If you’ve been a diligent saver, sold a business or inherited some money, then you may find that you have $1 million or more to invest. Admittedly, a million dollars isn’t what it used to be, so aside from being a member of the millionaires club, why is this threshold important? Once an investor can boast a million dollar portfolio, they can generally begin working with Investment Counselling firms.
What is Investment Counsel?
An Investment Counsellor, or Portfolio Manager, is a firm that offers continuous management of a client’s investment portfolio. These professionals are highly trained (almost all have earned the rigorous Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation) to select securities for the client’s portfolio that are appropriate for their circumstances. They offer a disciplined and consistent approach to managing your investments based on a personalized Investment Policy Statement (IPS). An IPS is a written agreement between you and your Investment Counsellor to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to how your money is to be managed.
Fiduciary Standard of Care
An Investment Counsellor has a fiduciary duty to act in your best interest at all times. Portfolio Managers for mutual funds are also fiduciaries, however, their duty is owed to the mutual fund, not to the individual unit holders of the fund.
Direct Access
By working with an Investment Counsellor, you gain direct access to the people that are managing your money. When your emotions are leading the way, you can pick up the phone and have a meaningful conversation with your portfolio manager to gain the right perspective to help keep you on track.
Separately Managed Accounts
With an Investment Counsellor, you benefit from holding your securities directly and having your account managed independently from other investors. This allows you to express your personal preferences and avoid certain sectors or businesses that might not align with your beliefs. With a Separately Managed Account you have a complete understanding of what you own in your portfolio. When an inevitable market correction comes along, it’s much easier to remain levelheaded when you understand the merits of each company you own.
Lower, Transparent Fees
Generally, Investment Counsellors offer much lower fees than the typical mutual fund or investment broker. Investment Counsellors are not paid commissions on account transactions, rather they earn fees based on the value of assets managed. Therefore, their interests are aligned with yours and they have strong incentive to sustain and grow your wealth for the long term and to minimize costs along the way. Investment Counsellors offer tiered fees schedules that generally begin around 1.5% per annum at a maximum and decrease dramatically from there as account sizes increase.
Exclusivity
Investment Counsellors are in the business of serving high net worth families and institutional investors exclusively. This is their sole business. They typically offer a conservative and time-tested investment approach and are often said to be in the “stay wealthy” business rather than the “get wealthy” business.
The reason we like to work with Investment Counsellors
In short, it delivers enhanced value for our clients. The financial landscape is growing more complex by the day, with many areas of investing and financial planning requiring greater levels of training and expertise. By working closely with talented Investment Counsellors, not only do our clients benefit from all of the advantages noted above, including direct access, lower fees and increased transparency but we also gain another highly specialized member to the client’s team of trusted advisors. This approach allows us to leverage their expertise in researching and managing a well-rounded portfolio of successful businesses, while focusing our time on delivering additional value through financial and estate planning strategies that move our clients closer to their goals.
If you’re ready to take your portfolio management to the “next level”, then please feel free to contact us. We think you’ll be glad you did.
This article was prepared by David Mason who is a mutual fund representative with Investia Financial Services Inc. This is not an official publication of Investia Financial Services Inc. The views (including any recommendations) expressed in this article are those of the author alone and are not necessarily those of Investia Financial Services Inc.
