Financial Intelligence & Advisory
A strategy is not a list of holdings. It is a written statement of what the portfolio is for, what it may not do, and what would cause it to change.
Sample policy allocation
Written
Policy allocation with permitted ranges
Defined
Rebalancing rules set in advance
Bespoke
Every mandate is structured around the client
Portfolios drift. They accumulate positions taken for reasons no longer remembered, tilt toward whatever performed most recently, and end up expressing a view nobody would deliberately choose today.
Investment strategy work replaces that drift with an architecture: an objective stated in numbers and dates, a policy allocation derived from it, ranges within which the allocation may move, and rules for when it must be brought back.
The result is testable. Every future decision can be checked against the document — and when a decision breaks the rules, that becomes a deliberate, recorded choice rather than an accident.
The strategy begins with the mandate: what this capital must achieve, by when, and what it must never be exposed to.
A long-run allocation across asset classes designed to meet the objective within the constraints — with each weight justified by its role, not by recent performance.
Downside is designed first. We map how the portfolio behaves in defined adverse scenarios and set the limits that keep it inside its mandate.
Rules that remove discretion at the moments discretion is least reliable — after a sharp move in either direction.
Objectives, horizon, liquidity needs and risk tolerance are captured and written down before any allocation is discussed.
A target allocation is constructed and stress-tested against the constraint set, with every weight given a stated role.
You receive a written strategy: mandate, allocation, ranges, risk limits, rebalancing rules and review schedule.
Reviews compare the portfolio to its own document. Changes are made deliberately and recorded with their rationale.
Deliverables
Well suited to
Not what this is
No. Client strategies are built from client circumstances — objectives, tolerance for loss and time horizon come first.
The mandate should change rarely; the allocation moves within pre-set ranges. A full rewrite is triggered by a material change in objectives, obligations or constraints — not by market moves.
Yes. A review compares the existing portfolio against a written mandate, and where no mandate exists, writing one is the first step.
Clients complete a structured discovery questionnaire before the first consultation. It produces a working strategy document that becomes the agenda for the conversation.