Discretionary

In this increasingly complex and fast moving financial world, many investors do not have the time, knowledge or desire to develop and maintain a full understanding of the complexities of investments and financial markets. For investors looking to reap the rewards from long-term investing without having to be involved in the day-to-day decisions, this service is for you.

Investment Objectives

Your personal investment manager will work with you to understand your time horizon, attitude to risk and investment objectives. The investment manager can also take into account any sectors you do not wish to be invested in, such as armaments or tobacco. This information is then used to determine the recommended division of your capital between equities, alternatives & fixed interest.

Portfolio Construction

Our philosophy is driven by our focus on capital preservation. To this end, we believe that asset allocation is the most important decision in the investment process. In fact, research has shown that 90% of returns come from the way you spread your holdings across different asset classes, not through stock picking. The more asset classes one includes, the greater potential there is for reduced volatility and enhanced returns.

Investment Committee

GAM’s Investment Committee is responsible for building model portfolios for a range of investment objectives and time horizons. These models are used as a basis to build a portfolio for an individual client.

Our approach to portfolio construction is to:

1. Identify the best assets to invest in
2. Combine them to minimise volatility
3. Establish the best investment route for each asset class

Morning research meetings are held involving our investment managers. These ensure that a wide range of views are heard and debated vigorously.

Whilst it would be unnatural for all our investment managers to share exactly the same views, a comprehensive peer review process means portfolios are constructed in a controlled manner ensuring a cohesive approach.

Model Portfolios

Our model portfolios reflect recommended asset allocations to equities, alternatives & fixed interest.

Investment Selection

Once the asset allocation has been decided, the next step is to select the individual investments that will form your portfolio. It is here where our judgement, skill and expertise is utilised. GAM receives high quality research from major financial institutions, which is thoroughly analysed by our Investment Committee.

Quality of Service

With financial markets constantly changing, we continually invest in our people to enhance our performance. We ensure that those who manage clients’ portfolios are highly qualified and experienced.

Monitoring

As you would expect, once your portfolio is established, we will carefully monitor and amend your constituent holdings as necessary to ensure that your portfolio continues to meet your objectives and requirements on an ongoing basis.

Reporting

Although we make all of the decisions for you, you will remain informed at all times regarding any changes to your portfolio through the issue of contract notes every time we trade and the availability of online access. We will keep you regularly informed of your portfolio’s progress through an annual Performance Report which clearly details the performance and measures it against a suitable benchmark.

As part of our commitment to a personalised service, your investment manager is always available on the end of the phone or in person for any queries you may have. All our investment managers are intimately involved in every aspect of the investment process from asset allocation through to individual stock selection. As a result when you speak to one of our investment managers you are speaking to a decision maker and we know that that this is a highly valued characteristic of our firm.

You will also receive our monthly Market Commentary newsletter, which features economic commentary and our thoughts on the current market.