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After previously making the short list for a prestigious investment performance award in 2012, Cave & Sons’ respected Investment Management team have gone one better in 2013, winning a Platinum Award in the inaugural Portfolio Advisor Wealth Manager Awards. The winners in the hotly contested categories were announced at an invitation-only event in London, attended by the great and the good of the UK Wealth Management world.
The event included representatives from the full spectrum of client propositions and representatives from both large firms and those with a boutique offering. The awards aimed to reward investment firms for excellence in running private client portfolios, with an independent panel of twelve industry experts asked to assess the merits of the entrants with rigorous analysis of each firm’s portfolio performance.
The team of judges assessed the performance of Cave’s Totus Discretionary Portfolio Management Service, an offering open to clients with as little as £10,000 to invest. This service features ongoing professional management, access to institutional funds and reduced transaction costs. It can be utilised for direct personal investment as well as for ISA’s, pensions and trusts.
Andrew Cockerill, Cave’s CEO, commented: “We are delighted to have been recognised in two national industry awards in quick succession. This is a real vindication of our investment management process that is now the core of our business. Many people still think of ‘Cave’s, the stockbrokers’, but we are much more than that these days.”
Further information on this service can be obtained by visiting www.caves.co.uk/totus or by contacting the firm’s head office on (01604) 621421 or enquiries@caves.co.uk
Tagged Cave & Sons, Discretionary, investment management, northampton, Portfolio Advisor Wealth Manager Awards, Totus |With effect from 1st January this year, a number of significant changes took place within the world of Financial Services. The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) came into force, bringing with it sweeping changes with regard to how financial advice and the sale of investment products can take place. The most significant and widely talked about aspect of which is the removal, or banning, of commission payments to financial advisers recommending investments, such as unit trusts, ISAs and pensions, from the providers of these investments.
The payment of commission by providers has long been seen as a barrier to receiving truly unbiased advice, with the obvious potential for a conflict of interest to arise when selecting the relevant investments for an individual (or couple) seeking financial or investment advice. Moving forward, the new rules require a fee to be agreed between the adviser and client for the provision of the relevant services and advice required, making the whole process far more transparent as a result. This is something we applaud and indeed, has been part of our offering for many years now.
Less widely talked about within the wider media, although just as significant, is the increase in the minimum qualifications required to act as a registered individual for the purposes of providing regulated investment advice. In the UK, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) must approve an individual working in a regulated firm before they are able to conduct certain types of business, such as selling or advising on investments like personal pensions, unit trusts and life assurance policies. These individuals, and the firms they work for, can only engage in regulated activities if they are currently authorised by the FSA or registered to do so. Such activities could typically include the on-going provision of advice regarding your existing investments and pensions and therefore, not just the purchase of new products and investments.
However, many advisers previously authorised by the FSA have made the wholly unsavoury move to become ‘shadow advisers’, having failed to obtain the minimum qualification requirements to be deemed competent under RDR and therefore, with effect from 31st December 2012, will have been removed from the FSA register and, as such, no longer authorised to provide any regulated advice. However, using ‘smoke and mirrors’ many are still meeting up with clients and reviewing portfolios and investments. This is something which the FSA will no doubt be extremely unhappy with and which goes completely against the ‘spirit’ of the new regulations.
At Cave & Sons we, of course, have only highly qualified advisers working for us but would advise anyone receiving advice from other firms to check to ensure that their adviser is still authorised to provide on-going advice (including portfolio and policy reviews) under the new rules. This can easily be done by checking the FSA register (www.fsa.gov.uk) and going into ‘individuals search’ to check whether that particular person is listed as ‘active’ or ‘inactive’.
Should you wish to discuss any aspect of your portfolio or existing investments and policies, Peter can be contacted on 01604 621421 or by email at pbrydon@caves.co.uk
Cave & Sons Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA number 143715
To view our latest Investment Review, please click here.
Tagged bank of england, citywire, ECB, equities, finance, fiscal cliff, ifa, investment review, leicestershire, mario draghi, market harborough, milton keynes, movember, northampton, Northamptonshire, pensions, quantitative easing, rdr, stockbrokers, stockbroking |
With the coalition government having now completed half of its term in government, the Chancellor was under pressure to deliver more measures to stimulate growth in his Autumn Statement. Facing a faltering economy largely knocked off course by external factors, George Osborne had little room to manoeuvre, targeting workers at the top, middle and bottom of the financial heap with a raft of money-saving measures. He ordered a tax raid on higher earners’ pensions, warning that Britain is only a third of the way through its age of austerity.
The main highlights are summarised below:
TAXES
PENSIONS & SAVINGS
ECONOMIC FORECASTS
Cave and Sons, one of the Country’s longest established, independent firms of investment managers, financial advisers and stockbrokers are delighted to have been shortlisted in the prestigious Citywire Wealth Manager Investment Performance Awards 2012. Up against some of the best investment firms in the country, Cave’s have been selected as one of the top three firms in the Small Firm category.
The Small Firm category is for those organisations that manage assets up to £1.5bn and recognises unparalleled performance amongst some of the industry’s best discretionary investment managers.
According to Citywire, “these awards focus entirely on quantitative performance, recognising only the most skilled investors in the discretionary investment manager community”. The Citywire Wealth Manager Awards are one of the highest regarded in the UK. This year over 50 managers entered the awards, the shortlist and winners being chosen by a panel of experts.
For Cave & Sons, Director and Head of Investment Management, Simon Harvey IMC FCSI commented; “The mainstay of Cave’s business is providing investment management services to private individuals, pension funds, Trusts and Charities, so to have our investment performance recognised in such well regarded and competitive awards is a great vindication of our investment approach. We are delighted.”
Simon believes that being shortlisted is particularly pleasing in such challenging investment conditions. “The awards judge a firm’s investment track record over three years, during which time we have been able to deliver returns for clients despite the difficult economic and investment backdrop.”
More information on Cave & Sons Investment Management solutions can be obtained by calling the Head Office on (01604) 621421 or emailing enquiries@caves.co.uk.
Tagged Cave & Sons, Caves, charities, citywire, Discretionary, leicester, market harborough, milton keynes, northampton, Northamptonshire, small firm, Totus, wealth manager |
At this time of austerity, it is easy to forget the benefits of retirement planning through a tax efficient structure such as a registered pension scheme. Whilst everyone typically knows that such arrangements can be used to accumulate funds to help provide an income throughout their retirement, they also have various other supplementary features that may benefit you during your working life.
At present, anyone of working age benefits from a personal allowance for income tax purposes of £8,105, meaning that any earnings up to this point are effectively exempt from such tax. However, anyone in the position of having earnings in excess of £100,000 per annum will see this allowance reduced by £1 for every £2 earned over this threshold, thereby completely eroding the allowance once earnings exceed £116,210.
By making an allowable pension contribution you serve to reduce your taxable income by the amount of the gross payment and therefore could bring your earnings down below the £100,000 threshold referred to. For those earning between £100,000 and £116,210 this would result in an effective tax relief rate of up to 60%. For those earning above £116,210, a contribution could still be used to reduce the effective earnings accordingly and re-instate the allowance or at least reduce the extent of the erosion.
Another useful area for pension funding is that of child benefit erosion. From next January, if either parent of a child earns in excess of £50,000 the child benefit payment reduces and is completely eroded once earnings hit £60,000. Again, a pension contribution can be used to help reduce the level of taxable earnings and thereby enable child benefit to be claimed (or reclaimed).
It is useful to remember that pension arrangements are exempt from tax on any capital gains made on the underlying assets held and that there is no additional tax to pay on any interest or dividends received from investments. Under current rules, up to a quarter of the accumulated fund can be taken as a tax free lump sum and tax relief is available at an individual’s marginal rate of tax up to 100% of UK earnings or £50,000 (whichever is lower). For those with sufficient earnings, it is possible to contribute more by use of ‘carry forward’ rules, thereby enabling amounts up to £200,000 to be made in one financial year. It is even possible for those with no earnings to make a contribution of up to £3,600 per year and receive tax relief at the basic rate, resulting in a net cost of only £2,880.
Should you be interested in discussing how some additional pension funding may potentially benefit you, or your employees, please contact Peter Brydon at Cave & Sons on 01604 621421 or by email at pbrydon@caves.co.uk
Tagged austerity, Cave & Sons, leicester, market harborough, northampton, northampton pensions, pensions, saving |
At Cave’s we have been providing investment management services and financial advice to Northamptonshire people, and many further afield, for well over a century. To us a client isn’t just a number or a commodity but a person, family or Trust whose interests we are lucky enough to serve and whose financial needs we are there to look after.
You might assume that all firms offering financial advice have the same objective, after all it is a service industry. However, a recent report by the Financial Industry’s regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA), issued in September 2012 has highlighted some shocking facts and is further evidence that this is not the case. The report found that of the 22 Banks, Building Societies and Insurers which the FSA investigated over the 12 months to September 2011, 20 had incentive schemes for staff which put customers at risk of misselling, some of which, according to Martin Wheatley of the FSA was ’very close to fraud, which is a criminal offence’.
According to Martin, ‘Some time ago, financial institutions changed their view of consumers from people to serve, to people to sell to.
‘It has been too easy, for too long, for those selling or giving advice to be motivated solely by the rewards on offer to them, rather than to enrich their customer,’ he said.
The report catalogues the strong incentives offered to staff to encourage them to sell consumers financial products with a ‘pile it high and sell it quick’ mentality.
At the same time, a seperate survey carried out by the Daily Mail has unveiled shocking testimony from staff put under pressure to sell products to customers by senior managers in what it termed ‘another day of shame for the Financial Services Industry’.
So how does that make me feel? Furious and embarrassed, but also proud. Furious when I think about all those who have been, and continue to, duped into receiving a poor service or inappropriate product, and paying ludicrously high commissions for the privelige. Embarrassed to be part of an industry that has allowed these practices to continue for so long unchallenged. But why proud? – Well, proud to be part of a company that has built its business model and reputation on providing a high quality ongoing service to its customers, with a fair and clear charging structure and staff who pride themselves on how well we meet our client’s needs and with an investment management track record to be proud of.
If you would like to discuss your investments with one of our highly qualified investment advisers then please contact Cave & Sons on 01604 621421
Simon Harvey IMC FCSI Director
Tagged Caves, fsa, investment, leicester, market harborough, martin wheatley, milton keynes, northampton, Northamptonshire, trust |To download your copy, click here.
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Euro forecast as gloomy as the British weather!
The UK stockmarket has been extremely volatile through the first half of 2012, trading in a wide range roughly between the 5200 and 5900 levels. The more positive sentiment across global stockmarkets that prevailed towards the end of 2011 has unfortunately begun to peter out during the past couple of months, despite some improving economic and corporate data in the USA and continuing intervention by the European Central Bank (ECB) to stabilise the European banking sector.
Trustees need to act before the Trustee Act bites them!
The Trustee Act 2000 introduced much wider investment powers for trusts. However, the ‘quid pro quo’ was a statutory duty of care upon trustees when exercising their power of investment and the requirement for trustees to seek professional advice.
Are your investments “Going for Gold”?
With Team GB about to embark on their quest for glory this month, thoughts turn to all things sport related. Just as an Athlete approaches their chosen discipline with the use of an organised training plan and by following a structured approach to his or her particular event in order to maximise their potential for success, the same should be said of your investment portfolio.
Also in this edition:
Cave & Sons Trust Review Service
A service from Cave’s worth shouting about!
The Totus service provided by Cave & Sons is used by professional introducers (both legal and accountancy based) throughout the East Midlands region and their clients have benefited from our balanced investment approach. This diversified approach, together with our active management, has ensured that the market volatility experienced since the service was launched 2 years ago has been moderated and a stable increase in underlying assets achieved.
Unlike many other stockbrokers’ investment services, our Totus service is not just limited to wealthy clients; it is available to anyone who has between £10,000 and £150,000 to invest. The Totus service can be suitable for individual investors, Will Trusts, modest personal injury claims, pension investments and Charities. It is also possible to hold Totus service investments within an ISA.
The Totus service has recorded an impressive gain of 14.0%, net of all charges during the previous 24 months in a difficult period for investment markets, whilst its benchmark, the FTSE-APCIMS Balanced Portfolio Index registered growth of just 6.1% and the FTSE 100 Index rose by 6% over the same time frame. The service has also achieved 1st quartile performance* over 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months, as well as over the full two year period.
Not only has this service achieved outstanding investment returns during a prolonged period of market volatility it is now available at a reduced cost, with Caves’ annual management charge recently reduced to 0.9% per annum.
For further details on the Totus service and its advantages please click here.
To request further information please click here.
*relative to IMA Mixed Investment 40-85% equity sector
Tagged APCIMS Balanced Portfolio, Cave & Sons, charities, FTSE 100, ima mixed investment, investment, northampton, pensions, personal injury claims, Totus, will trusts |
Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
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Reg Office: Lockgates House, Rushmills, Northampton, NN4 7YB - Reg in England No. 1916615 - VAT Reg No. 443759132
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