Investment Consulting - Portfolio Assessment

Our portfolio assessment is designed to answer the question, "How well is my portfolio doing?" We examine the investment arrangements that you currently have in place to determine whether they are suited to your circumstances.

While an initial portfolio assessment can be as general or as detailed as you wish, our analysis would normally be comprised of the following steps:

  1. We gain an understanding of your investment knowledge, experience and goals.
  2. We determine your future cash flow requirements from the portfolio and the investment time horizon.
  3. We consider the rate of return that you require to achieve your financial objectives.
  4. We look at asset mix and the level of risk or volatility that you can comfortably accept.
  5. We examine the degree of diversification of the investments and the investment style being used. (The impact of concentrated holdings in assets such as stock options, real estate and collectibles is considered.)
  6. We review the ease or complexity of the overall account management, the quality of reporting you receive, and the costs.
  7. We look at your portfolio's performance to determine if it is satisfactory relative to your required rate of return, to an appropriate composite index and to the performance of other managers with a similar investment mandate.

We compare the results of our analysis to your existing Investment Policy Statement (IPS). If an IPS is not in place, then we can help to prepare one. An IPS outlines your expectations for the management of your portfolio and the performance measures to which you will hold the manager (of which you may be one) accountable. It is important that you and your portfolio advisor agree on the initial parameters so there will be no misunderstanding about your investment objectives later.

We strongly encourage clients to have their portfolio assessed on an annual basis. In addition to ensuring that the Investment Policy Statement is being followed, our on-going performance monitoring of your portfolio will compare your actual rate of return to:

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