At Apex CB Financial Planning we’ve been helping our clients to manage their investments for more than 15 years. We built our investment process to minimise risk and maximise returns by putting you, the investor, at the heart.
Understanding your goals
The first step in our investment process is taking the time to understand what you need and what you are trying to achieve we can select products and services that are right for you. We consider your assets, debts, income and expenditure. Then, we look at how these might change in the future.
Risk assessment
The next step is to consider your investment experience and how much risk you are willing to undertake. This forms the basis of recommending suitable investments. We don’t put novice investors into complex financial products.
Choosing the right tax wrapper
We hold your money in investments that save you tax both now and in the future. For example, Unit trusts and other collective funds can be held in a range of tax free wrappers like Bonds and ISAs. Reducing tax is the first step in getting a better return.
We understand and recommend the full range of tax wrappers to ensure that your money is working as efficiently as possible.
We don’t select funds
With over 10,000 UK funds and 55,000 global mutual funds to choose from, the choice is overwhelming. No single investment house has a monopoly of skills and many fund managers fail to deliver consistently good performance.
In our experience IFAs are not fund managers, and should not try to be fund pickers. There are too many choices and information moves too quickly. We have visited portfolio managers and found that they are backed by huge research teams. Few IFAs have the resources to do this. So, we decided to use a range of Portfolio Services that invest in a diversified range of funds from across the world. The aim is to add an extra layer of diversification using fund managers who have proven experience in a particular area.
It is also vital that changes in the market or the fund do not change the risk profile. You don’t want to see your cautious fund become more risky over time. For this reason we only choose funds that have a stated objective of controlling the risk at a specific level that we can maintain your risk profile.
Using a wealth platform
The majority of your investments are placed on our Wealth Platform. The word ‘platform’ is used to describe a place where a variety of different investment related processes and activities can be conveniently carried out, using the latest technology. Watch the short video below to find out more about how our Wealth Platform can benefit you:
Larger investments
For larger investments (typically £250,000 or more), or for those requiring a bespoke service, we recommend bespoke portfolio services. We work with a range of managers who can build portfolios to your individual requirements. They will typically include direct holdings of shares and Gilts to keep the cost down, as well as collective funds.
Whichever option is right for you we will always offer you the option to keep your investments under regular review.
Find out more by clicking the links above, call 01202 622223 or contact us using our online enquiry form.