Third Quarter 2017
Investing Made Simple
From the Top—Jim Reed, President
Most successful investors accumulate wealth
steadily over many years. A prudent invest-
ment strategy is to invest some in several
different buckets. Clearly return expectations
are different for stocks than bonds. Within
either of those categories, there are many
different investment choices.
Bonds offer many different choices ranging
from safe U.S. treasuries to riskier corporate
bonds. Credit risk of the bond issuer, bond
maturity, and tax treatment all combine to
offer a plethora of choices with yields ranging
from near zero (for the safest) to 6% to 7% for
the much riskier assets.
Stocks offer large, midsize and small company
choices domestically. Internationally, stocks in
developed countries come in large, medium or
small sizes as well. Emerging market countries
also offer good growth opportunities periodi-
cally but increase risk. Choosing companies
from different industries with various earnings
growth rates or varying dividends payouts,
make stock investing more challenging.
Securities offered through Comprehensive Asset Management and Servicing, Inc. (“CAMAS”), 2001 Hwy 46, Ste. 506, Parsippany, NJ 07054,
1-800-637-3211, Member FINRA/SIPC/MSRB. Reed Financial Services, Inc., is independent of CAMAS.
Once investment selections are made, they
can be influenced by various external factors.
Economic growth rates, monetary policy, legis-
lative actions, media or emotional factors can
all influence investment results. Interestingly,
many individual investors try to anticipate or
“time” these various influences and put mon-
ey where they think the “market” is going.
Unfortunately for many, their timing for the
buy or sell is frequently a bit off. We track
“fund flow” to get an idea of where monies is
going and the potential price impacts.
Interesting Examples
In 2010, 2011 and 2012, significant money
went to taxable bonds chasing yield. One of
the best stock market in years turned out to
be 2013 with domestic stocks up over 30%. In
2013, 2014 and 2015, money flowed to inter-
national stocks only to be treated to losses in
2014, 2015 and 2016. Investors in 2016 fa-
vored bonds again only to be followed by a
strong stock market in 2017. Dalbar Inc. has
been tracking net aggregate mutual fund
sales, redemptions and exchanges each month
-continued-
IN THIS ISSUE-
• Investing Made Simple
• RFS– Out and About
• Stop and Smell the Roses
• Meet Evan Watson
• RFS Schedule of Events
• Hot Smartphone Apps
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Featured above is a picture from
North Chagrin Reservation. Since the
1920s, North Chagrin Reservation has
been a special combination of out-
door recreation areas and wildlife
sanctuaries. North Chagrin trails and
picnic areas feature woodlands and
wetlands as important characteristics
of this large reservation. Located in
Mayfield Village, Willoughby Hills and
Gates Mills, the reservation includes a
nature center and nature education
building. Sanctuary Marsh and Sunset
Pond are both popular areas to ob-
serve waterfowl, and Squire’s Castle is
an interesting historical site.
Don’t miss the invite to a special RFS
outing at North Chagrin included!
From the Top (continued)
as an indication of investment behavior for
many years. Their most recent analysis for the
20-year period ended December 31, 2016,
shows the average investor earned only 2.3%
annually over that entire period. By compari-
son, the S&P 500 averaged roughly 7%, bonds
5%, international stocks 4.5% and inflation av-
eraged 2.1%. The conclusion we draw is that
timing investments to consistently get the best
results is difficult, if not, near impossible.
Our approach to investing is much simpler. We
develop a portfolio of 25 to 30 different invest-
ment managers that invest in bonds, domestic
stocks or international stocks. We diversify
managers by different selection style, different
segments of the market that we want to be
invested and their associated risk levels. We
then monitor our managers for performance
and make changes when we deem necessary.
Over time, we find this provides more con-
sistent returns and avoids challenges of trying
to “time” the market.
With bond yields near historic lows and stock
returns 3% to 4% less than their historical aver-
ages, many investors, large and small alike, are
trying to beat the system through timing, new
products or the use of leverage (debt) to boost
returns. While we are not big on timing or the
use of leverage, we do like some of these
seemingly “hot new products,” such as ETF's
(electronic traded funds) and have actually had
those in your portfolio for nearly 10 years.
We think steady and consistent works overtime
and takes much of the guesswork out of in-
vesting. ■
Securities offered through Comprehensive Asset Management and Servicing, Inc. (“CAMAS”), 2001 Hwy 46, Ste. 506, Parsippany, NJ 07054,
1-800-637-3211, Member FINRA/SIPC/MSRB. Reed Financial Services, Inc., is independent of CAMAS.
3690 Orange Place Suite 240 • Beachwood, OH 44122 • (216)464-2090 • www.reed-financial.com
Jim, John and Janet attended
Pershing’s Insite conference
back in June where they had
the opportunity to network
with 2000 other advisors and
500 strategic providers.
They had the opportunity to
listen to a panel of economic
and market experts including
the Former Secretary of the
Treasury, Jack Lew; Co-Host of
Bloomberg Markets, Pimm
Fox; Chief Economist for First
Trust Portfolios, Brian Wesbury
and many more. Additionally,
they attended many breakout
sessions on a host of industry
topics, listened to some sea-
soned entrepreneurs who dis-
cussed the future of technolo-
gy and how to predict the next
big thing and also spent time
gathering intel on the latest
industry technology. ■
The team participated in Operation Giveback and
volunteered alongside some of our clients at the
Greater Cleveland Food helping to sort and repack
non-perishable food that was later distributed to
local food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. ■
July got the RFS team out to a Client Happy Hour in Twinsburg. Pictured here are our
newest staff members, Evan Watson and Amanda Hyland posed with Brandon Schnitt-
ke and our two summer interns from Kansas State, Scott and Allison. ■
Left to right—Evan, Scott , Brandon, Allison and Amanda
-2-
Stop and Smell the Roses This summer, my husband and I have spent a lot of time on our
Janet Edwards, Manager of Client Relations kayaks and stand–up paddle boards. Several evenings have been
spent floating on La Due or East Branch reservoirs watching the
My alarm goes off very early sunset over the water. There is a peace about the tranquil beauty
every day and that includes of the sunset where the stress and the rush of the day fades
most weekends. On most
away.
weekdays, I let the dogs out,
brush my teeth, comb my hair,
change and pack my clothes,
make my coffee and then
drive 30 minutes to Beach-
wood to meet friends to
workout. After a quick
workout, I hustle through the shower to make it into the office
where I try to efficiently work through the days tasks when often
things can change with one phone call. Some days, I will head out to
lunch to squeeze in as many errands as I can before returning to
wrap up the workday. Evenings always seem equally chaotic with
many things going on and most of the time, I am lucky to even start
thinking about dinner until 8PM. Then I crash and start the process
over. Everyday is a hustle and I am forever in the pursuit of maxim-
izing every minute of my day.

It seems that more and more often these days, many people’s lives
seem to run at warp speed. Heck, sometimes we find our clients
have a hard time squeezing in a meeting with us! There is often little
time at the end of the day and sometimes it feels like chaos is always
on the verge of breaking out. Yet, many people choose these
packed, interesting lives and wouldn’t want it any other way.
Life is short and no one knows what is going to happen next. Yet,
time is precious and it seems oftentimes everyone is in such a hurry
that you forget to enjoy the little things. Think of all the little treas-
ures of life, the smell of a rose that may bloom today and be gone
tomorrow, the glory of the sunset over the water, the smile and hug
from a loved one that you have been reunited with, the excitement
of your dog to see you, and so many more.
Children are so much better than adults at just enjoying the mo-
ment. All you have to do is watch them running on the beach to real-
ize that. They are running carefree in the sand while most adults are
sitting in the beach chair worried about jellyfish and sunburn and
what could be in the water. Adults have a harder time with this en-
joyment of the here and now because we are always thinking about
what is to come and what else we need to do.
In the end, no one ever regrets that maybe the house wasn’t al-
ways clean enough or that they didn’t have more meetings. Death
and taxes, work and errands, paying the bills and writing e-mails
will always be there. However at some point, the flowers will be
gone and the kids will be all grown up and it would be shame not
to notice.
One song that has always made me think was the 1974 song by
Harry Chapin, “The Cat’s in the Cradle” (which was remade by Ugly
Kid Joe in 1992). The song strikes a theme of time lost and re-
minds us that a busy, hurried life can cause the loss of personal
connection, interaction and love. The final point of the song is
that our behavior can influence others to be like us-people who
are too busy to take the time to interact, listen and enjoy each
other’s company. It is a reminder to take the time to relax and be
with family and friends Time well spent is time that is never lost.
So make an effort to take the time to “smell the roses” in your
own way! ■

You’re Invited …..

RFS Friends and Family Fall Colors Day!
Where: Intergrove Lodge Reserved Picnic Area
Location: On Buttermilk Falls Parkway in North Chagrin Reservation,
between Strawberry Lane and Sunset Lane in Willoughby Hills.
When: Sunday, October 8, 2017 from 1-4 PM
What: We will have some various fall activities at the lodge including a short
nature hike for those interested.

Securities offered through Comprehensive Asset Management and Servicing, Inc. (“CAMAS”), 2001 Hwy 46, Ste. 506, Parsippany, NJ 07054,
1-800-637-3211, Member FINRA/SIPC/MSRB. Reed Financial Services, Inc., is independent of CAMAS.

3690 Orange Place Suite 240 • Beachwood, OH 44122 • (216)464-2090 • www.reed-financial.com -3-
Meet Evan Watson Tech Corner—Hot Apps for your Smartphone
I joined the 1Password- Go ahead. Forget your passwords. 1Password remem-
team back in bers them all for you. Save your passwords and log in to sites with
April of this a single click. It's that simple.
year. The
transition has Google Photos- Apple’s come a long way with its photo app, but it
been really still lags behind the one built by its biggest competitor. Google
easy with the Photos is a super smart photo assistant that can store all of your
team having images in the cloud and can organize photos using machine vision
been so wel- so all your snaps are searchable.
coming. I
graduated Waze- This app knows how fast users
from Cleve- are traveling on the road and redirects
land State you around traffic mid-trip, ultimately
University in shortening your commute. Waze
May of 2016 tracks more than just traffic. It alerts
with my Bach- you to construction, accidents, red-
elors of Business Administration in Finance. Since graduating I light cameras and even police ahead
have also earned my Series 7. I will be returning to school this fall on your route.
as I will begin work on my Masters in Financial Economics through
Ohio University. Prisma- This was one of the app dar-
lings of 2016. Prisma is a photo filer app that like any other. In-
Since I have joined Reed, I have been working closely with John, stead of tinting your photos which any app can do, Prisma loads
Brandon, Jim and Amanda to take on the investments side. I have incredibly detailed filters to create unique pics.
been focusing on researching investments, monitoring and creating
reports to track the portfolio, and keeping up with economic data Venmo- Splitting a check
and trends. with friends can be a huge
pain, especially when no
I am a home-grown Clevelander, having grown up in North Royal- one has cash. Venmo is an
ton my whole life. I love everything the city has to offer including app that instantly transfers
the wide range of restaurants, museums, sports, and outdoor money between friends for
events. Finding new places or trying new restaurants is one of my free, even between banks.
favorite things to do. In my spare time, I try to do as much as I can. Using the app requires everyone to sign up and connect their debit
I enjoy going fishing, trying new hobbies, reading a good book, or card and then you can pay your friends almost instantly with a few
just spending time with friends and family. taps of the phone. You can now even ask Siri to send money to
your friend using Venmo.
I look forward to meeting all of you and getting to know you
better. ■ Mint- Need to save money for an upcoming
RFS Upcoming Events* trip, pay down a loan or figure out where all
your money goes? This app pulls all your
accounts into one place and provides insight
 Thursday, September 28- Fall Happy Hour with into how you’re spending, gives you tools to
Identity Theft Speaker set budgets, breaks down spending by cate-
gory and offers reminders for upcoming bills.
 Sunday, October 8th- Autumn Colors Hike
Magisto- Who has time to edit their own
 Tuesday, December 26th - Friends and Family Event videos? Magisto makes your smartphone
videos look like they were edited by a pro
at the Botanical Gardens with just a few seconds of work. The app
takes your photos and videos and uses artifi-
cial intelligence to edit them together into videos you can share
with friends and family. The video editor has a number of built-in
effects as well as a music library. Finished creations can be shared
instantly to places like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or emailed
to friends privately. ■

Securities offered through Comprehensive Asset Management and Servicing, Inc. (“CAMAS”), 2001 Hwy 46, Ste. 506, Parsippany, NJ 07054,
1-800-637-3211, Member FINRA/SIPC/MSRB. Reed Financial Services, Inc., is independent of CAMAS.

3690 Orange Place Suite 240 • Beachwood, OH 44122 • (216)464-2090 • www.reed-financial.com -4-