JDFP - Diversity by Design

Research

We conduct multiple levels of research on a client's portfolio and make regular checks on the fund managers, along with individual funds.

As a part of this research we look at investment assets, how they manage the money, how they have performed (given market conditions, stability, and performance regularity), and how all the investments blend together.

We also check the platforms we use, with particular emphasis on features such as fees and charges, available investment menu and structural options for different types of clients.

We also research each product, looking at features including communication methods, simplicity, and ease of use.

Example: Recently, a popular fund returned about 15% for the financial year. This was rather nice, but why was it -15% Growth and +30% Income? This was rather strange and would impact on client's tax returns, so we spoke to the fund manager to find out why and what impact it would have on the future of the fund.

The current research reports can be found here.

Monitoring

The above example shows why it is so important to monitor investments and changes in market conditions.

With the current hysterical market condtions, changes can occur rapidly, so the days of a set and forget balanced fund are gone. Depending on circumstances, our client portfolios are monitored on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly cycle.

Both overseas and domestic market conditions are reviewed on most days and reported on weekly in our Sunday Summary Newsletter.