Is your investment portfolio bespoke to you?

You go to a Wealth Manager or Stockbroker or Fund Manager and request a bespoke portfolio. To you that means, building an investment portfolio unique to you. Now imagine 10 different individuals, requesting the same desire for a bespoke portfolio. In this instance, each has been assessed risk and allocated a 50/50 portfolio. It is then up to the fund manager to choose the underlying investments.

If each portfolio is unique, is it likely each portfolio return will be different? The answer is Yes. Why? The underlying investments are different. But out of the 10 people, is it fair you could end up in 10th place for performance? What if we are not talking about 10 people? What if it’s 1000 or more?

If you request a bespoke portfolio, you need to understand what that really means…often it’s not what you think it is.

Are you are prepared to compromise on returns due to uniqueness? Does that mean you are paying people to design your portfolio not for outperformance but for a portfolio that makes you feel good?

These are difficult questions to address, but it’s important when you allocate your assets for your future, you are cognizant of the mandates you are giving to those you delegate your money to. Bespoke gives you a feeling of importance, but does it give you outperformance?

If you want to check out your portfolio, try out our Investment Audit. It’s applicable to ISAs, Pensions, Trusts, Offshore investments, and General investments.