Investment management - S4 Financial

| Investment management

At S4 Financial, we see it as an honour and a privilege to be entrusted with the management of our clients’ investments. It is a duty that we take extremely seriously.

When it comes to your wealth, we understand that honesty and transparency are key. On this page, you can read more about our investment management process and the steps we take to keep your investments on track and in line with your financial objectives.

Designing your portfolio

As independent financial advisers, we offer a whole of market solution to our investors that enables our clients to invest in funds from any fund manager, and to target any country, region or sector – so long as they offer an appropriate, risk-adjusted return and we are not tied to any investment manager.

We design and structure your investment portfolio in line with your personal goals and aspirations. We use specialist cashflow modelling software to identify the wealth and assets you will need to live your life in comfort and attain your financial objectives. With this knowledge, we are able to design an investment portfolio that works for you, with a level of risk appropriate for your individual needs.

Where possible, we will always endeavour to construct your portfolio in the most tax-efficient manner, taking advantage of all the tax-free allowances available to you. For example, we will always try to ensure that income-generating funds are wrapped within an ISA or pension, thus minimising any tax due on your income gains. We also strongly encourage our clients to have investment funds outside of their pension, to allow them the flexibility to draw funds back should the need arise.

Our approach to investment risk

We firmly believe that if you do not need to take on significant risk to meet your objectives, then there really is little point in doing so. So, whilst we will always endeavour to align your investment portfolio to your risk profile, we will also bear in mind your end objectives to ascertain the level of risk required to deliver the returns you are looking for.

We appreciate that in most cases, our clients might have differing risk profiles for different parts of their portfolio. A younger client with few pension savings can – and should – be taking a greater risk with their monthly contributions than somebody who is approaching retirement and has worked hard to amass a significant pension pot. Similarly, once your financial objectives have been secured, you might consider taking a greater risk with any surplus portfolio investments or additional capital you may have.

We also understand that your circumstances will likely shift and change as you move through life’s stages, and that sometimes these changes will require adjustments to your portfolio. As with all parts of your investment portfolio, your attitude to risk is unlikely to remain static over the years. At S4 Financial, your adviser will be on hand not just for the initial setup of your portfolio, but also across the years, making small adjustments to your portfolio to accommodate the new situations and unexpected circumstances that will inevitably crop up over your lifetime.

Managing your investments

When it comes to managing your investments, you can be as involved or hands-off as you would like to be. Some of our clients simply want to hand the reins over to their adviser, in which case we will take on full responsibility for managing their investments. Others are keen to get involved and understand more about their investments, or have stronger preferences with regards to the allocation of their assets.

Whatever your preferences, we will always tailor our approach to accommodate how you want your investment portfolio to be managed.

Oversight and monitoring

Every fund we recommend is subject to regular monitoring, and we meet regularly to discuss any changes in the market that may have the potential to impact your portfolio. We also operate a watch list to track the performance of new funds, ensuring that we are making our recommendations based on evidence, rather than being swayed by hype.

Every year, we will review your portfolio at your annual review meeting and ensure that any changes to your goals or circumstances are fully reflected in your portfolio. With regular reviews and ongoing monitoring, we can work together to build a portfolio that has the best potential to deliver strong returns and achieve your financial aspirations.

| Contact us

Should you wish to book a consultation with an adviser to see how we can help you grow, maintain and preserve your wealth for a prosperous future, please do get in touch.

The value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you invested. S4 Financial does not have discretionary investment management permissions.