SL_AxionFinancialGroup_Profile_1_19_Profile 1 / 14 / 19 3 : 38 PM Page 1 D PROFILE Beyond Stocksand Bonds Axion Financial Group offers high - net - worth investors an alternative approach to preserving and growing wealth . by BILL DONAHUE photography by JEFF ANDERSON The world changed after 2008 , when the economic meltdown and the Great Recession that followed Tony Kypreos , inflicted pain on even the most cautious investor . Given the co - founder of Axion Financial deep and widespread portfolio losses , many investors either Group swore off the traditional stock - and - bond market entirely or sought other ways to protect their wealth from volatility in timberland . Kypreos points out that portfolio managers for advance of any future economic downturns . university endowments and pension funds have been Enter Axion Financial Group LLC , led by the father - realizing the benefits of alternative investment strategies for quite some time . For and - son team of Nick and Tony Kypreos . They started the example , Yale University’s endowment earned a 12.3 percent investment return boutique firm in 2010 as a way to manage the investment for the year ending June 30 , 2018 , by way of a well - diversified portfolio that assets of their family and extended family , as well as a included the likes of natural resources and venture capital . select group of high - net - worth friends — meaning individuals “ Basically , these are private funds that are smaller in nature and not who have investment assets of anywhere from $ 1 million advertised to the masses , ” Kypreos says . “ You can go on Google and find to $ 20 million . The firm’s particular area of focus : custom every one of the companies listed on the S & P , but there are over 20,000 portfolios featuring an array of “ alternative investments ” private funds in the U.S . , and there is no list of every single fund . It takes years and niche strategies typically unavailable to individuals in to build that kind of network . ” this net - worth range . Axion Financial Group has forged close relationships with a wide range of al - “ My father founded a successful business he sold in ternative fund managers . In the process , the firm has been able to grant its 2005 , and he started investing his own money after that , clients access to these funds at dramatically lower dollar minimums . Whereas with me assisting him , ” says Tony Kypreos , who earned a some of these fund managers normally require a $ 5 million investment minimum bachelor’s degree in international business from Drexel per individual , Kypreos says his clients can receive the benefits of investing in University and a master’s in international management these funds with as low as $ 100,000 up to $ 500,000 . from IE Business School in Madrid , Spain . “ After the crisis “ We’re essentially giving ultra - high - net - worth access to the average high - net - of 2008 - 2009 , some of our friends in the local community worth client , ” Kypreos says . “ A client may have $ 5 million in total assets , and he’ll asked what we were doing with our investments . We put $ 2 million in a diversified portfolio of funds we suggest . It’s a way to create wanted to help those people , as well as our family dynamic portfolios that can deliver modest returns even in a crisis scenario . ” members , so we decided to set up our own registered in - Since the firm’s founding , Axion Financial Group has expanded its client vestment advisory firm . Now people come to us to get list to include approximately 25 non - family members , mostly through existing access to complementary products beyond publicly traded client referrals . Not every alternative fund is right for every Axion client , but stocks and bonds , because they weren’t getting that access Kypreos says the firm invests non - family clients in the same funds as it does through their banks or brokerage firms . ” for family members . He refers to this as “ eating our own cooking , ” which he Kypreos says high - net - worth investors crave these al - says engenders a high level of trust . ternative investment strategies for several reasons : First , Of course , he’s not advising individuals to invest all of their funds in since these investments are uncorrelated to the public alternative and niche strategies . He’s merely offering a path to greater portfolio stock - and - bond market , they are less vulnerable to market diversity beyond the more conventional options . fluctuations and macro - economic downturns ; second , “ Some people no longer feel comfortable being in just stocks and bonds , ” they can generate a higher dividend yield compared with he says . “ Depending on how old they are , they may remember what happened traditional stock - and - bond options ; third , they can enhance in the downturns of the 1980s , or in 2001 , or in 2008 , and they don’t want to returns by investing in opportunities that have “ significantly go through that again , because it could be detrimental to their financial more upside ” ; and fourth , they can protect an investment wellbeing . They know there are other options out there , but no one has been ? portfolio against factors such as inflation , currency devalu - offering it to them . We can . ” ation , and other external events . AXION FINANCIAL GROUP LLC Examples of alternative investment strategies might D Offices in Delaware and Pennsylvania include micro - venture capital search funds , high - growth ( 267 ) 261 - 4177 | AxionFinancial.com private pre - IPO companies , and natural resources such as SUBURBANLIFEMAGAZINE.COM JANUARY 2019 40 |