Investment Advice Melbourne

Investing is the process of allocating assets, usually liquid funds, to generate growth and income. At Progressive Financial Solutions, we provide investment advice to you based on your set objectives, whether to purchase a home, go on a holiday, provide for children’s education or grow your retirement wealth.

Our Investment Advice Approach

When meeting with you, we will discuss our investment process. There are several steps to follow to build a portfolio that suits your financial goals and preferences. These steps are:

Risk Profiling

You need to consider several factors to determine the most appropriate investment advice for your personal preferences and financial goals. A key driver of this decision is your risk profile which measures your attitude towards risk. Your risk profile will depend on how you feel about a range of different issues, such as your:

Comfort and knowledge of investment markets.
Preference for capital growth (compared to capital preservation and/or income).
Level of concern when markets suffer a loss.
Importance for your investments to keep pace with inflation
Investment time horizon.

Our Investment Advice Philosophy

We centre our investment philosophy on offering our clients transparent, cost-effective solutions. Our aim is to achieve strong real return outcomes over the long term. We believe that investment markets are the primary drivers of investment performance. However, we also acknowledge that quality active managers can deliver outperformance. We aim to build cost-effective and well-diversified portfolios that rely on a combination of market and active management returns over the long term to achieve your investment objectives.

Our portfolio construction process involves blending various asset classes and investments. We do this to produce an optimal portfolio for achieving an individual’s investments objectives based on their investment risk tolerance. Our process consists of two fundamental components; asset allocation and investment capability/selection. We aim to construct robust model portfolios that will perform consistently and deliver superior risk-adjusted returns in most market conditions.

We carry out portfolio modelling by testing combinations of asset classes and investments. Our portfolio modelling is based on historical returns, risk characteristics and performance correlations. Our modelling helps to identify a blend of investments expected to deliver an optimal return for a given level of investment risk.

Investment Advice Strategy Options

There is a suite of investment options available to be chosen based on your investment preference, objective and risk profile.

PFS Model Portfolio

We construct our PFS Model Portfolio with the use of managed funds. The PFS Model Portfolio provides a researched, low-cost, and quarterly reviewed portfolio. This is to ensure your investment needs are being met now and in the future. We invest across asset classes (Cash, Fixed Interest, Australian and International Shares and Property) to have funds invested in line with your risk profile. Investments in the PFS Model Portfolio have exposure to specialist sector managers and “passive or index managers” with an active tilt towards sectors and markets to add value over the medium to long term. We construct and review our PFS Model Portfolio based on our medium to long term economic and market outlook.

Managed Accounts

A managed account is a portfolio of assets managed by a professional investment firm. The professional investment firm invests in various investment options, including direct shares, exchange-traded funds, and managed funds in line with your risk profile. Investing in a managed account allows you to view underlying investment options within the fund (high level of transparency). A managed account provides you with beneficial ownership of underlying investment options and the ability not to inherit any embedded unrealised or realised capital gains.

When investing in a managed account, you receive regular communication from the professional manager about any trades they have made within the account and their current market perspective. This option allows you to be more involved in the investment process while not constantly doing your research/trades. This is the investment manager’s role.

PFS Active Model Portfolio

We construct the PFS Active Model Portfolio using various investment options (Direct Shares, ETFs and Managed Funds). We manage the PFS Active Model Portfolio daily with the view to create alpha over the long term.

We construct a portfolio of Australian Direct shares. You own the shares directly. We invest in sectors in the Australian share markets based on economic research and our outlook for markets over the medium to long term. We invest in individual shares within sectors with the guidance of external equity research reports. These equity research reports help us determine buying opportunities for selected stocks and selling prices for held shares.

Managed Funds

A managed fund involves pooling together money from different investors into one fund. The professional investment manager controls the underlying investments within the managed fund. Fund managers invest on behalf of the pool investors and in line with their investment philosophy. You receive ‘units’ ownership of the managed fund upon investment.

Multi-Manager Funds

Single or few portfolios that invest in underlying managed funds. Similar to our PFS Model Portfolio; however, we do not have control of the underlying managed funds you invest in. This is the responsibility of the multi-manager fund manager.

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are securities listed on the stock exchange (i.e. Australian Stock Exchange) that invest in a collection of underlying securities. ETFs are an investment that typically aims to track an asset class or a basket of assets.

Structures for Holding Investments

There are various ways of owning investments. These can include in your name, in your spouse’s or kids’ names, via a family trust, superannuation or private company. There are some issues to consider when determining the most appropriate structure to hold the investments. These include:

Tax
Fees and costs
Liabilities and responsibilities
Flexibility and complexity
Estate planning

We provide regular updates to clients on portfolio performance

We aim to take the financial stress off your plate. Therefore, we are proactive in providing our clients informed on the performance of their portfolio. As part of the advice and implementation of any financial strategy, we provide you with regular portfolio reviews and updates. This allows you to ask questions, request a review of the product in your plan, or meet us to get further advice or discuss a change in your circumstances.