Investment policy, allocation, and implementation.
We begin with the obligations the capital has to meet—spending, taxes, succession, and the operating business—and write the investment policy from those. Allocation and implementation follow the policy.
The test of an allocation is whether the family can hold it through a severe decline—which makes it a question about the family before it is a question about markets.
Most portfolios we review are competently constructed but undocumented: no written policy, no stated horizon, and no agreed definition of the risk being taken.
We work in that order: policy, then allocation, then implementation, with each stage documented against the one before it.
The components of the work.
Scoped to the family’s situation; few mandates require all of it at once.
Investment policy statement
A written policy covering objectives, horizon, liquidity needs, risk tolerance, constraints, and how decisions get made when markets are unpleasant.
Asset allocation
Allocation set against the family’s real obligations, with concentrated business or property holdings treated as part of the exposure, not outside it.
Implementation
Vehicle and manager selection assessed on total cost, tax drag, and transparency, with a preference for simple, liquid instruments.
Ongoing oversight
Rebalancing discipline, tax-aware trading, cash management, and periodic reporting against the objectives set in the policy.
When this applies.
Circumstances families describe when this is the right starting point.
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A concentrated position dominates the balance sheet and the family is unsure how much risk that represents.
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Proceeds from a sale are sitting in cash while the family decides what the money is for.
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Several accounts and managers are each doing something sensible, and collectively something incoherent.
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Nobody can produce a written statement of the family’s investment policy.
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Fees and embedded costs have never been laid out in one place.
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Investment decisions are being driven by tax considerations alone.
The sequence.
Consistent across mandates, varying in depth and pace.
Understand
We establish what the capital is for, who depends on it, what has already been decided, and which questions are unresolved. No recommendations are made at this stage.
Frame
We assemble the position in one place: assets, structures, obligations, and the tax and estate mechanics already in effect, presented as a single balance sheet.
Design
We propose an investment policy and planning approach in plain language, setting out the intended role of each holding, the principal risks, the total cost, and the trade-offs being accepted.
Steward
We implement, report, and review on a set schedule, with an out-of-cycle review triggered by material changes in the family’s circumstances.
Commonly combined with
Arrange a first conversation.
About an hour, at no cost and without obligation: your circumstances, what the capital is for, and whether our services are a fit.