United Asset Strategies, Inc - Financial Planners, Investment Advisors, Portfolio Managers located in Garden City, NY.

United Asset Strategies is dedicated to consistently advocating for a clients best interests and financial well-being through prudent and sound investment strategies customized to achieve desired investment and financial goals. At United our Portfolio Managers can create customized portfolios to meet specific investment objectives such as promoting charitable goals, socially conscious investing or to mitigate tax burdens.

Equity Strategy

United Asset Strategies’ approach to managing your equity portfolio is to select investments with an asymmetrical risk to reward profile. Combined with strategic asset allocation principles, United Asset Strategies develops a customized portfolio to help you achieve your financial goals.

That part of your account that is allocated to equities will consist of three or four components:

1) Core (25% of the equity component): Consists of equities that have been selected using bottom up analysis with an emphasis on value and intermediate term growth. Our research includes a combination of in house quantitative and fundamental analysis, technical analysis and independent third party analyst research. Holding periods for the Core positions are generally expected to range from one to three years. Core equity holdings must pass our strict proprietary screening criteria and may fluctuate with the overall market. Therefore Core equity holdings will not have an automatic stop sell order in place.

2) Core ETF (25% of the equity component): The Core ETF positions will be correlated to the S&P500 benchmark; and may be modified to include increased exposure to international, precious metals, small capitalization and real estate. This portion of your portfolio is generally implemented after being granted power of attorney to trade and funds are in your account. This portion of your portfolio will not have an automatic stop sell order in place.

3) Opportunistic (up to 50% of the equity component): Opportunistic positions are short to intermediate term with a holding period up to twenty four months. An Opportunistic strategy is designed to benefit from industry/sector trends as well as momentum and trading opportunities that may arise as a result of economic and world events. This portion of your portfolio will be implemented as opportunity warrants and may have a stop sell strategy in place for all or part of the position.

4) Hedge (0-10%): Hedging strategies may use alternative investments including options to minimize loss or maximize market momentum. We will base our decision to go long or short on either economic, geopolitical or event driven catalysts overlaying sector rotations or technical analysis to define the trades.

In addition to the four major components of our equity strategy, United Asset Strategies employs sound money management principles to ensure portfolios maintain an acceptable risk to reward profile. In order to accomplish this, we use an active stop sell principal and profit protection strategy on the non ETF equity positions and some Opportunistic positions held in the portfolios.

Fixed Income

All too often the attention paid to fixed income allocations is trivialized or ignored. Simply establishing quality standards and building a laddered maturity will not protect against principal fluctuation, hedge against inflation or meet income needs. United Asset Strategies takes an active, rather than passive role in developing, implementing, monitoring and adjusting our clients’ fixed income portfolios. After an in-depth data session wherein we uncover client’s risk tolerances and financial goals, we develop a custom mix of fixed income solutions.

As market conditions warrant, United will actively trade bonds, basing our decisions on changes in interest rates, issuer credit quality and current tax laws. Being independent and having access to a variety of issues is very important to our tactical approach.

· Principal Protection: If rates are likely to decline, it is appropriate to extend the maturity of fixed income holdings and increase call protection. This reduces reinvestment risk of principal and positions the bonds for appreciation as rates trend down. If we think rates may increase, we reduce the average maturity in the portfolio by swapping into shorter maturity bonds. This may lower the yield but the portfolio’s value will not depreciate as much. During the economic downturn, we shift our bond portfolios to higher quality issues, as they retain their value better than lower quality bonds in this environment.

· Total Return: We anticipate where interest rates are headed and execute bond trades to benefit from these changes. When the economy is gaining strength, we may switch to lower quality bonds, which produce greater yields and are less vulnerable to an inability to repay principal during this period.

· Tax Selling: Bonds can be sold, if at a loss, to offset capital gains from stocks, real estate and other income. Due to availability of a myriad of bond issues, we can purchase a replacement that matches your parameters for maturity, credit quality and price and not be negatively affected by the 30 day Wash Rule.

United Asset Strategies, Inc provides its clients with Prime Broker Services, an important resource, which allows us to execute bond trades with a variety of brokers rather than being limited to the dealer associated with the custody of your account. United’s Prime Broker Services is effective in having a large variety of issues to choose form and reducing the hidden cost associated with buying and selling bonds. Our use of proven, successful strategies when actively trading bonds helps our clients increase their portfolio’s total return and help protect against the price fluctuations consistent with interest rate moves.

Investors might be surprised to find that the hidden costs linked with purchasing bonds can be significantly higher than trading stocks. Bonds are traded in an over-the-counter market where dealers trade with each other and keep an inventory of bonds. Reasonable markups are consideredfair compensation for this risk of holding an inventory. Each firm establishes its own markup, which varies depending upon a number of factors.Dealers are free to tack on excessive charges to a bond whose buyer is unaware of the accurate price and markup. Since United does not take possession of the bonds, we do not participate in “markups” and have the advantage of shopping around to other dealers to get the best execution. We simply go to another dealer if we are not satisfied with the price.

Sell Discipline

United Asset Strategies has a proactive sell side strategy designed to lock in profits and limit loss. As outlined in the Equity Strategy each strategic component has its sell side discipline defined; offering the client peace of mind knowing that a portion of their portfolio is protected in the event of severe market declines.

Hedges

United Asset Strategies mitigates loss and maximizes market opportunities by including hedges. These hedges may take the form of shorting a market and use of alternative investments including foreign currencies.

Options

Portfolio Managers will use option strategies in various circumstances to create income or as a hedge. Selling covered calls and puts to generate income with known results is a common strategy at UASI. We employ different combinations of calls and puts to maximize returns, minimize risk or if we can identify a period of increased volatility, we employ a strategy called the Long Straddle.

Covered Calls
By writing covered calls, United is able to generate income in the form of an option premium received. This effectively reduces the risk of a long stock position when its price is falling, as the premium will offset some or all of the loss. Covered call writing also allows us to increase returns (think of the premiums as income) during intervals when the market is flat. During a bull market, the option may be exercised and the stock called away. While some upside is negated, the position is still sold at the set higher price, and the option premium received adds to any gain.

Put Writing
United will sell a put option on a stock when it is one we, or you the investor, are willing to purchase but at a price lower than the present valuation. By selling a put, we agree to buy the shares at a discount to the current cost. For taking on this obligation, our client’s receive cash in the form of an option premium. A stagnant or rising price is not a concern, as we would not have bought the stock in the first place due to its rich valuation, allowing our client’s to keep the premium.

Long Straddle
A long straddle is an option strategy in which, during a period of market volatility, both a call and a put are purchased at the same strike price and expiration. By identifying opportunities in a volatile market, we can employ the Long Straddle to profit on a movement in either direction. With only a put, should the market go up, there is a loss, and with a call should the market go down, there is a loss, but with a long straddle, by having both, you are prepared for any movement. When executed, the benefits of one outweigh the cost of the other.

Protective Put
The protective put is, essentially, insurance on an investment. If a protective put is in place and the market goes up, you can move with the market and profit from gains. However, if the market takes a sudden drop, the protective put ensures you maintain some profitability by keeping a minimum sell price. Should you want to keep the shares in a company, you can also sell your put, which increases in value when the market drops, which offsets some of the loss of the share’s value.

Collar
A collar is combining a protective put and a covered call at the start of an investment to hedge against market volatility. This creates a bracket, setting a maximum and minimum exiting price for your investment. The profit from the call feeds into the put making sure your money is protected.

Investment Strategies