How do we manage your Investment Risk?

Having established the level of relative risk that is appropriate (based on your personal circumstances) it is vital to provide suitable methods for managing the risk throughout the period.

Investment risk is reduced by spreading the investment over a wide range of underlying assets. This can be conveniently and cost effectively achieved through investment in “collectives”. These are investment portfolios managed by professional fund managers based on a particular profile or remit e.g. “UK Equity Growth”, “Overseas Bond” or “Emerging Markets” etc. Within each collective fund the underlying portfolio will often consist of 100 or more holdings in a wide variety of companies thereby providing a high level of diversification. Each fund manager’s job is to identify what securities to buy or sell and whether to increase or reduce the exposure to particular sectors of the market taking into account prevailing and expected investment conditions. Spreading investment across a wide range of underlying securities of a similar level of risk is known as “horizontal” diversification. It is also advantageous to diversify the portfolio “vertically” which is achieved by integrating a range of asset classes and management styles into a ‘risk graded’ structure, based on your desired risk profile established at the outset.