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December 20, 2007
We are pleased to announce that Bill Leonard has joined Brookmont Capital Management as Director of Client Relations. Bill joins the firm from Comerica Bank, where he served as Head of the Texas Trust and Investment Management Department.
He brings twenty-five years of experience in Trust Administration, Retirement Planning, Asset Management, and Estate and Financial Planning. Bill is a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA), a Certified IRA Services Professional (CISP), and a graduate from Austin College. At Brookmont Capital, he will manage the firm’s client relationships and provide expertise in many areas of wealth management.
The Team at Brookmont Capital
This also gives me the opportunity to introduce the rest of our team at Brookmont Capital Management. Neal Scott is a Principal of the firm and manages our fixed income portfolios. Neal joined the firm from Morgan Keegan and brings nearly twenty years of experience in fixed income securities, institutional bond markets, and bond trading desk activities. Neal graduated from the University of Alabama in 1990. We all agree that Neal brings a high-level of excitement and optimism that is in short supply these days.
Suzie Begando joined the firm from Comerica Bank where she recently served as an Investment Associate in the Wealth Management Department. At Brookmont Capital, Suzie’s responsibilities include portfolio management, compliance, and the firm’s office management. Suzie has more than twenty years of experience in asset management, trust operations, and client relations. This past summer, she completed her MBA at the University of Dallas.
I round out the staff at Brookmont Capital and act in the role of Chief Investment Officer and Principal of the firm. My duties include management of our equity portfolios, investment policy, and client communications. Before Neal and I formed Brookmont Capital, I was a Senior Investment Manager at Comerica Bank and ran the Texas Asset Management Department for eleven years.
I believe the success of any business is based on the sum of its parts. I have had the pleasure of working with Bill and Suzie for more than eleven years, and developed a professional relationship with Neal more than ten years ago. With the addition of Bill Leonard, all of the pieces are in place to offer our clients superior service and professional investment management.
Our Investment Products
In 2000, I helped launch a new investment product based on common stocks that pay higher-than-average quarterly dividends. Over the years, this investment product annually outperformed the S&P 500 and other respective benchmarks while maintaining a conservative posture. Through the first five months of 2007, it’s year-to-date performance reached 11% versus a 7% return for the S&P 500.
With seven years of proven results, we continue this same investment philosophy at Brookmont Capital. Our equity holdings consist of high-quality stocks that offer attractive dividend yields and the potential to earn capital gains. A sample of names that we own includes AT&T, Abbott Labs, Johnson and Johnson, Southern Company, General Electric, and J.P. Morgan. Although we hold a “market weighting” in financial stocks, our portfolios avoided the meltdown in sub-prime mortgages and Real Estate Investment Trusts that plagued the market for most of the year. Our top pick in the financial sector has been U.S. Bank, which is located throughout the western part of the country. Unlike other financial institutions, however, their share price has risen since the sub-prime mortgage debacle took the markets down in earnest and remains one of our top “buys.”
The stocks highlighted above are just a few of the forty names held in the “Brookmont Dividend Equity Strategy.” The Strategy is diversified among the ten sectors of the S&P 500, includes domestic and international holdings, and from small to large-size companies. These forty individual stocks comprise the “core” of our equity portfolios. For diversification, we also include no-load mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) for exposure in international markets and specific sectors of the domestic market.
This year has proven that the credit markets can be just as volatile as the equity markets, and our emphasis is to purchase high-grade securities and maintain portfolio diversification. Brookmont Capital offers active management of taxable and municipal bond portfolios that are comprised of individual fixed income securities. Neal Scott’s years of experience in fixed income not only makes Brookmont unique versus other investment advisory firm, it also provides our clients with an important element of portfolio management that may have been ignored in the past.
Custodial Services
We have selected Texas Capital Bank as our provider of custodial and safekeeping services, which includes monthly statements, on-line account access, tax reporting, calculation of investment performance, and daily sweep of dividends and interest income. Their Wealth Management Department can offer Trust Services to our clients, which allows Brookmont to manage investment portfolios within every type of fiduciary account. As well, Texas Capital offers nationally-recognized expertise in IRA regulations. Brookmont clients will benefit from Texas Capital’s wide offering in deposit accounts, loan products, and other banking services. Our relationship with Texas Capital also provides our clients with the peace of mind knowing that our assets are held by one of the country’s highest quality banks.
We have re-launched “A Bugg’s Life” to keep our clients up-to-date with the markets, economy, and other important items. To be added to our list, please send an e-mail to Rbugg@BrookmontCapital.com. Our new website is now available and includes additional information on our firm, such as our investment philosophy, staff biographies, fee structure, archive of past issues of “A Bugg’s Life,” and regulatory information. You will find us on the internet at www.brookmontcapital.com. Content will be added or updated on a continual basis.
Our primary goal at Brookmont Capital is to provide excellent client service and professional money management services. Months of dedication, hard work, and faith were necessary to make it all come together. As we enter our third month of business, we are happy to say that the launch of Brookmont Capital has been a great success.
From all of us at Brookmont Capital, we wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Robert Bugg, CFA
Principal and Chief Investment Officer
Brookmont Capital Management
214-932-6966
www.brookmontcapital.com
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