Investment selection
Howaninvestment earnsitsplace.
Braeside, Victoria
When a client comes to us with money to invest, the question we have to answer is simple: where should it go? There is no shortlist of products we have to use, no fund family we are paid to recommend, no platform we are tied to. We start from everything that is actually available to you, and we narrow it down to what fits your situation.
If you do not have a portfolio yet, we build one. If you already have one, we look at what is in it and tell you what we would change, what we would keep, and why. The rest of this page explains how that work is done.
How we work
Four things shape every recommendation we make.
Whether you are starting from cash, an inherited portfolio, or thirty years of accumulated holdings, the work is the same. These four things sit underneath every choice.
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01 / The starting point
We start with you, not a product.
Your situation, what you already have, what you need this money to do, and when you need it. The investments come last. Two clients with the same income and the same age can have very different right answers, depending on tax position, family situation, time horizon, and how much risk they can actually live with.
If we cannot articulate what your money is for, we are in no position to recommend where to put it.
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02 / What's available
Everything is genuinely on the table.
Managed funds, ETFs, direct shares both at home and overseas, listed property and infrastructure, government and corporate bonds, private credit where suitable, and currency-hedged exposure across regions. Developed and emerging markets. Domestic and international.
We are not tied to a particular bank, fund manager or platform. The investment universe available to you is global. The work is to narrow it down to a small number that fit you.
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03 / If you already have a portfolio
Existing portfolios stay where they should.
Most clients come to us with one. The work is not to throw it out and start again. Most of what is in a typical portfolio usually stays.
What changes is more often structural than directional: duplicate funds consolidated, the credit profile of an income fund examined, a model portfolio unbundled into direct holdings if that works better. We tell you what we would change, why we would change it, and what we would leave exactly as it is.
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04 / The reasoning
Every choice, in writing.
Each recommendation comes with what was considered, what was rejected, why we chose it, what role it plays in your portfolio, and the conditions under which we would sell it. The reasoning sits alongside the holding for as long as it is held.
So if anything later changes, the fund, the manager, the market, your situation, the right action is already written down rather than improvised in the moment.
Six tests
Six tests every investment has to pass.
These apply equally to a managed fund, an ETF, a direct share, a bond, a listed property trust, or anything else we might recommend. If an investment passes all six, your money goes in. If it fails one, it stays out. Most fail at least one. The recommendation you receive includes each of these answered, in writing alongside the holding.
General illustration only. Not personal financial advice. The tests describe how we work; what we would actually recommend for your situation is determined through advice.
When you bring us a portfolio
If you have built a portfolio over years, the work is not to start again.
Most of what is in it usually stays. What changes is more often structural than directional. Here is what that typically looks like.
Multiple Australian equity funds
Consolidate. The largest funds hold most of the same companies; owning two or three of them adds fees more reliably than diversification.
A high-yield income fund
Look at what is actually in it. The yield is what the market is paying you to take a specific risk; the question is whether that is the risk you wanted.
A model portfolio or SMA
Unbundle if owning the underlying holdings directly improves the outcome. Often the wrapper is most of the cost.
Holdings from a previous adviser
Review the original case for each. The position made sense when it was bought; the question is whether it still does.
International exposure
Usually there already, but often more concentrated and more currency-exposed than expected. Often the first place the structure needs work.
The work is not to recommend a different portfolio. It is to recommend the right portfolio for what you already have, what you are trying to do, and what you can do without.
There is no portfolio that is right for everyone. The whole job is finding the one that is right for you.
Get in touch
Bring us your portfolio, and we will tell you what we would change. And what we wouldn't.
If you already hold an investment portfolio, the introductory conversation includes a candid review of what is in it and how it is allocated. We will tell you what we would change, why we would change it, and what we would leave exactly as it is. If you do not have a portfolio yet, the conversation covers what we would put in place and how we would build it from there.
tim@secureportwealth.com- By telephone
- In person at Braeside
- Travel by arrangement
