Investment Management

Chartered Financial Planner • FCA Registered • Independent • Based in Bath

What are Investments?

Investments are assets purchased with the intention of generating a return, either through income, growth in value, or both. Typical types of investment include:

Shares (equities) – ownership in a company, often with the potential for dividends and growth.
Bonds (fixed income) – loans to governments or companies that pay regular interest.
Property – either directly or through investment funds, offering rental income and potential capital growth.
Collective funds – an investment vehicle that pool moneys from many investors into a single fund. Funds can hold hold a range of different assets, helping to diversify portfolios.

Unlike cash savings, investments are not guaranteed. Their value will rise and fall, sometimes sharply, but over the long term they typically provide greater returns than cash, making them an important tool for building wealth and keeping pace with inflation.

Why Invest?

People invest to achieve a range of financial objectives. Common goals include:

Long-term growth – building capital for retirement, property purchases, or other future needs.
Income – generating dividends or interest to supplement other sources of income, often in retirement.
Wealth preservation – maintaining the value of assets so they can be passed on to future generations.
Inflation protection – reducing the risk of cash losing value in real terms as prices rise.

Clear objectives are essential because they shape the structure of your portfolio. Someone investing to generate income in retirement will need a very different approach from someone investing for growth over several decades.

Investment Risk

Every investment involves risk, but risk can be managed. Before investing, it’s important to understand your attitude to risk. This means looking at two things:

Risk tolerance – how comfortable you are with volatility and fluctuations in value.
Capacity for loss – how much you could afford to lose without undermining your financial security.

We use these factors to recommend an investment profile that fits your goals and circumstances. Our five risk levels are:

Cautious – prioritises capital preservation, low volatility
Moderately Cautious – steady growth with limited risk
Balanced – mix of stability and growth potential
Moderately Adventurous – greater equity exposure and return potential
Adventurous – maximum growth potential with high tolerance for fluctuations

Your risk profile is reviewed regularly and adjusted if your circumstances or objectives change.

Diversification

Diversification helps to manage risk by spreading money across different areas so you’re not reliant on the performance of a single investment.

Diversification works by spreading money across different:

Asset classes (shares, bonds, property, alternatives).
Geographic regions (UK, US, Europe, Asia, global).
Sectors (technology, healthcare, consumer goods, etc.).
Fund managers and styles (active, passive, value, growth).

Diversification doesn’t remove risk entirely, but it helps reduce the impact of any single investment or sector underperforming. Diversification makes portfolios more resilient and less volatile - this helps to smooth investment returns over time.

Tax Planning for Investments

How investments are held can make as much difference as the investments themselves. There are many different types of investment accounts, all with their own benefits and drawbacks. Using tax-efficient investment 'wrappers' helps reduce unnecessary tax and improve long-term returns.

Common types of investment wrapper include:

Investment Accounts - standard accounts which can hold a variety of funds.
Investment ISAs – an investment account with an ISA wrapper, which means growth and withdrawals are typically free from income tax and capital gains tax.
Pensions – contributions attract tax relief, growth is tax-free, and funds can be drawn flexibly in retirement or provide an annuity income.
Investment bonds – a useful tool for long-term planning, they offer useful flexibility in how and when gains are taxed.

Ethical & Sustainable Investing

Many people want their investments to reflect personal values as well as financial goals. Ethical and sustainable investing allows you to avoid industries you’d prefer not to support, or to focus on companies with stronger environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

Approaches include:

Screening out sectors such as tobacco, arms, or fossil fuels
Favouring companies with good records on sustainability, employee welfare, or corporate governance
Impact investing, where funds are directed towards businesses actively tackling environmental or social challenges

We can build portfolios that balance these preferences with your financial objectives and risk profile, so your investments work in a way that aligns with both your principles and your long-term plans.

Our Approach to Investing

We provide independent advice to help you grow, protect, and access your wealth over the long term. Portfolios are built around your objectives, risk profile, and tax position, and are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain suitable.

1. Understanding Your Objectives

We begin by clarifying what you want your investments to achieve - growth, income, wealth preservation, or a combination. We also consider your time horizon, access needs, and any preferences such as ethical or low-cost investing.

2. Risk Tolerance and Capacity

Your comfort with market ups and downs (tolerance) and your ability to withstand losses (capacity) determine how much risk you should take. We use a five-point scale from Cautious to Adventurous to guide portfolio design, reviewed regularly as your circumstances change.

3. Portfolio Construction

We build diversified portfolios across asset classes, sectors, and regions to reduce reliance on any single area. Depending on your needs, we use a mix of active funds, which aim to beat the market, and passive funds, which track indices at lower cost.

4. Tax Efficiency

How investments are held matters as much as what they are. We use ISAs, pensions, and other wrappers to reduce tax and make the most of allowances, with ongoing adjustments as rules or circumstances change.

5. Reviews and Monitoring

Markets and personal circumstances evolve. We review your portfolio regularly, rebalancing and making changes when needed to keep it aligned with your long-term goals.

Ongoing Support

Financial planning isn’t a one-off exercise. Markets change, tax rules evolve, and personal circumstances shift over time. That’s why we provide regular reviews to keep your investments on track.

Our ongoing service includes:

Monitoring and rebalancing portfolios to maintain the right risk level.
Updating recommendations if your goals or circumstances change.
Making use of allowances to keep investments as tax-efficient as possible.
Clear reporting and communication so you always know how your portfolio is performing.

The aim is to help ensure your investments remain suitable and effective, giving you confidence that your financial plans continue to meet your long-term objectives.