Taking the decision to invest is fairly straight-forward – you have some spare income or a lump sum and you want to save, whether that’s for a house, a holiday or a pension.
But deciding upon where and how to make your investments is a far more complex issue and one with which Hartsfield ably assists its clients, by using a wealth of experience we have built up over decades.
So how would the team here at Hartsfield Financial Services go about investing your money?
Our investment proposition starts with assessing your attitude to risk, which will be based on both a questionnaire and a detailed conversation with you. By discussing your circumstances with you, we can establish not only how much risk you are prepared to take, but also how much risk you can afford to take. By exploring and explaining the risks up front, we reduce the chances of you getting any unexpected surprises later.
Once we’ve agreed on your risk profile, we can clarify your investment goals. You wouldn’t start on a journey without knowing where you want to go and the same principle applies to investment planning.
This approach gives us a clear mandate to recommend a portfolio which matches your circumstances and objectives and may include one of our own managed portfolios.
We currently manage five portfolios, which have been running for some five years and which consistently out-perform their peers as well as their benchmarks.
How do we judge our performance?
At Hartsfield, we have an in-house investment committee chaired by our MD and comprising our investment analysts and senior financial planners.
At our quarterly meetings, we review in detail how each portfolio is performing, drill down into extensive data and reports on the asset allocation and the individual funds and, where necessary, agree on any changes which need to be made.
Active versus passive – where we stand
The debate over active versus passive management is an old one. There are arguments in favour of both, but at Hartsfield we are advocates of an active approach. This means we seek out professional fund managers who make all the decisions about where your funds are placed, based on their knowledge and research. Their aim is to bring you a higher return than the market would otherwise provide.
With passive management, your investments will track the market, and your return directly reflects how the market is performing.
Why do we favour active management? We believe the returns for our clients are better, and our evidence for this is the way our portfolios have out-performed their peers over the last few years.
You may be interested to know we don’t make any additional charges for active management.
The current market – is now a good time for investments?
Finally, if you’re dipping your toe in the water for the first time, you may be wondering whether now is a good time to invest, what with the markets responding to so much uncertainty over China, a potential “Brexit” and the Euro. Well, we’d say yes. In fact, we’d say almost any time is a good time to invest.
All markets are volatile; some are more volatile than others. However, all investment – whether that’s in pensions, ISAs, property, or any other of the many options available – need a long-term approach. The earlier you start your investments, and the longer you leave them before cashing them in, the greater the potential rewards.
How Can Hartsfield Help?
For information about, and help with, investing, please get in touch here with the team at Hartsfield.