Investment
Our investment philosophy is based around a series of 10 beliefs.
1. Investors should understand the reasons for investing and how their portfolio is designed to meet their goals. The world of investing can be complex and often not transparent. We believe in keeping things simple. So while there is a lot of science and evidence behind our investment philosophy and process, we are keen that every client understands our recommendations and how they fit with their own financial objectives.
2. A conversation about risk and its many dimensions is the essential first step when investing. When it comes to investing, risk and reward are inextricably entwined. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. All investments involve some degree of risk – it’s important that you understand this before you invest.
3. Investing for the long term is very different than saving for the short term. While there is an understandable desire to keep things safe when investing, the corrosive impact of inflation and thus the value of investing for the long term in more risky assets are compelling.
4. The bulk of long-term returns come from asset allocation. Academics will continue to argue about the precise amount of value that comes from strategic asset allocation rather than stock selection, investment style or market timing, but it is widely accepted that asset allocation has the biggest influence over the variance in portfolio returns.
5. Diversification using mainstream asset classes can reduce risk without destroying returns. Diversification is a strategy that can be neatly summed up by the timeless adage “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” The strategy involves spreading your money among various investments with the intention that if one investment loses money, the other investments may more than make up for those losses.
6. Costs are certain and returns are not – so they deserve your attention. Costs are certain and fund performance is not. It therefore makes sense to reduce costs wherever it is safe to do so. One of the major issues in fund management is that not all the costs are transparent.
7. Tax and access are important. Making investment tax efficient is a sensible objective and wherever we can we will try to reduce the tax your investments will pay. Use of pension wrappers and ISAs will assist in this objective.
8. Active management and passive strategies can both play a valuable role. There is a role for active (where the fund manager tries to beat the market, but incurs higher costs), and passive funds (which track the index at low cost) within a well-managed investment portfolio.
9. Investment success comes from the consistent application of a robust process. There are numerous ways to approach the construction and on-going management of an investment portfolio. Without the application of a robust process, the emotional aspects of investing can prevent investors from making the best decisions.
10. Success is often about the things you don’t do as much as the things you do. We have some simple rules that we apply to all portfolios unless the clients specifically request a different approach:
- No individual bonds / shares
- No direct hedge funds
- No direct unauthorised funds
- Only use funds run by FCA regulated managers
To read our Investment Philosophy document, also with an option to download as a PDF please click here.
Our Investment Process
Our investment process is built around our investment philosophy. We seek to understand our clients’ objectives, needs and aspirations before considering their attitude to investment risk and how they might deal with investment losses should they occur.
Dependent upon the amounts involved and the clients’ requirements we might make use of separate discretionary fund managers and/or our own internally researched approved funds to build a suitable investment portfolio.
Thereafter, we offer regular reviews through a choice of ongoing service propositions to ensure that everything works as planned and to make adjustments as needs and objectives change.
For a more detailed explanation please click here to read more about our investment process.
Investment Products
Our internal investment committee regularly reviews the products and providers on our preferred investment panel. As with our approved fund list, each adviser can make the decision to undertake separate research where our approved panel does not meet the needs of a client.