INVESTMENT PLANNING

Creating an Investment Portfolio

·         Many people have a sum of money that is currently sitting in a bank or building society account receiving minimal interest, that should be invested properly for the longer term.

·         You may decide that you can afford to  put a lump sum amount away or perhaps a regular amount every month  to build a long term portfolio.

·         It is a historical fact that the stock market has out-performed bank and building society returns over the longer period, whilst the short term performance can be quite volatile.

The most important part of our process in developing a portfolio for our clients is ascertaining the level of risk that you as an investor are comfortable with. We will work with you to decide your long term goals and then discuss the range of investments that will be appropriate for you.

A good Investment Portfolio will spread your risk

Most portfolios should include a mix of investments. These investments could include a mixture of shares, commercial property funds, bonds, unit trusts, and other investment vehicles. A portfolio should also be balanced. The portfolio should contain investments with varying levels of risk to help minimize the overall exposure, should one of the portfolio holdings decline significantly.

Asset allocation - Diversification

Asset allocation is one of the first steps in creating a diversified investment portfolio. Asset allocation is the concept of deciding how your capital  should be allocated among broad investment classes, for example shares, unit trusts, commercial property funds, bonds, and cash.   The underlying principle is that different classes of investments have shown different rates of return and levels of volatility over a period of time. Diversifying your investments over different asset classes will help you minimize volatility while maximizing potential return. The use of unit trusts also reduces the overall risk by investing in 70 to 100 companies within each unit trust rather than in individual shares.

We will help you to decide what asset allocation mix is right for you.

Tax considerations are important for most people and tax efficiency is an important area that we specialise in.

 Our aim is to get the highest return on your investment, within your own personal attitude to risk. This will depend on many factors including life stage, period of investment and your own individual aims and objectives.