Our investment philosophy

First and foremost, we are Financial Planners; we’ll understand your ambitions and aspirations, then develop a plan to achieve them.

Past performance is not a guide to the future. The value of a fund is not guaranteed and may fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the original amount invested.

Investment management and the resulting returns are fundamental to the success of your plan.

To put it another way, investment management powers your financial plan; the right fuel must be used. Just as adding petrol to a diesel engine would cause the car to stutter and fail, poor investment management reduces the chances of you reaching your financial goals.

The risk of your plan failing means that the management of your investments shouldn’t be left to chance.

We believe that successfully generating the returns required by your plan requires a logical and robust framework; avoiding the temptation of fads and the noisy distractions of the financial press.

We’ve therefore worked with renowned experts to develop a world-class investment programme to fuel the financial plans we create. Grounded in investment theory, supported by empirical evidence and enhanced with an insight into the behavioural traps all investors face, we call it our investment philosophy.

Key principles

Five key principles guide our approach to investing:

Faith in capitalism and confidence in the markets
Acceptance that risk and return go hand in hand
Letting the markets do the heavy lifting
Being patient and thinking long term
Remaining disciplined

These principles work alongside five investment practices that the evidence and theory demonstrate we are right to focus on:

Build a well-structured portfolio
Use diversification to manage an uncertain future
Avoid cost leakage from your portfolio
Control emotions by using a systematic and disciplined approach
Manage risks carefully across time

Portfolio construction

Using these principles to guide every decision, we then construct portfolios aligned with achieving your plan’s goals.

We start by defining the different asset classes to be included in the portfolio. Choices are based on each asset class’ ability to meet our pre-determined selection criteria, allowing us to review asset class and investment strategies in a systematic way.

We then move on to selecting the growth and defensive assets which will be held in your portfolio.

Growth assets are higher returning, equity-like assets. This component of your portfolio represents a logically constructed, globally diversified mix of risk assets that seek to deliver strong, after-inflation returns over medium to longer-term investment horizons.

Defensive assets provide downside protection by delivering lower levels of potential falls than equity markets and should preserve purchasing power over time; although this is not guaranteed.

Finding the balance between growth assets and defensive assets that is most suitable for you is one of the most important decisions that we will make together.

The fuel to drive your financial plan

Investment management is the fuel which drives all financial plans; without it, you won’t reach your goals.

That’s why, unlike many Financial Planners, we focus equally on financial planning and investment management.

If you have any questions about how we select the investment managers to manage your investments please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Find out a little more about us

Get to know our team, read about our accreditations and learn about our investment philosophy.