Our investment advice process

Our robust investment advice process is the result of several years of development, decades of combined experience and some Nobel prize winning research.

More recently we have introduced a further enhancement to this process in the form of the Informed Choice Investment Committee.  This committee is run by joint managing director Martin Bamford who is author of Brilliant Investment (WHSmith Business Book of the Month, January 2008).

Unlike many other IFA firms we do not believe that we add the most value by simply picking the 'best' investment funds or 'star' fund managers.  Instead, we place a great deal of emphasis on asset allocation.  

Academic research has proven that over 90% of the variance in performance between different investment portfolios comes from asset allocation, with the remaining variance coming from factors such as fund or stock selection and marketing timing.

The six stage process

We have a comprehensive six stage investment advice process:

1 - Objective setting - client seek our investment advice for a variety of reasons, but these might include a desire for capital growth, income or a combination of the two.  We spend time discovering your personal investment objectives and then ensure our recommendations help you meet these goals.

2 - Risk profiling - the degree of risk you wish to take with your money will fundamentally shape the types of investments we recommend.  We use a a detailed risk profiling questionnaire and specialist software designed to uncover your real attitudes towards investment risk, reward and volatility.  

3 - Strategic asset allocation - our strategic asset allocation models show the optimum level of investment in twelve asset class and investment sectors.  This becomes our base position with each client and we use their original model to rebalance their portfolio on an annual basis.

4 - Tactical asset allocation - our in-house investment committee puts us in an incredibly strong position to make tactical asset allocation decisions to exploit short term market conditions and investment opportunities.  Our investment committee meets quarterly to debate and develop an Informed Choice 'House View' on each asset class.  

5 - Fund selection - whilst our focus is on asset allocation, we never underestimate the importance of a robust fund selection process.  Our aim here is to recommend suitable investments for each asset class.  We use specialist in-house research software to construct and maintain our preferred fund panels. 

6 - Review - an investment decision should never be a once only event.  We prefer an annual investment review with most clients.  This removes the temptation to react to short-term market volatility but also creates a more cost effective strategy.  Each year we look at changes to the asset allocation model that have been created by a good, bad or indifferent performance within each asset class. 

We offer a free initial consultation to discuss your financial objectives. After this first meeting we will draw up a detailed proposal for the provision of advice, implementation and review services.

To arrange your free initial consultation simply call us today on 01483 274566 or email hello@icl-ifa.co.uk.

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