Asset Management

Summit Trust's Asset Management Department provides fiduciary, agency, and investment services through and for  professional advisors to manage the investment portfolios for individuals, families, corporations, and institutions that seek to take advantage of Nevada's unique laws.

Investment Advice – Summit Trust Company does not render investment advice.  Such advice should be sought from qualified and properly registered investment advisors or securities registered representatives.  Summit Trust Company relies upon the advice of such qualified advisors in the selection of investments for portfolios under Summit Trust Company’s management.

Summit Trust Company utilizes the Dimensional Fund Advisors family of no-load asset-class mutual funds as its primary investment portfolios.   Investment advice for these portfolios is provided by OBS Financial Services, which is a qualified broker/dealer and registered investment advisor.

Summit Trust Company may use certain forms supplied by the Investment Advisor to collect data regarding suitability, in order to assist in the selection of the portfolio matched to the appropriate risk level for the client.  Summit Trust Company may rely upon other registered investment advisors to manage certain portfolios, and upon the investment advisor selected by the individual clients.

Our professional advisor clients benefit from a Nevada financial institution that provides a high-level of client service delivered by experienced professionals. Summit Trust Company provides solutions to customers' needs in a flexible and cost efficient manner.

The goal of the Summit Trust Asset Management Program (STAMP) is to provide clients with the highest level of service and investment solutions that meet their specific goals. With this in mind, Summit Trust has, in our opinion, the best investment strategy to benefit every type of account of our investors.

At the heart of Summit's STAMP Program are Exchange Traded Funds and Mutual Funds.

STAMP - Exchange Traded Funds

Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) are a dynamic addition to any portfolio. ETFs were first introduced to the American markets in the mid 1990s. Since then, these exciting investment tools have grown rapidly to over $400 billion of assets. ETFs offer exposure to dozens of asset classes due to ETFs broad diversification, great flexibility, low expense ratios, high tax efficiency, superior ETF trading flexibility, and competitive long-term performance.  Investment advice regarding the Exchange Traded Funds portfolio is provided by Brown Investment Advisors, Inc., a Pennsylvania licensed registered investment advisory firm.

Some ETFs offer relatively low-risk, broadly diversified portfolios, which investors may find attractive as the core equity components of their portfolios. Others offer diversified investments in particular styles, sectors, industries, regions, countries, or commodities.

Other great features of Exchange Traded Funds include:
  • Flexibility.  As opposed to a typical mutual fund, which is priced only once each day, ETFs can be traded throughout the day on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the American (AMEX), similar in this way to a stock.  This provides investors with greater flexibility.
  • Liquidity.  When ETFs were first introduced in 1993, there was only one, and volume was under 100,000 shares a day.  In today's market, tens of millions of shares are traded each day on the major stock exchanges.
  • Diversification.  ETFs permit you to purchase a basket of related stocks and bonds in just one share, thus allowing you to diversify your portfolio easily and reduce your risk.
  • Low cost and dependability.  Quite simply, ETFs are index funds so they usually cost less to run than standard mutual funds.  Investing in ETFs allows you to create your own well-diversified portfolio without redemption fees and other common restrictions of mutual funds.  Plus, as index funds, you know what you are getting and can choose which sector you want to invest in.
  • Global Opportunities.  If you want to invest in a certain country but don't want the risk of owning a single stock, then Exchange-Traded Funds deserve a close look.  They are not limited to American soil or U.S. companies.  In fact, there are many ETFs that track foreign markets.
  • Tax Efficiency.  ETFs are currently all index funds, which usually have lower turnover than actively managed funds.  This translates to lower capital gains tax.  In addition, since ETF investors trade shares on an exchange and not with the fund, ETF managers don't have to sell securities to pay off redeeming shareholders.
Click here to learn more about the Summit Trust STAMP - ETF Program

STAMP - Mutual Funds

Developed and tested by Nobel Prize winning economists, the Passive Money Management platform we have chosen for our clients is inspired and driven purely by academic research. Our core belief is that Passive Money Management is one of the most efficient, cost effective, straightforward and proven methods of professional asset class management. Click here to see a sample of our returns.

This management style is based on a number winning economic theories (i.e. efficient frontier, Modern Portfolio Theory). Over $152 billion dollars are managed this way for some of the largest corporations and most influential individuals in the world.

STAMP mutual funds are designed to meet the needs and strategies of professional investors and retail investors alike. Our resources are devoted to improving these strategies wherever possible. Developing customized portfolio solutions involves taking the risk preferences, tax situations, and lifetime objectives of each client into account. Our passive money management process alleviates the guesswork in choosing asset class managers. The end result - clients receive an academically proven portfolio engineered specifically to their objectives and needs.

Click here to learn more about Summit Trust STAMP - Mutual Funds

Trusts Utilizing Separate Investment Advisor

Nevada trust law has recognized the ability to delegate the investment responsibility in a trust arrangement. Most trustees in other states require that they be involved in all investment decisions.

Summit Trust Company provides the facility for directed trust arrangements where an individual or a family desires to work with a trusted investment advisor but where a trust would be useful from a planning perspective.

Unlike many jurisdictions Nevada law permits the freedom to invest in higher risk assets if the trustee determines that including such securities would help meet the trust's overall investment objectives. The trustee may take into consideration the risk level of the entire portfolio, the anticipated life of the trust, the tax ramifications of an investment, the needs of the beneficiaries, and general economic conditions.

Similar support is available to individuals and families who wish to manage their own trust investments.

Summit Trust Company's Nevada location, fiduciary experience and professional, capable staff are a resource that can be used by individuals, families and their advisors to implement a successful directed trust arrangement.

Each client and their professional advisor are assigned an experienced account officer. This individual is the single point of contact for the advisor and his client. This officer is supported and backed up by another account manager who is familiar with each individual account.

All assets are held in custody by the Summit Trust Company, which is a Nevada chartered institution. Statements are produced quarterly, and transactions are reviewed and monitored by your account officer.

Records are maintained and client reports are generated on the Summit Online system. This proven and tested technology is constantly upgraded to keep pace with changes in the investment industry. This system is utilized by many of the nations trust and asset management organizations.

All income is credited on payable date and each trade is settled on a contractual basis.

A wide range of sweep vehicles is available.

Summit Trust Company has a proven record of delivering the highest quality custodial services.