- It's never too late (Non-Habitual Residence (NHR)) - Published Oct 2018 by Raoul Ruiz Martinez
- Are You on Top of GDPR? - Published May 2018 by Raoul Ruiz Martinez
- Financial Fitness - Published Jan 2018 by Raoul Ruiz Martinez
- Six Tough Questions You Need to Ask - Published in Nov 2017 by Raoul Ruiz Martinez
- Plan for a Successful Retirement - Published Oct 2017 by Raoul Ruiz Martinez
- 5-year Plan, 10-year Plan, 30-Year Plan. Do you have yours? - Published August 2017 by Raoul Ruiz Martinez
- The Will Bank Opportunity by John L Douglas - Published in The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland 17th July 2017
- August 2017 - HMRC & Offshore Accounts for UK Residents
- A New Year, A New Start…. January 2017
- Inheritance Tax (IHT) Planning (Part 3) - Published November 2016
- Planning for a Better Future? Forget Trusts. Think Family Investment Companies! - Published Nov 16
- Inheritance Tax Planning (Part 2) - Published August 2016
- BREXIT: What do we know as investors and what are the unknowns? Published in July 2016
- Inheritance Tax Planning (Part 1) - Published in June 2016
- Why is tidy a key word in financial planning? Published May 2016
- The Future of International Financial Planning - Published in March 2016
- Volatility: Global Financial Markets and Tax - Published Feburary 2016
- Financial Information Sharing for 2016 - Published December 2015
Summary of the 2015 Pension Flexibility - Published 5th May 2015
Offshore bonds get £5k tax free savings boost - Published 29th April 2015
How your peers invest clients’ money: Finesco Financial Services Ltd - Published in Professional Advisor 25th March 2015
- TRUSTS : Good Reasons to Never Make a Change - Published March 2015
- Saving....for Ourselves - Today's children will need A £2.4m pension pot.
- Cash is King - Article Published 25th July 2013
- Saving – Don’t Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today - Article Published 23rd May 2013
HMRC Statutory Residence Test - 6th April 2013
- QNUPS Article Published 23rd March 2013
- Old New Year - Article Published 24th January 2013
- Retirement and Savings – The Facts on Inflation published November 2012
- Finesco Prsentation on New Pension Rules - A New Generation Begins
HMRC Pension Tax Relief Changes
- Emergency Budget:
- Budget Day: 22 June 2010
- Capital Gains Tax Angles
- Long Term Care
- QROPS: Transferring UK Pensions Overseas
- The State of Pensions
- ISA Changes Affecting You



How your peers invest clients’ money: Finesco Financial Services Ltd - Published in Professional Advisor 25th March 2015
Published in Professional Adviser on 25 Mar 2015
To read the Article Published in Professional Adviser Online please click here
In the first of a new series exploring firms’ investment processes, Brendan Llewellyn uncovers Glasgow-based IFA Finesco Financial Services’ approach…
A quick bit about Finesco
Established in 1984, Finesco has a team of six advisers with paraplanner support and a long-standing relationship with a firm of tax consultants in the Algarve – euroFINESCO s.a. – which advises on taxation and fiscal residence. This profile is based on an interview with managing director Jim Dowds.
What is Finesco’s general investment approach?
Creating and managing investment portfolios is an essential part of the Finesco client service, founded on a rigorous client approach designed to establish the best possible understanding of their terms of reference and attitudes to risk and capital loss.
Essentially, Finesco operates an in-house approach where the solution may either be based on model portfolios or fully bespoke, depending on client needs. Reflecting the belief that an advisory practice must add value to its client’s financial well-being, there is a leaning towards active funds in portfolio construction.
Is there a single approach or does it vary depending on client needs?
The basic approach is common to all clients. But in some cases the clients are younger (perhaps children or even grandchildren of original clients, so in those cases the objective may be to help build capital resources).
The actual investment solution will involve model portfolios or, for clients with more complex requirements or a deeper investment history with existing investments or property to take account of, the portfolio is more likely to be fully bespoke.
What variation, if any, is there between different advisers in the practice?
All advisers follow a defined process. Advisers have at least ten years’ experience, and most have much more, so they are fully able to interpret client requirements and ensure that the investment solutions map accurately to the client’s needs and attitudes.
How did the proposition develop?
The practice has been running since 1984 and the approach to investments has evolved over time. Thirty years ago, a much simpler approach involving a very small number of funds would be used for most clients.
The availability of better technology has allowed easier access to a much broader investment universe along with more sophisticated fund comparison.
What approach is taken to risk assessment?
There is a three-part approach to the client planning process.
First, the adviser holds an open discussion with the client, where broad goals are covered – including needs for capital growth or income flows. The conversation allows the experienced adviser to take a view on the client’s attitude to risk and capacity for loss, with the latter given more emphasis for most. From this, the client’s terms of reference are drawn up and the initial relationship is established.
Step two: the client is asked to characterise their views on risk from a prepared list of options.
The third step is a risk questionnaire, and Finesco uses the eValue version. The adviser then assesses all three steps, looks for inconsistencies requiring attention and ensures that the client’s time scales both for capital overall and for individual elements (retirement, for example) and ensures that this is reflected in the plan.
The final ‘score’ is then mapped to an appropriate asset allocation. For clients with simpler requirements, a set of pre-populated model portfolios are used, as provided by FE.
Where the client has wider pre-existing investments, which may include property, business assets, etc. Then a portfolio would be built, selected from a universe pre-screened by FE (about 120) are screened, though Finesco may draw from wider sources to supplement a portfolio.
Who manages the proposition?
The management team, including an in-house fund manager, advisers, and paraplanners within Finesco, meet regularly to review various key performance indicators and share experience with fund houses, managers and external sources, including FE.
How is success measured and benchmarked?
Ultimately, success is related back to the clients’ objectives. In addition, all portfolios are run with defined benchmarks, which are a combination of asset class and fund universe measures.
How often is the proposition reviewed, and what do these reviews consist of?
Finesco uses and reacts to the FE critical alert service, flagging up performance, style changes or manager movements. They also use their own research capability and direct information either to adjust client exposures or to engage with FE. Future changes to the proposition are more likely to be at the level of details, covering which sources are used for which aspect of the proposition build and delivery.
What advantages to clients and the business arise from Finesco’s choice of investment proposition?
Clients benefit from close personal professional attention and are confident that the plans they have in place via Finesco are created with only their needs in mind. At the same time, the business benefits because relatively few other sources of this type of service are available to clients of the practice.
What are the main challenges in operating the proposition?
This is a mature advisory practice with a stable team of advisers and an excellent record in client retention. It has strong professional connections and, while recruitment of new advisers is always a challenge, the main day-to-day challenge is in ensuring that client portfolios continue to reflect their requirements and that changes in the economy and investment markets are suitably reflected in the portfolios.
The requirement, as Dowds said, is “to ensure solutions are not just compliance-correct, but client-correct”. Essentially, this is an in-sourced investment proposition, where the practice feels fully accountable for the client outcomes. Inevitably this means that the business resources must be continuously focussed on the matter of client investments.