It’s important that you know our approach to investment. The success of your investments will make a profound difference to how your Grand Plan plays out.

There are three core principles to our investment philosophy:

1. We have a client first approach. Understanding each client’s Grand Plan, risk tolerance and time horizon is paramount. For example, the investment implications of funding a house renovation will likely be very different to funding a retirement.
2. We believe in well diversified portfolios across asset classes, geographies and investment styles. The underlying components would likely include company shares, property, bonds, commodities and cash. All investments recommended will be supported by independent research prepared by our investment research partners.
3. We take a long-term perspective and focus on long term outcomes rather than short term noise. We avoid chasing fads and prefer discipline, patience and consistency. Compounding over time is our most valuable ally.

Over the long term this approach is designed to succeed. We walk the talk by investing our own money into our own “preferred portfolios” across several risk profiles. We carefully benchmark our results and over the full cycle, we expect these portfolios to out-perform category averages, thanks to a disciplined process that taps directly into world class institutions.

The performance and track record of our “preferred portfolios” is available upon request.
Within our preferred portfolios we can break down the various management styles into three distinct allocations, each with its own unique advantage:

1. Allocation 1: ultra-low-cost public market exposure, for diversified and cost-efficient outcomes, also known as ‘passive investment’ or ‘indexing’. Here we’re seeking to win through participating in long term market growth at the lowest possible cost.
2. Allocation 2: smart active management by tilting portfolio investments towards where future value lies and away from over- valued investments. Here we’re tapping into leading stock-pickers and investment gurus around the world, each with a record of beating their peers through better returns or lower risk.
3. Allocation 3: private markets – using specialist managers to access premium investments not available to the public. Here we’re tapping into scarcity value, for example the relationships and network effects enjoyed by certain private equity and private debt managers.

Whilst we back our preferred portfolios with our own money, we fully expect to tailor client portfolios to their preferences and situations. For example, we can help our clients build portfolios that reflect not just their financial objectives, but to actively avoid certain investments or invest directly into social and environmental change.

We are licenced to trade shares, funds, bonds and deposits for clients. We are agnostic between self-managed super, retail super, industry super, direct shares, property and funds. We are truly independent and have no hidden ties or commission arrangements with product manufacturers. We are practical people who will simply recommend what’s in our clients’ best interests, within the context of their Grand Plans. Our recommendations are backed by independent research and our main research partners are Morningstar, Macquarie Group and Vanguard.

General Advice Warning: Any advice included in this article and associated links is general in nature and would not consider your particular objectives, financial situation or needs. If a product we recommend has a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), you should read it before making a decision. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Other than cash deposits falling under the Australian Government’s Financial Claims Scheme, any investment we recommend has the potential to deliver a loss to an investor. Nevertheless, we are of the view that for Australian investors it is reasonable to expect a skilfully managed diversified portfolio to deliver positive returns over the long term, over and above cash returns and the impact of inflation.