A key part of building your wealth is having an investment strategy in place. We will work with you to find out what is important to you and recommend an investment strategy that is tailored to your financial and lifestyle goals.

We look at a range of investments to suit your needs including:

• Separate Managed Accounts (SMA)
• domestic and international equities
• wholesale managed funds
• exchange traded funds
• fixed interest securities, and
• cash investments.

We will:

• consider your risk tolerance and time-frame
• tailor a diversified portfolio for you
• make sure you hold your investments in the most tax effective structure
• provide you with research and information on specific shares and property you might be interested in, and
• help you structure your loan, if you need one.

For more information, check out our summary below for the benefits of each of the investment options we offer.

To discuss your investment strategy contact us today.

This is a portfolio of directly held shares and exchange traded funds managed by our fund management company, Atticus. This means that unlike a traditional managed fund which has a pooled investment structure, beneficial ownership of the underlying stocks rests with you.

This direct ownership of the investments of an SMA offers you:

• diversified portfolios across a range of sectors and markets all wrapped up in one investment
• direct share administration (i.e. management of dividends and corporate actions)
• access to all your investments, portfolio performance and tax reports in the one place.
• tax efficiency derived from franking credits attached to Australian shares
• the ability to transfer stocks into the SMA which may reduce any capital gains tax, and
• the ability to keep your stocks even if you transfer out of the SMA.

You can invest in a SMA via a wrap account or a Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF). Your financial advisor will explain which method would suit your financial situation.

Equities are also known as shares. When you buy shares, you are buying a part of the company. This makes you a shareholder who is entitled to a portion of the company’s profits.

The benefits of investing in shares include:

• the flexibility to invest as much or as little as you want, across a variety of sectors. You also have the ability to change your strategy easily as you’re not locked in for a fixed term and you don’t suffer any penalties for exiting (other than the cost to buy or sell your shares)
• long-term capital gains through increases in share prices
• providing you with passive income through dividends and franking credits
• lower tax rates through imputation credits over long-term capital gains and by buying shares in the name of a lower income earner (where appropriate), and
• the ability to sell your shares in the event you need cash at short notice.

As with any investment, there are risks involved with buying shares, including volatility in the market and unexpected events. Talk to your financial adviser to find out how holding shares fits into your investment strategy.

A wholesale managed fund is where a professional fund manager invests the fund’s money on behalf of all its investors according to the stated investment goals. There are usually minimum investment requirements.

The benefits of this type of fund is that it:

• offers you the ability to diversify your portfolio
• generally has no entry or exit fees, and
• has a lower ongoing management fee compared to an equivalent retail fund.

Exchange traded funds (ETF) are funds that trade on the stock exchange (e.g. ASX or S&P), just like ordinary shares.

Investing in an ETF:

• combines the investment advantages of a managed fund with the ease and cost-effectiveness of share trading, and
• can also give you easy access to markets and asset classes (i.e. debt, derivatives, currency and commodities) that you might not otherwise be able to invest in.

Fixed interest securities (or bonds) are a type of debt security. When you purchase a bond from an issuer, you are essentially lending them money for a fixed period of time.

If you invest in bonds:

• you will receive interest payments at certain intervals as well as having the money you loaned returned in full at a future date, and
• you can sell it to another investor at the current market price if the bond is quoted on a securities exchange (e.g. ASX).

Cash investments have the lowest risk of all asset classes and include term deposits, money market securities and cash management trusts.

A cash investment:

• usually aims to provide income liquidity and stable returns
• allows you to access your funds quickly, and
• is good if you have a short investment time-frame.