What our clients say

David advised me on consolidating my defined benefit and defined contribution pensions into one fund. It was a very complicated technical exercise which David guided me through with the utmost professionalism and integrity. He dealt with all the parties and kept me informed along the way including explaining deeply technical issues in a straightforward, understandable manner. I have no hesitation in recommending David.

Mark H

David manages my investments in a pension fund which is not my area of expertise, it's extremely reassuring to have found a financial advisor I can trust implicitly. I find David extremely approachable, knowledgeable and completely up to date with all the complexities that surround pensions and investments. As he says, 'no question is a stupid question', I feel completely at ease to ask him anything or express any concerns I might have. I always come away from my annual review feeling informed and reassured that my investments are in the best possible hands. David's office is a welcome beacon, relaxing and he makes a great cup of coffee!

Janey G

David has managed our financial affairs and investments for many years and we could not have chosen a better independent financial advisor. He is always available to answer our questions or give advice and we come away from our annual meeting knowing our investments are in safe hands. We cannot recommend Ferry Financial highly enough.

Mick M

David has been our financial advisor for 15 years and we have always been very pleased with his handling of our finances. He is always at the other end of the phone when we need him. I have no hesitation in recommending Ferry Financial.

Denise M

David has managed my investments for a number of years. The advice given by David is always clear, concise and understandable. He has a in-depth knowledge around the complexities of pension management and is happy to spend time talking through different scenarios. David is always available to answer any questions I may have and I come away from our discussions with a clear understanding of my options moving forward. As well as his technical expertise David is just a nice person to do business with and that makes a big difference in my book. I would be certainly be happy to recommend David to any of my friends or colleagues.

Kevin L

David helped us to consolidate our various pensions into SIPPs so we now have a greater understanding of how much we have in our retirement funds. David offers a first class service – he is always readily available to talk and deals with our requirements promptly and efficiency. It is very refreshing to have a personal service which is sadly lacking in the current culture of call centres. We have known David for over 12 years and we highly recommend him as a trusted Advisor.

Brendan and Jayne B

What is the best investment strategy?

Date Published:10/01/2008
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The answer is the one that gives you maximum returns with zero risk….. If only life were so simple!

Many investors will stumble into a number of pitfalls:

They are unable to develop an investment strategy.
They don’t know the required level of return to meet their objectives.
They chase last year’s winner.
They don’t understand the risk/reward relationship.
They never properly assess their own investment risk tolerance.
They don’t fully understand the nature of what they are investing in.
They don’t obtain real (after inflation) returns.
They ignore costs and taxes.

Having now dealt with a good financial and life planner, you can easily work out your investment strategy as you know where you are going, when and how much money is needed.

You will also need to undertake some investment risk tolerance analysis. This should not be you selecting a number between 1 and 5, or picking a risk tolerance description ranging from low risk, through medium risk and progressing on to high risk.

The best method is a questionnaire covering your views on various scenarios, leading to a scientifically validated risk tolerance analysis.

Be sure you obtain real, after inflation returns from your investment portfolio.

Be very wary of looking at past performance figures and statistics. We all know the quote, attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

It is easy for investment managers to select the performance data from a period that puts them into the best possible light.

Don’t follow the crowd. As amazing as this sounds, the majority of investment managers actually get it wrong. There is an enormous mountain of research that is ignored by a very large number of advisers. I’ll write more about this next time.

Diversification is absolutely vital. This is best summarised as, ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’. I would go a little further and state that the greater diversification the better.

You will now have a mix of investments so that you have cash to cover expenditure over the next 12 months, Fixed Interest investments to cover expenditure between years 2 and 7 and risk based investments such as Equities (Shares) or Commodities to cover expenditure over the period beyond 7 years.

This should all be constrained by your overall investment risk tolerance with adjustments made to take account of this.

Rebalancing is vital so that you always hold your ideal mix of investments. Quarterly rebalancing unless a 10% tolerance level is breached is best. This enforces the optimal, buy low; sell high, strategy.

If your investment strategy cannot provide you with sufficient returns to meet your objectives, you must have a discussion with your adviser to discuss the options.

On top of all this, make sure you understand all of your investments and ensure that you do not pay excessive fees and taxes on your profits.

I’ll discuss fees further in the future.

Next time I will discuss, ‘Why is passive investing better for investors?’