Investment Process

At Wilkins Investment Counsel, Inc., we tailor each individual client portfolio to meet the unique needs and circumstances of that client. We design and manage each separate account to help our clients achieve their financial objectives in a tax-efficient manner while seeking to minimize risk. We do this by creating a balanced investment account composed of a focused list of high quality common stocks with a short-to-intermediate term, highly rated fixed income component. Depending on your specific considerations, we calibrate the proper asset allocation and combination of individual investments to achieve the right balance between growth of principal and current income needs.

When making individual stock and bond investment decisions we are driven by the following criteria:

Stock Philosophy

We don’t chase short-term price fluctuations or try to “time the market.”  We believe in a long-term investment strategy founded on rigorous research of the fundamentals. That means investigating each company’s financials, management, industry attractiveness and much more. These factors help determine which stocks have distinct competence features that separate them from the pack.

When purchasing stocks, we pay strict attention to price and valuation, mitigating volatility along the way by investing across a wide market capital spectrum, noting that, historically, small capitalization stocks are more volatile than large capitalization stocks. We monitor a stock’s progress continually, but we don’t typically react to day-by-day distractions.  Instead, we track a company’s underlying fundamentals.

Of course, we let winners compound to further benefit our clients’ portfolio, and those stocks whose fundamental progress falls short of our expectations are sold, creating a sound set of investments for each of our unique clients.

Fixed Income Philosophy

Markets can be volatile, but our “buy and hold” strategy commits to well-researched investments of high credit quality. Our commitment to fixed income investments ensures a stable foundation to our clients’ portfolios.

We invest in the corporate, municipal and U.S. government sectors, using fundamental research to uncover the most attractive and stable opportunities across a wide variety of markets. Since we work hard to get to know everyone who invests with us, we customize each portfolio to maximize our clients’ after-tax returns.