“A COPY OF RON REDFIELD’S PUBLISHED INTERVIEW IN A BUSINESS NEWSLETTER”
November 15, 2002
1. What is the exact name of your firm?
Redfield , Blonsky & Co., LLC
2. What services does your business provide?
We provide both investment management (fee only) and a full range of accounting services. The accounting services range from tax planning, estate planning, audits , financial planning and corporate and income tax preparation.
3. What is your position with the firm?
Partner since 1987. I run the investment management division of our firm.
4. What has been your unique contribution to the firm? Have
you been responsible for developing a new service or department with the firm?
If so- how does it make your firm more competitive?
My unique contribution has been that
I founded and run our investment management division. We have always been known
as value investors. Our defensive posture and demands for portfolio balance
were not appreciated in the late 1990's, yet that discipline is most certainly
appreciated by our clients during these turbulent times. Our firm is focused on
research. The development of our managed portfolios is based on that research. We tear apart
the financial statements of the companies we invest in. We monitor the
company's customers, their suppliers and competitors. We generally have an incredible
knowledge of the industries we invest in. We have recently been quoted in
articles by Reuters and Business Week Online for our thorough research in the
telecom, data networking and fiber optic sector. This is a sector which has
eliminated a great deal of wealth across the world. We started focusing on
this sector in the late 90's. We felt the sector was incredibly overvalued; in
retrospect, it seems as though we were correct in our analysis, as the typical company has lost
over 90 % of its value. We always wanted to invest in the sector as we feel the
future of all communications will be over the internet
(IP). We study the
telecom industry closely. We study the data net-workers , the Service Providers,
broadband infrastructure and Wireless Services to name only a few.
We also specialize in attempting to
invest in quality fixed income vehicles (i.e. AAA / AA) and attempt to buy these
investments
at substantial discounts. The buying at a discount adds extra cushion to our
investments. Interestingly enough, these types of vehicles are not often used
by traditional advisers , as they do not pay the adviser or broker with
any types of commission. We do not get paid for any products or any commissions,
hence our interest is only on the growth or preservation of our clients capital.
We make our money by charging our clients 1 % of managed assets.
We were
documented as urging our clients to focus on quality fixed income and not NASDAQ
equities during early 2000. If you recall that was a period of rising interest
rates and rising stock prices. AAA bonds were thought of as losing investments
(as they were producing short term losses as interests rates rose). Our
discipline to focus on quality has paid off since then. We are getting concerned
that there is now too great an emphasis on quality fixed income at the moment.
We are constantly researching the fixed income and equity markets to try and reduce our risk of loss
over the long term. Our bearishness in the equity investment world is hopefully
going to end soon.
On the other hand , we are quite
concerned with the prices of the housing market. Our main concern is the
massive run up in prices, accompanied by growing unemployment and a probable
reduction of spending by the consumer. We also feel that low interest rates
have given the housing market an incredible cushion. If that cushion begins to
disappear, we may see an unpleasant scenario in housing prices.
5. What is your target market- who are the people that are
most helped by your firm?
We really
don't have a specific target market. We work closely with individuals as well
as qualified retirement plans. We attempt to focus on our clients needs, risk
tolerances and financial time frames of investing. We are believers that
investing is only a long term process and that a team- work approach between us
and our client ( or their advisor or accountant) is vital to a successful
investment strategy. We strive to educate our client to all facets of
investing. We educate our clients to the risks of investing. These risks are in
both high quality Treasuries and Common Stocks. The investors that are most helped
by our firm are ones that understand that investing is more of a means of
capital preservation as opposed to a get rich quick endeavor. We emphasize
patience and logic.
6. Why do people like doing business with you- what is the
key to your success?
People like working with us because we are dedicated to our work. We are
forthcoming and honest. We attempt to always be straight to the point. We
attempt to tell people exactly how we feel. It was often difficult for our
clients to hear our bearish and depressing scenarios in the late 1990's and
early 2000's, but now that difficulty has turned to respect and understanding .
We did not sway the course and we stuck to our principles, no matter how
difficult it got.
7. Tell us something about your personal life that makes you
interesting, such as: volunteer work for a good cause; an exciting hobby; past
achievements, etc.