We believe in researching, knowing and following the issues that we recommend and place into our managed accounts with a particular focus on Midwest issuers. Our team of credit analysts is highly experienced. Our credit analysis process is thorough and continuous, a process that has been refined and improved upon for over 35 years. We rely greatly on our in house research team and numerous data information systems to determine whether a municipal issue is an appropriate investment for our managed portfolios. This approach to credit analysis over many years has enabled us to place quality, undervalued, higher yielding bond issues into our managed portfolios. Many of these securities are "AAA" rated and many are not. Some lack any rating at all. The common denominator is that all have paid principal and interest when due.

Active portfolio management is an important part of our overall strategy with a goal of maximizing total return for our clients. Our expertise allows us to take advantage of market inefficiencies for our clients. Each bond is different from the next. These differences often create inefficiencies, which in turn create opportunities for our clients. We seek and buy bonds that represent "market anomalies" and sell securities that are widely sought and overpriced. This discipline has produced better than market returns for our client's for many years.

We believe a portfolio of individual issues laddered over an intermediate time period reduces interest rate risk substantially and produces superior returns. We are not economists and therefore do not pretend to know or advise clients where interest rates will be long term. We do have a good sense for interest rate movements in the short term and manage our client portfolios accordingly. This market "feel" is an important component to our client's long term success. We believe yield is the driving force behind long term returns in the bond market. An important part of our strategy focuses on buying securities for our clients at the optimal point of the ever changing yield curve. We do this without making aggressive interest rate "bets". When buying bonds for our client's, we do so only if the absolute yield levels exceed market averages by a predetermined amount. These "bogey" levels are determined and regularly reviewed by the portfolio management team to ensure that our clients are always buying better than average market yields.

The firm's personalized approach allows for the development of portfolio strategies appropriate to the unique objectives of each client. Portfolio managers, research analysts and trading staff are all involved in the portfolio management process and regularly meet with our clients. It is important for us to emphasize that our approach to the portfolio management process is oriented toward securing the best possible return for our clients. Our exceptional performance over the years demonstrates our commitment to our philosophy.