We start off by working through some of the foundational aspects of investment management including the relationship between risk and return. We also look at defining your investment objectives to align with your organisational purpose and provide you with the key elements of a ‘great’ Investment Policy Statement (IPS).

We provide some structures and frameworks trustees can use to ensure good governance. The first half of this section focuses on governance issues and introduces our fiduciary road map, a structure by which key investment decisions should be made. In the second half, we consider how to apply risk management processes to the fiduciary roadmap, particularly in regards to good governance and the importance of defining and understanding roles and delegation.

We look at investment planning and portfolio design. We outline the key principles of portfolio design to be considered to build an investment strategy that will best help your organisation meet its investment objectives. We also discuss why asset allocations differ among For-Purpose organisations and dispel some of the myths that are commonly portrayed about portfolio design.

We explore the construction of your investment portfolio including going into detail on picking the right investment managers for your specific asset allocation and investment needs. We look at ways to determine if your managers have robust research processes with our worksheet designed to show any gaps. This section also touches on striking the right balance between active and passive investment strategies.

The difference between an investment strategy and an investment solution is the ability to evolve to meet changing needs and circumstances. In this section, we discuss what you need to do to effectively manage your portfolio to meet your needs over time. We also have a worksheet to help you consider the governance around your decision-making and implementation processes and how best to apply the management of a portfolio to fit in with these processes.