Dorfman Value Investments is a boutique investment firm. We know our clients well and offer them personalized service. Here are a few vignettes to illustrate how we customize client accounts and accommodate clients’ needs.
One of our clients, a petroleum geologist, was living and working in Denmark. He quickly became aware that Danish capital-gains taxes are more onerous than those in the U.S.
He asked to us try to refrain from taking gains in his taxable account, until he moved back to the U.S.
Accordingly, we “let the winners run” in his account to a greater extent than we did in most client accounts.
When his posting in Denmark ended, we brought his account more in line with those of other clients.
A client who is a retired landscape architect has strong feelings about investing in keeping with her personal ethics. We respect such preferences, and ask each new client about investment restrictions to make sure that making money doesn’t conflict unduly with personal beliefs.
Our client objected to all use of force, including by the military. At times during the past 15 years our firm has invested in defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman, Alliant Technologies and General Dynamics.
For this client we refrained from those investments. We also refrained from investing in Olin, a chemical company that manufactures ammunition.
One of our clients, a psychiatrist, owned large holdings in Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Intel, purchased in the 1990s.
These long-held securities had appreciated more than tenfold. That is a good problem to have but it was a problem nevertheless.
When we began managing the account in 2004 we felt that the companies had only medium prospects for the next few years, yet they were a large portion of our client’s portfolio.
We designed a gradual program for reducing the holdings a little each year, without triggering massive tax obligations.