selection has been
attempted by many but accomplished
by few. And unfortunately even when you do find the few
winners, there is no evidence that past performance indicates future success.
3. Less trading equals lower costs both in terms of taxes and trading costs.
4. The future is not predictable. While this may seem obvious, investors are consistently bombarded by
various groups (brokerage houses, magazines, investment newsletters, stock-picking and timing
services, etc.) interested in selling their products. Each one attempts to convince the public they have
a crystal ball. Yet no one has demonstrated, over extended periods of time, any consistent ability to
predict the future.
5. Numerous unpredictable forces create risk for investors. These forces include inflation, deflation,
interest rate changes, normal business risk, political risk and market risk. Different asset classes
respond differently to these forces and therefore respond differently to the same economic stimuli.
6. Employing different asset classes is essential. Investors must attempt to find assets that are not highly
correlated (i.e., they don’t now move up and down together or in the same proportion). In other
words, investing in assets that move in the same direction, at the same time, cannot be considered
diversification.
7. An investment strategy with lower volatility will produce better long-term returns than a portfolio that
has the same average return, but with higher volatility. Thus a decline of a given amount (e.g. 50%)
requires an even higher return (100%) just to get back to even. A detailed example of this is shown in
Table 1.
Table 1:The Impact of Volatility on Total Returns
Low VolatilityHigh Volatility
Year% Return$100,000 grows to:% Return$100,000 grows to:
114%$114,00025%$125,000
25%$119,700-20%$100,000
316%$138,85231%$131,000
48%$149,960-9%$119,210
512%$167,95528%$152,589
Average Return:11%11%
Compound Return:10.9%8.8%
Standard Deviation:4.523.7
We begin with reviewing clients goals. We strongly believe that a client’s primary objective should be the
achievement of their personal financial goals. These goals typically included retirement or financial
independence, estate planning (how much would you like to leave to heirs) and children’s education.
Once these objectives have been established we will "stress test" these goals by employing both Monte
Carlo analysis, and historic market returns and risk patterns to determine the probability of success.
Based upon the results of this analysis and additional conversations we will make recommendations to
change the allocation of the portfolio, or to change their goals or both.
With consultation, clients may impose restrictions on certain securities or types of securities.
Assets under management
As of December 31, 2023, we manage assets of $239.1 million on a discretionary basis and $0 on a non-
discretionary basis.