Our Principles
Twelve beliefs that shape every strategy we build and every portfolio we manage.
“Fortunately, great investing doesn’t require knowing the future. It does, however, require humility. It also requires making decisions based on probability in a world of uncertainty. It requires patience, as well as discipline.”
~ Close the gap and Get Your Share
These twelve principles distill what sixty years of academic research has taught us about how markets work. They are the operating framework behind every Quantor strategy, not a marketing message.
1
Evidence over Speculation
We rely on peer-reviewed empirical evidence from some of the greatest minds in investing. We do not make investment decisions based on gut feel, market narratives, or short-term trends. If the data doesn’t support it, we don’t do it.
2
Active Management Fails Over Time
Alpha sounds attractive, but it’s extremely hard to achieve consistently. The evidence is clear: most active managers fail to outperform over time. Instead of chasing something unreliable, we focus on a more repeatable approach, increasing expected returns by taking compensated risk in a disciplined way.
3
Disciplined Use of Derivatives, Factors, and Leverage
By replicating benchmarks to obtain inexpensive exposure to systematic risk, we can then prudently enhance risk and return through the disciplined use of derivatives (options and futures), along with factor exposures. This is the engine behind each of our strategies.
4
Costs Must Be Controlled
Investment costs and fees are among the primary culprits of investor underperformance. We are committed to pricing all funds and strategies to balance our clients’ interests with ours, because a dollar saved in fees is a dollar that compounds for you, not for us.
5
Tax Efficiency Is a Return
Most investors look only at gross returns. The dollars actually kept after taxes are the ones that compound. Every Quantor strategy is designed with tax structure as a first-order consideration, not an afterthought, using Section 1256 contracts, tax-loss harvesting at the position level, and low-turnover construction to keep more of every dollar working for the client.
6
Diversification Is the Only Free Lunch
The broadest possible diversification is the most reliable way to increase the probability of positive expected returns over time. Diversification is not a hedge against uncertainty; it is the correct response to it.
7
Transparency Builds Trust
We believe clients deserve to fully understand what they own and why. We strive to provide clear, well-documented educational materials for every fund and strategy we offer. No black boxes. Ever.
8
Behavior Is the Biggest Risk
Most investors don't fail because of bad markets; they fail because of bad behavior. Overconfidence, fear, greed, herd mentality, and impatience cause investors to buy high, sell low, and abandon strategies at the worst possible moments, undoing years of compounding in a single decision. Warren Buffett famously said the stock market is a device for transferring wealth from the impatient to the patient. The investor who believes in their portfolio and sticks with it is far more likely to outperform most others. Understanding and controlling your behavioral biases is as important as selecting the right strategy.
9
Cash Is a Guaranteed Loser
Holding savings in cash feels safe. It is not. Central banks around the world actively target 2–3% annual inflation, which means every dollar sitting in cash loses real value every single year — guaranteed. The only reliable defense against inflation is investment in productive assets. Not investing is not a neutral decision; it is a decision to fall behind.
10
Private Markets Are Not a Panacea
Private equity and private credit are often marketed as high-return, low-volatility diversifiers. In reality, they largely replicate the economic risks of public equity and credit — but are wrapped in illiquidity, delayed valuations that mask true volatility, and fee structures that significantly erode net returns. The apparent “stability” is an accounting illusion, not economic protection. We usually prefer transparent, liquid, low-cost public market strategies.
11
Risk and Return Are Inseparable
There is no reliable path to higher returns without accepting higher risk. Anyone promising otherwise is either misinformed or selling something. The right question is never “how do I get high returns with low risk?” It is “how do I take the right kinds of risk, efficiently, diversified, and at low cost?” Risk is not the enemy. Uncompensated, undiversified, or misunderstood risk is.
12
Know the Difference Between Investing and Speculating
Much of what the financial industry sells as investing is, in fact, speculation. Benjamin Graham defined an investment as “an operation which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return.” By that standard, most individual stock picking, trend-following, and alternative products are speculation — not investment. We know the difference, and we manage your money accordingly.
These principles shape every strategy we offer
See how they show in practice, or talk to our team about whether Quantor is right for you or your clients.
