Approach
Design-driven, not history-driven.
Most portfolios are inherited: a collection of holdings built up over time and rationalised after the fact. We start the other way around: define the outcome first, then engineer the portfolio to meet it.
Three principles behind every portfolio.
Conviction is spent where it counts, complexity has to earn its place, and the result has to be explainable in a sentence.
Allocation does the heavy lifting.
Most of the return, and most of the risk, comes from how a portfolio is allocated, not from individual selection. We spend our conviction there first.
Active risk only where it earns its fee.
Where we can demonstrate an edge, we take active risk deliberately. Where markets are efficient, we implement simply and at low cost, and pass the saving on.
Built to be explained in a sentence.
If a portfolio can't be explained simply, it's usually more complex than it needs to be. Clarity is a design requirement, not an afterthought.
When off-the-shelf wasn't an option
These were clients planning a relocation overseas: a once-in-a-lifetime transition, with three things no model portfolio is built for, at the same time. Standard products could each cover part of it, but only by layering several together: overlapping strategies, extra cost and added complexity.
A fixed move date the portfolio had to be fully ready for, with no margin.
Their wealth sat in one currency, but it would all be spent in another entirely.
Their time horizon matched no standard model the market had built.
We designed one to order.
Rather than bend a standard product to fit, we designed one portfolio around what these clients needed: their move, their currency and their timeline.
Architecture built around the event, the currency and the horizon together.
Active risk only where we could prove an edge; simple everywhere else.
Committee governance and full look-through from day one.
Design manages cost and complexity, not market risk: like any investment, a designed portfolio can still fall in value.
Do you have a client who doesn't fit the standard options?
Start a conversationWhat a designed portfolio gives clients.
These benefits aren't unique to this case. They come with any portfolio we design from scratch, rather than inherit.
Clarity
A portfolio they can understand and explain in a sentence, with reporting that actually makes sense.
Beneficial ownership
Clients hold the underlying assets directly, with tax assessed on their own circumstances.
One change, every account
Decisions are implemented across every account simultaneously, with no account-by-account trading.
Full transparency
Complete look-through to every holding and the reason each one is there.
Committee governance
Every decision passes an experienced investment committee.
Cost discipline
Simple, low-cost implementation where markets are efficient, with the saving passed on.
Five steps, applied to everything we run.
Define the requirement
The real objective, constraints and horizon, in the clients' terms.
Design from first principles
A single architecture built around those constraints, not retrofitted.
Govern it properly
Tested and overseen by the committee.
Implement with discipline
Clean execution, a clear view on cost, no unnecessary moving parts.
Report for clarity
So clients see exactly what they hold, and why, at any time.
Start with the need, then engineer the portfolio.
The principle behind every Agentia portfolio.
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