Investment Process

An making investment recommendations for our clients, we concentrate on several factors to ensure the original investment is appropriate. Once the investment has been made, we ensure that clients receive on-going advice in rebalancing investments in line with their original requirements.

Asset Allocation

Over many years reports based on investment returns have concluded that the Asset Allocation of a portfolio will represent around 90% of the performance, with stock selection and market timing forming the rest of the returns.

Strategic asset allocation is by far the most important determinant of portfolio performance. This is the process of allocating capital across a range of different asset classes, such as cash, fixed interest, property, UK and overseas equities. This is not simply a question of diversification, although spreading risk amongst different asset classes is clearly important. The optimum split between these asset classes depends on objectives for the portfolio and on the risk of failure that clients are prepared to take over a chosen timescale.

In making our recommendations we will ask our clients various questions to determine their individual Attitude to Investment Risk. We then apply the answers to those questions and our subsequent discussions to our model portfolios to ensure clients investments are set up in a way which best reflects their requirements and tolerance to risk.

Once the investment has been made, we will ensure the asset allocation is continually rebalanced in accordance with the client’s original Attitude to Risk profile. This ensures that while investments perform differently within the portfolio, the overall asset allocation will come back to the original agreed profile.

By using professional fund managers to select the best funds we believe we are maximising our clients opportunities to generate good performance over the long term.

Our Core model portfolios

In order to ensure our clients receive professional fund management we have specific core model portfolios to correspond with our Attitude to Risk Questionnaire. Our ranges of portfolios contain 15 fund recommendations and asset class percentage breakdowns, targeted at a client’s risk profile.

The Funds are chosen using market leading proprietary technology from the Financial Express Select list, based on optimising diversification benefit to maximise portfolio diversification and minimise risk. The portfolios are built using Financial Express’s quantitative expertise with experienced analysts and senior investment professionals conducting face to face interviews and due diligence with fund managers.

A continuous monitoring service is provided using market leading governance and analysis software which is designed to spot problems before they develop

Regular reporting

We will be reporting to clients on at least an annual basis. The report will come in two forms. Firstly a review document will be issued to clients describing the changes made to the portfolio and the outlook going forward. This review document will be written by the investment managers. Secondly, we will enclose a portfolio report detailing the value of the portfolio.

Risk Warnings

You should regard investing in accordance with an investment Mandate as a medium to long-term commitment (i.e. for a minimum of five years). The advice and recommendation of your Adviser is important. Part of the suitability assessment will be to match your risk profile to the selected Investment Mandate.

• Your money will be invested in funds and direct investments that involve greater risk than putting your money into a bank or building society.
• The value of your investments, the future performance of your portfolio and the income from it are not guaranteed and may go down as well as up.
• Investment risk may result in loss of income or capital invested and possible delays in repayment of your capital. You could receive back less than you invested and there is no guarantee that you will receive any capital or income.
• Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
• If the investments in your portfolio do not generate enough income to cover the charges and expenses, some of those investments may be sold which may erode the capital value of your investment under this Investment Mandate and may restrict future capital growth.
• Quoted yields are for illustrative purposes only and are not guaranteed.
• The tax treatment of your investments is not guaranteed and could change in the future. The value of any tax relief depends on your personal circumstances.
• Economic, technological, political or legislative conditions (including regulatory changes) and even market sentiment can (and do) change and this can affect the value of the investments traded on affected markets.