Investment Process
First things first, we are not Fund Managers, we do not micro-manage portfolios of shares and other financial instruments. We don’t pick next week’s winners, trumpet returns already made or promise those yet to come.
What we aim to do is allocate your money to an appropriate mix of assets, consistent with your measured tolerance to risk and specific financial goals, by selecting one or more funds within appropriate tax wrappers.
” It is always darkest the hour before dawn”
- Winston Churchill
Timing investment markets is largely a futile exercise, history telling us to expect the unexpected and the short-term movement of markets often at odds with the current news and press doomsayers. In the short term the markets can be a casino, but longer-term they reflect the true value of the underlying assets, some the global corporate giants who power forward in an ever changing world.
Our Approach – Rational Investment
As part of our advice and planning service we will recommend and agree an appropriate asset allocation, consistent with the level of risk you are willing to take. For example, a ‘Balanced Risk’ investor with an ISA portfolio seeking growth over a 10 year period may choose an asset allocation something like this:
To achieve this mix, we will use a blend of sector-specific investment funds within the ISA Fund Wrapper, or we may use one or more Managed-style funds with a similar level of risk.
” A one year return of 20% or more is not a natural result. You have either borrowed from the past, or borrowed from the future. Investment is a marathon, not a sprint” – Mark Cooper
Passive or Active Investment Funds?
This debate runs and runs, often with vested interests shouting loudest. Passive funds simply track one or more indices such as the UK FTSE100 or US S&P 500 Stock Markets, or a basket of UK Government Gilts. They are low cost and will most likely give you the overall return on the market, less charges.
Active funds are run by one or more fund managers who aim to beat the index. For example, UK Equity managers make decisions on the companies to hold and those to sell, the sectors that they favour such as Retail or Oil & Gas and those they don’t, perhaps Leisure and Banks. Overseas Equity managers make calls on which countries to favour as well as individual companies.
Active management costs more and this additional cost needs to be justified, i.e. exceeded by out-performance over the longer term.
In rising markets,on average, the Passive funds perform better, the lower charges a factor, however Active fund managers do have the opportunity to take some evasive action if markets tumble and if a fund manager has a strong track record and is genuinely doing something different to the market then we will include them in a portfolio of funds.
In short, a blend of passively and actively managed funds, spread across the major asset classes provides the most rational opportunity to achieve your long term financial goals.