| Tell us more about the company’s philosophy – how did you accumulate assets in light of the volatile market conditions? |
| Part of our philosophy is to be professional. Often that means we need to lead our clients, rather than let them lead us, especially when we are working to satisfy our clients’ long term goals. As asset managers, it is our responsibility to protect and grow our clients’ portfolios and this means we need to be prudent and keep portfolios invested except in the most extreme market conditions. Up till now, we did not see the need to exit the market and just hold cash, and fortunately our clients agreed with us. Even in times of market volatility, our firm commitment and dedication is respected by our clients and potential clients, and we believe this was the reason we were able to attract clients and their assets. |
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| How do wealth advisers add value to clients in building a winning portfolio? |
| In addition to professionalism, we at Harris Fraser believe that a good knowledge of the markets, understanding the macro situation and analysing potential risks, is key to structuring winning portfolios. We do not agree with the thinking that we need to catch every upward movement in markets, as this involves too much risk. A consistent and thorough approach, based on comprehensive research, knowledge and experience, is instrumental to proving our value as wealth advisers. Of course we need to constantly educate our clients that a portfolio structured to be safe and consistent will often underperform the market during upward market swings, however, we also remind and highlight to clients that the exact portfolio will suffer less drawdown when markets are trending downwards. |
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| What’s your vision for the company 1 to 2 years in the future? What are the major risks and opportunities? |
| Our vision is to grow the company’s client base, one client and one financial advisor at a time, to be recognised as one of the best integrated financial services companies in Asia. We have a lot of work to do to bring this vision to fruition, but like our principles when structuring portfolios, we believe a long term focused and consistent approach is the right way to make it happen. We are appreciative that a great platform like iFAST exists to help us attract and serve clients. |
