Investment Philosophy
"Our client's success will be our success"
We recognise that everyone's investment journey is different, and we can't rely on the past as a guide to the future. As such, we seek to actively manage our clients’ portfolios within a disciplined and conservative framework to minimise risk and deliver on client objectives over the long-term. We believe everyone wants to make money in the good times and protect their capital in the bad times.
How we add value
Markets are not fully efficient
- We believe in active management both at a portfolio level and within the asset classes, seeking to identify areas that have persistent opportunity for outperformance. We target these opportunities for our clients.
Portfolio Diversity and Quality
- Given markets are not efficient in the short term, we believe portfolios should be constructed to reflect this uncertainty, by being built with high quality investments that provide diversity across asset class, geography, and investment styles.
Our Process
There are three key pillars of our Investment Process, and these are an important foundation for our clients’ investment strategy. A “set and forget” approach fails to observe the increasing risk, complexity, and opportunity in global markets. We seek to manage this for clients through active management.
Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA)
- Academic research shows that between 80 and 100% of long-term performance is driven by SAA. The original paper, Determinants of Portfolio Performance, Brinson, Hood and Beebouwer 1986 has been followed by many studies supporting the findings. Focusing on SAA maximizes the chances of meeting your long term goals and objectives.
Tactical / Active Asset Allocation (TAA)
- Over the short term, markets are not fully efficient and are often driven by sentiment creating opportunity for active asset allocation. This process is designed to minimize downside during bad periods and participate in the upside during good periods
Investment Selection
- Opportunity exists within the asset classes to find investments which can deliver above market returns. We are willing to be active and take a forward-looking view even with managers showing strong outperformance
INVESTMENT SELECTION
Compounders
Core managers can demonstrate an ability over long time horizons to add value over passive benchmarks without excessive risk taking. They are well resourced but typically not of a scale to deter being nimble and pragmatic in their thinking.
Style Tailwinds
All managers exhibit style and risk preferences within their portfolios across all asset classes. Our deep macroeconomic underpinnings allow us to better position the portfolios for the medium term.
New managers
New managers have a strong history of providing outperformance to investors. We have strong networks to identify these opportunities and the scale to be able to bring them to market. Need to understand and be able to spot the formula for success.
Contrarian
Good managers going through underperformance due to style / tilt headwinds.
INVESTMENT RETURNS
- Average returns are not many investors true experience with extended periods where 10yr returns are below average
- Assumed correlations between assets also change over time – bonds don’t always offer a buffer to equities
- We seek to manage this for clients through active management
INVESTMENT TEAM
Our priority is to deliver excellence in financial advisory solutions. To do this we collaborate with external professionals in asset management and consultancy, underpinned by market leading providers.