Inside the mind of an Investment Manager, Alex

At the heart of everything we do is ensuring we have a deep understanding of our client’s overall financial position, their attitude to risk, their core objectives, and any other requirements they may have (this could be a set income target, certain investment restrictions or a request to have exposure to particular responsible investments). The result is a truly bespoke portfolio.

In the Cambridge office of Charles Stanley, we have a collaborative approach. All the investment professionals work together as one team to help manage client portfolios, with a lead point of contact that has overall responsibility for ensuring the portfolio meets your requirements.

Our investment style is a preference for good-quality ‘growth investments’ where there are structural drivers of long-term returns, with some ‘value investments’ in cheaper, perhaps overlooked assets held for diversification. We invest in direct shares and various collective investment vehicles - funds, investment trusts and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

We invest in both active and passive strategies, but we only pay for the typically higher costs of active management where we believe it adds value. The result of all this is a well- diversified and balanced portfolio.

How we navigate the current climate

When it comes to investing, the saying ‘it’s a marathon, not a sprint” certainly comes to mind. It is important to have a long- term time horizon and ride out any storms along the way.

We haven’t strayed too far from our core belief in quality growth investments but as the value style tends to outperform in periods of high inflation, we have slightly increased our exposure to these types of investments over the past year. The key is ensuring any portfolio is well diversified but not overexposed to any single asset type, geography (country), style or individual investment, and is built for the long term.

Looking for professional advice? Find out more about our investment management services.