Investment and the Wealth Intelligence Investment Strategy
Investment can appear daunting to the uninitiated. So leaving it to a specialist is often the preferred option. But many specialists will simply invest your capital in default funds, managed in a hands-off, ‘passive’ fashion, which isn’t always most appropriate for you.
Town & Country Financial Planning is different. We employ our unique Wealth Intelligence Investment Strategy (WIIS), a proactive approach to investing built around your specific requirements.
To monitor the success of the WIIS, we carry out annual benchmarking exercises, identifying how it compares to other strategies and schemes. And we’re extremely proud of the returns we’ve achieved for our clients since its inception in January 2011, significantly outperforming the average equivalent managed fund over an extended period of time.
In creating a portfolio for you that finds the ideal balance between long-term growth and carefully managed risk, the WIIS draws on our industry contacts, independent researchers and sophisticated research tools. Alongside these invaluable resources, we also consider other key areas in our investment strategies.
- Your requirements for growth and/or the preservation of your invested funds.
- The asset sectors best placed to benefit from the current and foreseeable economic climate, both at home and abroad.
- The top performing fund managers.
- Asset sector weighting to match your appetite for risk.
- A fund’s performance against volatility over a three- and five-year period.
As the WIIS is proactive, and your circumstances can change, the funds we recommend today may not be those we recommend tomorrow. However, if you accept our invitation to receive the ‘Family Member’ level of ongoing service, you’ll know that your investments are always held in line with the current recommended investment strategy and your portfolio won’t stray from the level of investment risk you’re prepared to accept.
Moreover, as we’re independent of the many global asset management companies and individual fund managers out there, we have no obligation to stay with a failing fund or an asset sector which is out of favour.
Also, because we construct the portfolio based on the current and foreseeable economic climate, we aren’t bound by computer-generated asset allocation models that take no account of the economic cycle and other variables.
Whatever your requirements, we never forget that the investment is yours. So if you feel your investments have been underperforming, we’re always happy to look over your last statement with you. We have the tools to identify how your investment has performed and how much investment risk you’re exposed to. It isn’t unusual for our clients to have enjoyed superior returns whilst taking less risk than others.
And if you need further convincing, we put our money where our mouths are. Our team members invest their own money in the same funds we offer you.
Let’s talk about risk
Many associate investment risk with market turmoil, as reported on the news and in the papers. Have you ever noticed that when the stock market drops by 2% in a day it’s all over the news? But if it recovers that 2% over the following month it isn’t considered newsworthy? In our opinion, this type of negative reporting gives a false impression of investing in mainstream, regulated investments.
When we talk about investment risk we explain the two extremes.
The ‘risk-averse’ investor is one who doesn’t want to lose a single penny. They would never consider playing the National Lottery and putting £2 at risk. They’re happy holding their savings in cash deposit accounts and watching the value of their savings being chewed up by inflation.
The ‘speculative’ investor is one willing to lose everything in the hope of a massive return. This type of person would typically plough fortunes into setting up a film company or a publishing house with the real risk of losing everything when no-one watches their films or reads their books. Often, the required returns can potentially be achieved by taking less risk.
Most people fall between these two extremes, often leaning towards the ‘risk averse’ end of the spectrum. And it’s these people who we’re able to help most.