Walshs Investment Services

Investment Services

We pride ourselves on our ability to tailor investment recommendations to you, taking into account your income level, financial goals and risk preference. Below are some of the investment services we offer. To find out more about how we can advise on your investments please get in touch.

Investment portfolios

Our investment portfolios utilise a broad range of investment vehicles to achieve a combination of growth and income for our clients. Within our portfolios, a mix of direct equities, managed funds (including unlisted property funds), fixed income instruments, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and alternative investments are used to diversify the portfolio

Direct equities

For clients seeking bespoke portfolios with direct ownership, Walshs can build direct equity portfolios, with a range of blue-chip, long term and thematic direct investments. These portfolios are extensively researched prior to implementation and are reviewed every 90 days by our in-house analyst to ensure they remain appropriate to achieve our clients’ objectives.

Managed fund savings plan

A managed fund savings plan takes advantage of the power of compounding interest. The concept is centered around making regular contributions to an investment account, which are then invested into a suite of managed funds. The aim behind this is to create long-term wealth accumulation our clients can set-and-forget while maintaining liquidity. These savings plans are closely monitored, with regular asset allocation each quarter.

Managed Discretionary Account (MDA)

Financial markets often have the need for us to act quickly, meaning that we need to be able to execute transactions, that are in our clients’ best interests, quickly. A Managed Discretionary Account (MDA) gives us the authority to buy or sell investments on our clients’ behalf without having to contact them for consent. We follow guidelines and trading strategies outlined in our MDA Mandate. MDAs can invest in a number of securities, ranging from stocks in companies to managed funds, alternatives and ETFs. The objective of our MDA is to provide capital protection and long-term growth. Our funds have a range of investment targets, ranging from Consumer Price Index (CPI) + 1.5% to CPI + 4.5%.

Geared equity portfolio

If you are a medical professional (or a partner of a medical professional), you may be eligible to apply for a market leading geared investment solution. Walshs clients have access to a margin loan to construct a portfolio of large-cap Australian shares. This offers a tax effective, long-term investment that is free of margin calls for 10 years.

Investment bonds

For a lot of Walshs clients, minimizing tax within their investment is a key objective. As such, Walshs offers a variety of Investment bonds to offer long term returns and a tax effective way of accumulating wealth. Investment bonds take advantage of a flat 30% company tax rate on investments held within the bond. This is especially beneficial for clients who are on a higher marginal tax rate than 30%. Moreover, an investment bond offers tax free income and capital gains after 10 years. Therefore, for clients not seeking a family trust (and associated costs), an investment bond offers a tax and cost effective solution.

Alternative investment opportunities

Due to our well experienced and connected team, Walshs has a wide network of fund managers who can offer alternative investment opportunities. Some examples of this include unlisted property deals, venture capital offerings, and more recently, a carbon credit fund. These offers are usually wholesale-only opportunities.

Investment Types

Choosing the right type of investment to help you reach your goals is the key to your investing success. Our investment team is highly experienced in providing relevant advise about the types of investments that can make up your portfolio.

Managed Funds

A managed fund pools money from various investors together in order to purchase assets, such as cash, bonds, equities and property trusts. These funds are operated by the fund manager/s who make decisions on the asset allocation of the investors’ money. The main goal of fund managers is to create value – in the form of capital gains and income – for investors, and in return receive a percentage-based fee for their services.

Direct Shares

A direct share or stock/equity is a partial ownership in a publicly traded company that investors can purchase on a stock exchange. Once purchased, the investor becomes a shareholder in the company.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

An ETF is a security that consists of a portfolio of stocks which aim to mimic a certain index, much like a managed fund in some ways. However, this asset is traded on stock exchanges and is much more accessible to everyday investors.

Fixed Income Instruments:

Fixed income instruments are a type of asset where the issuer (or borrower) of the instrument is obliged to make regular, fixed payments to the owner (or lender) of the asset.

Alternative Investments

Alternative investments group all remaining investments, such as commodities, private equity and hedge funds. A good example of an alternative investment is a hedge fund or venture capital. This type of investment requires specialist platforms and advice. This may be more suited to wholesale or sophisticated investors.

Property

A property investment is deemed as ownership of a block of land or a building. This can be a place that you live or an investment/rental property.

Wholesale and retail clients

At Walshs, we pride ourselves on our ability to tailor investment recommendations to our diverse client base, whether it be differing levels of income, financial goals or risk preference, we can customize investment advice suited to you.

Retail Clients

Most of our clients sit in the retail investment category, where we offer managed fund savings plans, retail MDA offerings, geared investment portfolios tailored for medical professionals, and direct equity portfolios.

Wholesale Clients

For higher income or net worth clients, we offer a wholesale investment service. This allowsaccess to exclusive offerings and our wholesale MDAs, in addition to the retail suite of opportunities.

The Walshs Investment Committee

The Walshs research process is centered around our investment philosophy, that success is achieved through experience, knowledge and integrity.

Within our investment committee meetings, members identify potential areas in financial markets where excess return, or alpha, can be generated over the benchmark. This top-down macroeconomic approach is further backed up by extensive research, supplied by Craig Ferguson, Tim McAllister and Jesse Imer.

In the research process, potential investments are assessed on a number of fronts, such as peer comparison based on performance, fees, risk factors, management style and macroeconomic view alignment. The results from these tests are then discussed and acted upon in our monthly investment committee meetings.

The investment committee heavily leans on the experience of its members for the decision stage. With a diverse range of highly experienced individuals across specific financial markets, our investment committee is fully equipped to act with logic, reason and a steady hand in any situation that arises.

Committee Members

Simon Farmer

Chair of Investment Committee and Managing Director of Walshs

Simon has over 20 years of experience as a financial adviser, having been the managing director and founding parting of Walshs Financial Planning since 2006. Simon’s main role in the committee is to lead discussions and around key macroeconomic and geopolitical topics in meetings.

Michael Walsh

CEO of Walshs

Being the founder and most experienced member of Walshs, Michael provides valuable insight to current market conditions, backed up by over 30 years of industry experience.

Craig Ferguson

Director, Antipodean Capital Management Pty Ltd and Walshs IC External Asset Management Consultant

Craig is a crucial member of the Walshs investment committee through his detailed and precise breakdown of current macroeconomic conditions and forecasts. With over 25 years of industry experience, Craig’s observations of market conditions are a critical input into our investment committee’s decision making.

Jesse Imer

Multi-asset strategist at Mason Stevens

Jesse Imer joined Mason Stevens in June 2019 as Fixed Income Investment Strategist. He has 12 years’ finance experience across sales, trading and investment analysis.

Tim McAllister

Investment Analyst at Walshs

Tim is the youngest member of the investment committee, his role since 2020 has been to conduct research and analysis for meetings. Tim also assists in the implementation of changes from the meetings.

Objectives of the investment committee

The key objectives behind the investment committee are as follows:

- Collaboratively collate an up to date, clear and detailed understanding of current financial, macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions within Australia and abroad for its members.

- Apply this understanding to all of Walshs’ investment offerings, including the MDA, managed fund savings plan and direct equity portfolios.

- Use our knowledge to create fresh and promising investment ideas for our clients.

- Evaluate and assess the ability of the investment committee to continually preserve, protect, and grow the purchasing power of our client’s money over a long period of time. A key objective that is applied to all investment strategies is to generate a return no less than inflation.

Want to know more?

If you have any questions, our investment experts can help. Book a complimentary meeting at a time that suits you.

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