What Type of Investment is Right for Me?

If you’re new to investing then you may end up getting confused with the different investments available and where to start looking. Mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks and bonds, closed-end mutual funds, real estate, various alternative investments, and owning all or part of a business. These are just a few examples.

This choice becomes much easier and smoother with our advisers. We take you through our Risk Profile Questionnaire to understand what “risk” means to you and build up your profile, enabling us to choose the right investments and strategy for you that matches your tolerances and goals.

Is the time right for you to invest?

Market timing is a common tactic employed by day traders but is inherently risky and research has shown that it is not profitable in the long term. Therefore, it does not affect investors nearly as much. For the long-term investor, many other strategies are far more appropriate, whilst reducing exposure to risk. Our advisers can help figure out which strategy would work best for you.

I dont like the stock market. Can i make a return without any risk at all?

The stock market has beaten other traditional investments over a long period in terms of returns, but with thousands of stocks available globally, bad decisions are not hard to make. There is no such thing as a free lunch, nor a completely risk-free investment. Every choice has an opportunity cost, particularly what to do with your money. Despite this, when it comes to investing, risk can be minimised by employing appropriate asset allocation and diversification strategies.

Is it expensive to invest?

No, it doesn’t have to be. Many advisers choose funds with an annual management charge of 1-2% as they get paid by the fund managers, which often leads to obscure charging structures. However, we at SJB Global believe in being transparent and fair. We can find you an equivalent or better fund, with the same risk appetite, that charges less than a quarter of that price, saving you potentially thousands a year.

We pass these savings directly on to our clients, meaning they are ahead of alternative strategies before even considering returns. These savings compound year-on-year just the same as higher investment return would, meaning we can reduce clients’ risk taken whilst achieving the same or even higher returns than they were getting before.

Our job is to choose the best solution at the lowest cost to ensure your profit potential is maximized, at a risk tolerance that suits you.

Asset Allocation

Choosing the right asset allocation is paramount. This will differ depending on age, your investment time horizon and attitude to risk, and is generally spread across stocks, bonds, and money market funds. The outcome of having the correct allocation is minimising the risk across your whole portfolio

Attitude To Risk

First, we need to understand what best describes your attitude to risk, whether that’s low risk, medium risk, high risk, or something in between. The types of investments chosen will depend on your risk appetite and the larger the risk you take, the larger your potential is for gains as well as losses.

Review

Investments need to be reviewed regularly as your attitude to risk changes. This will happen as you progress through stages of your life, market conditions change, and other options become available. For example, someone who is retired will usually take less risk than a 30-year-old who will continue to contribute to their pension for a long time to come. We conduct thorough annual reviews with every client, as well as quarterly updates on the progress towards their goals.
SJB Global