Capital preservation has defined our DNA since the summer of 2006, when Kevin Taylor—then head of Fifth Third Bank’s MBS trading desk—recognized the mounting dangers embedded in an “arms-race” of increasingly complex sub-prime and collateralized structures. While Wall Street monetized opacity through escalating underwriting fees, we turned the other way, concentrating only on deals backed by borrowers with the strongest ability to pay (low debt-to-income ratios), the most at stake (substantial home-equity cushions), straightforward loan terms (plain-vanilla 15- and 30-year fixed-rate amortizing mortgages), and senior positions at the top of the capital stack. This disciplined focus on transparent structure and resilient collateral shielded our clients through the ensuing credit crisis and forged the cornerstone investor base that later launched Mariemont Capital. Today, we still apply the same rigorous underwriting, structural, and borrower filters—stress-testing every position against adverse macro scenarios—so that our partners’ capital can endure and compound, even amid the most severe economic uncertainty.