Expert advice and comprehensive consulting services are only as good as the research that supports them. Our advice will be backed by diligent research and painstaking attention to detail. Face-to-face meetings with industry and investment experts, thorough review of research reports, attendance at relevant industry conferences and a command of today’s market trends will all factor into our analysis of the important issues facing our retirement plan clients.

The Hyas Group will analyze quantitative and qualitative aspects of all funded investment products. In our quantitative review we measure managers over multiple time periods versus appropriate asset class benchmarks, style benchmarks and relative peer universes. Additionally, we will compare risk and value-add statistics such as standard deviation, alpha, beta and up/down market capture. All of these tools, when taken in concert with an assessment of underlying securities holdings and sector allocations, allow us to feel confident in the total evaluation of the products our clients invest in.

On the qualitative side we analyze the manager’s investment philosophy, process and personnel. Much of this information is gathered after direct contact with the individuals responsible for managing and servicing the specific investment vehicles we are evaluating. We feel strongly that active investment performance is driven by skilled people and, therefore, it is imperative that we have a firm grasp on the skill sets offered by different managers.

As stated, our research process is not limited to databases alone. We feel it is prudent to provide a qualitative assessment of the investment products we recommend to our clients. It is therefore necessary to meet with investment managers face-to-face and to conduct regular conference calls with investment staff.