The curated database of hedge funds that publish investor letters. Research by geography, strategy, and schools of thought.
| # | Fund | Strategy | Style | Geography | AUM | Latest Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This letter from Confluence Investment Management CEO Mark Keller uses the 2026 World Cup as an analogy for the importance of perspective in investment decision-making. Foreign visitors to the United States were surprised by the country's beauty and abundance, challenging their preconceived notions shaped by media coverage. Keller argues that gaining complete perspective is essential for understanding stocks, bonds, companies, industries, markets, and geopolitical situations. Confluence emphasizes collaboration across all investment teams including Value Equity, Asset Allocation, International Equity, and Alternative Investment strategies. Multiple team members contribute perspectives to each decision, helping to root out individual biases that can obscure vision. While this methodology does not guarantee perfect decisions, it aims for continuous improvement and better decision-making over time. The letter contains no performance data, specific portfolio positions, market outlook, or investment themes. It is purely philosophical, focusing on the firm's investment process and organizational culture rather than current positioning or market views.
Confluence Investment Management emphasizes collaborative decision-making across multiple investment teams to achieve better outcomes through diverse perspectives and reduced individual bias.
As of Jul 23, 2026
Founded in December 2007 as an independent, 100% employee-owned Registered Investment Advisor, Confluence Investment Management LLC manages $13.0 billion in total assets as of September 2025. Led by CEO/CIO Mark Keller (35+ years experience) and President/COO Brian Hansen (MBA, CPA), the firm employs 53-55 professionals with collective experience exceeding 600 years in finance and 500 years in portfolio management. The firm operates from St. Louis, Missouri, serving individuals, institutions, and corporations through disciplined value-oriented investment strategies across equity, asset allocation, fixed income, and alternative investments.
Quality Value / Growth
Lead Portfolio Manager
High Conviction Bearish
Market Conviction
This letter discusses investment philosophy and organizational process but contains zero information about specific positions, portfolio concentration, sizing, or investment theses. No companies, sectors, or asset classes are named. Without any discussion of actual holdings or investment views, conviction cannot be assessed. The letter is purely about how decisions are made, not what decisions have been made. Score must be 0.00 as there is no investment content to evaluate.
Growth Outlook
Market outlook remains moderate conviction: Confluence maintains constructive positioning with low recession risk over three years, expecting dovish Fed policy to support risk markets despite persistent above-target inflatio...
Risk Appetite
Risk appetite posture is low conviction: Confluence maintains constructive positioning with low recession risk over three years, expecting dovish Fed policy to support risk markets despite persistent above-target inflatio...
Capital Deployment
No information about cash levels, position additions, reductions, or deployment activity is provided. The letter does not discuss whether capital is being put to work or harvested across any of the firm's strategies.
Forward Guidance
Forward guidance signal: Confluence maintains constructive positioning with low recession risk over three years, expecting dovish Fed policy to support risk markets despite persistent above-target inflatio...
Language Signal
The letter uses neutral, philosophical language focused on process improvement and collaboration. There are no directional market terms such as opportunity, attractive, risk, overvalued, or other bullish/bearish signals. The tone is educational rather than market-oriented.
Perceived Risk
Perceived risk level is evaluated as moderate conviction. Confluence maintains constructive positioning with low recession risk over three years, expecting dovish Fed policy to support risk markets despite persistent above-target inflatio...
Opportunity Density
Cannot be assessed. The letter provides no information about the current opportunity set, whether ideas are abundant or scarce, or how difficult it is to find attractive investments. Default score assigned.
Time Horizon
Cannot be assessed from letter content. While the emphasis on collaboration and continuous improvement suggests a thoughtful, patient approach, no explicit time horizons for investment theses are stated. No discussion of catalyst timing, holding periods, or urgency. Default score assigned.
Every insight in this database connects to the original source. Read the actual thesis, see the actual concerns, and make your own call.
Buyside Digest has no business relationship, partnership, agency, sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation with Confluence Investment Management or any other manager whose content appears on the Service, except where expressly stated. We do not receive Manager Content directly from managers in most cases; content is collected from publicly available sources. Managers have not necessarily reviewed, approved, authorized, or endorsed our display of their content, our editorial commentary, our metadata extraction, or our classifications. Use of a manager’s name is for accurate attribution and identification purposes only, under principles of nominative fair use.
Buyside Digest does not independently verify the regulatory status, registrations, licensing, qualifications, credentials, or professional standing of managers whose content appears on the Service. We do not represent that managers are properly registered with applicable regulatory bodies, that their content complies with applicable securities laws, or that their performance representations are accurate. Inclusion of a manager in our database is based on the publicly available nature of their content, not on our verification of their regulatory status or content compliance. Users are responsible for conducting their own due diligence on any manager.
Performance data, returns, assets under management (“AUM”), and similar figures displayed on this page are sourced from publicly available manager communications (including investor letters), public filings, or other third-party sources. Buyside Digest does not independently verify performance figures, calculate returns, or audit manager-reported data. Such figures: May be selectively reported by the manager; May use non-standard calculation methodologies; May not reflect fees, expenses, taxes, or other costs; May be inconsistent across reporting periods; May be outdated. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Performance figures should not be relied upon for investment decisions without independent verification. Users should request audited performance data directly from the manager and conduct their own due diligence.
