Seeking the best in the business
Strong field gave us a top-class final list
This week sees the launch of the 2008 Scotsman IFA of the Year competition. ….
This year's competition is bigger than ever before – there are twice as many independent financial advisers (IFAs) competing for top spot and it is sponsored by a selection of Scotland's main investment houses.
The ten finalist IFAs were chosen from a strong field of entrants and their task over the next 12 months is to give the best possible advice on constructing a suitable investment portfolio for the case study – Angus MacDonald (50) who is married with a family and wants to retire in ten years' time.
The advice should be of interest to any investors, especially in the current market turmoil caused by the ongoing credit crunch. The FTSE 100 has been see-sawing for months and commercial property, for example, which was delivering double-digit returns, is now hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons
In such an unsettled environment, sound financial advice is more important than ever.
We hope you will be able to learn from the guidance of our top ten IFAs over the course of the year. ….
All the IFAs have had 5 per cent of their portfolio invested in the Schroder Income Maximiser Fund as a default for technical reasons. When the competition goes live, they can decide to keep this as one of their “wild cards” or change it at any time. ....
Our contender is:-
Steve Wilson
Alan Steel Asset Management
Asset allocation and fund choices as at 19/01/08
Aegon UK Equity
19/01/08 £30,000 (10%)
Aegon UK Opportunities
19/01/08 £30,000 (10%)
Artemis Capital
19/01/08 £30,000 (10%)
Artemis UK Special Situations
19/01/08 £15,000 (5%)
Martin Currie North American
19/01/08 £30,000 (10%)
Martin Currie Asia Pacific
19/01/08 £15,000 (5%)
Resolution Cartesian UK Opportunities
19/01/08 £15,000 (5%)
Resolution Pacific Growth
19/01/08 £8,000 (3%)
SWIP Emerging Markets
19/01/08 £7,000 (2%)
SWIP European
19/01/08 £8,000 (3%)
Standard Life UK Equity High Income
19/01/08 £30,000 (10%)
Standard Life European Equity Growth
19/01/08 £15,000 (5%)
Henderson Technology
19/01/08 £15,000 (5%)
Neptune Global Alpha
19/01/08 £37,000 (12%)
Artemis European Growth
19/01/08 £15,000 (5%)
To provide the income Angus wants with inflation and widow's protection will cost about £2 million in ten years. A 10 per cent return after charges will provide half of that and he is naturally cautious.
This means he needs to put more money in and be more adventurous. Despite widespread pessimism for stockmarkets this year, I believe many factors point to a good year. Over the past 135 years, year eight of the decade has produced good returns, plus smart investor momentum is positive, and private investor sentiment is as low as it was in 2003.
I have selected a risk rating of six and a large capitalisation company international bias. When selecting the funds, Aegon UK Equity and Artemis Capital will provide large cap growth. This should be complemented with funds such as Artemis UK Special Situations and Standard Life Equity High Income. I see the real opportunities over the next 12 months coming from overseas markets, which is why I have included exposure to America and Asia with Martin Currie. The United States is unloved at the moment and is unlikely to fall into recession. There should also be many opportunities in Europe but much of the growth should come from global and emerging markets.
Finally, with regard to the fund managers, I have included the fantastic Robin Geffen at Neptune Global Alpha and Ian Warmerdam at Henderson Global Technology as wild cards.
Quote courtesy of The Scotsman, 19 January 2008.
