What Financial Investment Management Services does Ascendia provide?
The Ascendia Investment and Portfolio Management arm of our business provides services for self-funded retirees and pre-retirees, and asset accumulators, including trustees of investment trusts, within two main areas: Investment Portfolio Management and Investment and Financial Advice
Our service is independently ASIC licensed and provides services on a fee-for-service basis. The service fees are based on activity and our costs involved in providing the service.
Further below you will find a summary of our investment and portfolio management services. Visit the investment portfolio management page for further information about this service. For investment advisory services, please use the links further below which will take you straight to the relevant sections of our dedicated financial and investment services section.
Unlike other investment management companies, our investment management services are backed by a multi-disciplinary team of not only investment managers, but also in-house commercial, property and estates lawyers, and accountants. Our experts collaborate daily to deliver clients extra options and opportunities they cannot access from service providers with a more narrow focus.
You'll find an Ascendia office near you in North Lakes, North Brisbane, and in Noosa and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. Please feel free to get in touch with the closest office to you to talk to one of our Ascendia investment managers.
Unlike many law, accounting and investment management companies these days - we do not offshore, outsource, or sub-contract any of our work or services.
Investment and Portfolio Management Services Available
Specialised Investment Portfolio Managers
Ascendia's investment portfolio services specialise in the provision of portfiolio management in the areas of income provision, defensive, moderately defensive and balanced portfolios.
Our highly experienced investment portfolio managers provide comprehensive financial and investment advisory services as dictated by our clients' needs and circumstances. In doing so, they have developed substantial experience and expertise in advising and managing investment portfolios.
Built-In Financial and Investment Advice
Our investment portfolio service comes with built-in financial and investment advice. This service is provided at no additional cost to you and is paid for by the initial years portfolio management service fees which you pay over the following year. Learn more about how Ascendia portfolio investment managers manage portfolios here.
These services include everything which needs to occur so we can manage your portfolio in accordance with your authority, and in keeping with your investment requirements and circumstances. For more information about this you can go to What Portfolio Type For Me? and How Do we Start Portfolio Services?
Investment Management Case Studies;
Planning your retirement...
"I need my superannuation invested in a way that provides me with a regular income but without high risks..."
Building your portfolio...
"With only 10 years until retirement, I need an investment team I can trust to grow my portfolio at a steady pace..."
Investing your compensation...
"After being injured in a sporting accident, I need someone to manage the compensation funds / capital very carefully..."
Our Investment Portfolio Management Service Values
Investment Products and Instruments Excluded
We believe in keeping things as simple as possible. As a result, unlike other investment management companies, we do not believe that you need to use complex trading strategies, leverage, or exotic instruments to derive a good solid investment outcome, and we do not recommend, or advise, on these either.
Direct Ownership and Portability
All the underlying investments are held in your name - the investor. This enables individual investors to participate in plans such as shareholder discount schemes or shareholder purchase offers etc.
This direct ownership also means that you retain the flexibility to move your portfolio at some time in the future without selling down your holdings and crystallizing capital gains.
Ascendia Portfolio Management Methodology
Ascendia investment managers create investment portfolios using a systematic portfolio construction process.
Our focus is on obtaining investment returns with the least amount of absolute risk, and to grow and preserve capital over the long term.
There are three steps to the Asset Allocation Process – your Benchmark Asset Allocation, your Strategic Asset Allocation settings, and the Sub-Group Allocations within each asset class.
Here’s how it works:
1. Benchmark Asset Allocation:
As the name suggests, this is all about setting a benchmark asset allocation based on the stage of life you are at, overlayed with your tolerance for capital volatility. It’s like a starting point or equilibrium point. It is how you would be invested in a relatively benign environment where you are happy to be fully invested in each asset class.
2. Strategic Asset Allocation:
Once your stage of life/benchmark asset allocation is set, we then adjust these allocations from time to time depending on our analysis and interpretation of:
- Prevailing key investment themes
- Global economic risks
This is the part that can make a substantial difference to your retirement, and is the piece that most people are missing (or do in a haphazard manner). It is all about risk management and capital preservation.
In practise, this will generally mean having a reduced (or no) exposure in "risk" assets (and some defensive assets) and a higher allocation to more secure assets for some periods of time - if the risks are deemed too high relative to the assessed potential returns.
We are focused - through the adjustment to asset allocation benchmarks - on the longer term business cycles and avoiding the big downturns accompanying economic recessions and/or severely overvalued markets.
3. Sub-Group Allocations within Each Asset Class:
Within an asset class, there are various sub groups of investments.
There are real diversification benefits to blending both sub-sectors and strategies that may not be highly correlated.
Therefore, we will diversify between sub groups within asset classes to help us achieve our objectives.
Individual Investment Asset Selection within Classes
Once the Asset Allocation process is complete, we can then turn to choosing individual investments within those asset classes.
Investments within the portfolio are selected via screening techniques that combine (where applicable):
- Fundamental quantitative analysis of asset quality and performance.
- Qualitative analysis including effects of the global macro-environment.
- Appropriate entry points using valuation analysis.
Assets our Portfolio Investment Managers Manage and Recommend to Clients
Ascendia only uses the assets in your portfolio that you authorise us to use.
We recommend and manage a range of assets as outlined below. However, we only recommend assets that are appropriate to your circumstances and that you understand. If you are not comfortable with an asset, you simply ask us to prepare advice without that asset or asset type included - it's your money and you are always in control of your funds.
- Australian Stock Exchange Listed Shares
- Australian Stock Exchange Listed Property Trusts
- Australian Stock Exchange Listed Hybrids and Subordinated Notes
- Australian Stock Exchange Listed Cash Funds
- Australian Stock Exchange Listed Managed Funds (a small % approximately 1 - 3% of your portfolio if requried to minimise risk)
- Direct "Over The Counter" Bonds
- Direct Fixed Income Managed Funds
- Direct Term Deposits
- Direct Cash bank Accounts
- Direct Specialised Managed Funds (a very small % in the 1 - 3% range of your portfolio to assist with diversification)
Ongoing Investment Portfolio Reviews
As risks and expected returns change in different asset classes, where prudent, we periodically amend your portfolio's exposure to these asset classes and subgroups.
The key aim is to manage risks, and in particular to reduce the impact of big downturns in risk assets (such as the share market) when it is considered appropriate.
As your circumstances change, your investment manager, as appropriate, will recommend amendments to your investment and financial strategy. If the change in your circumstances is routine, such as a need for more capital or income drawn, but not sufficient enough to require a complete rethink of your financial strategy - we simply do this work as part of your ongoing investment management service fees.
If you have a major life event where you need to completely change your financial management strategy, as well as your investment management approach, we may charge a fee for service depending on how much work is involved. Our Sunshine Coast and North Brisbane investment managers will provide an up-front, fixed fee quote for this.
Call us for Investment Management in Brisbane North or Sunshine Coast
Ascendia offices are found in North Lakes, Maroochydore and Noosa. Please contact the Ascendia office near you to speak with one of our local investment managers to discuss your needs and find out how we can help.