I think that it is important to emphasize that we are a client centric business. The one essential feature of our company is a focus on the best outcomes for our clients. We value our clients and we value our relationships with our clients.
We are completely independent, and this is an important feature of our care for our clients. Unlike a number of large institutions and smaller Advisor Companies, we are not compelled to use any specific investment instruments or products to satisfy any set targets. We do not have targets or goals for any of our Advisors and we have never had any meeting to discuss our company targets. Our meetings are aimed at understanding our clients’ experiences and our clients’ returns.
Historically, we looked at all of the investment instruments available to the investing public and, after careful consideration and research, we accepted that that Unit Trusts are the safest most regulated instruments available to investors. The next consideration, was, which of these Unit Trusts to use.
There were originally about 900 Unit Trust Funds to choose from, and we tried very hard to sift through and select the most appropriate of these Funds for each client. We recognised that this is a moving target. As markets changed, we needed to constantly review our clients’ portfolios, and timing became a very important factor. We also realised that all advisors were experiencing the same difficulties, so we formed a grouping of Advisors who put our heads together to find a solution.
We formed an Asset Management Company, First Global Asset Management, and we now employ Asset Managers to manage our client portfolios on a full-time basis. By using a Fund-of-Funds structure, switches can be made regularly without incurring Capital Gains Tax, and our client portfolios are kept up-to-date with the best combination of Funds available at the time. The selection of Funds is made on a completely independent basis; there is no loyalty to any particular Fund or Asset Management company. The assessment of each Fund for inclusion in the Fund-of-funds follows a very comprehensive process, covering all of the variables which affect these Funds.
This then freed us up to concentrate on what we do best, which is to give advice and follow up on our clients’ investment returns relative to their risk profiles.
We have now built up a team of very competent Advisors and they are very ably backed by experienced and efficient admin staff. It has been very important for us to ensure that if anything were to happen to any of our Advisors or admin staff, our clients would not be affected in any way. We work as a team, and we are all available to assist any of our clients at any time. As clients have retired and moved from the Zululand area to other centres around the country, we have gradually moved to care for them in those towns and cities.
We have an office in Cape Town and Susan Anderson is based in that office. Sandy is based in Durban, Danielle is based in Mtunzini and Cape Town, and Louwrens is based in Richards Bay.
We have recently appointed a new admin lady, Matty, in Sedgefield, on the Garden Route. Kyle and Seko are recent appointments in Richards Bay, and it won’t be long before they will be in a position to help you with your queries and in time to come, to give you advice. In Richards Bay we also have Yolande and Glenda, who both have extensive experience. Clients generally get used to dealing with one admin member and dislike change, but the point I would like to make here is that all our admin staff are very competent and professional, and from time to time, we will ask you to deal with an alternative admin person to ensure that no one admin person is overloaded with work. Change is never comfortable, but with growth comes change, and we will try to make it as seamless as possible for you.
Finally, finding a succession plan has had its challenges. I have had many offers to purchase the business, but that would entail walking away and hoping that you, our clients, are happy with the new arrangement. Most of these suitors would want to change your investments to place them into their dedicated Funds, and you would be faced with new Advisors and some new admin staff. We have rejected these offers because we do not believe that they would be in your best interests. We have now built up a team of very competent Advisors who form the backbone of my succession plan, and an admin team who all accept that our primary concern is for our clients. All we need now is for the markets to continue to rise steadily to add to our financial security.
