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Investing for Outcomes - September 2014

    CPD
    Approx.60min

    Introduction

    But given the current macroeconomic environment, where interest rates are at, or close to, zero, where returns on cash in the bank are minimal and economic recovery remains in a critical period, investors are becoming more specific about what they want from their investments.

    This is demonstrated by the spate of new products that have come to market in recent years targeting specific risk levels or volatility. It’s been partly driven by the Retail Distribution Review’s increased focus on risk attitudes and the meeting of clients’ needs, and partly because of the macroeconomic environment.

    Equity markets may have rallied, but the memories of the financial crisis and inevitable recession remain clear in people’s minds, and as a result attitudes to risk and the way advisers can identify this, and product providers can develop solutions to meet it, are coming to the fore.

    Meanwhile, regulatory and policy changes, most notably in the form of the pensions overhaul announced in the Budget in March, have opened up new opportunities and challenges for investors.

    With retirement potentially stretching 30 years, no longer being required to buy an annuity can offer almost unlimited flexibility with your pension pot, but also potential risk. And with many people still unprepared for retirement, the issue of income replacement for older investors and the pension reforms themselves, are something both advisers and investors need to become better acquainted with.

    As Jasper Berens, head of UK funds at JPMorgan Asset Management, notes: “Advisers will have to raise their expertise to meet a newly opened market, requiring them to gather significant context across capital markets, investment strategies, and financial planning – not to mention no single client will have the same set of circumstances.”

    The investment challenges also include deciphering and comparing the strategies that are available for investors, whether it is income funds, multi-strategy options, absolute return or tackling the differences between risk-rated and risk-targeted offerings.

    While the post-RDR world was meant to make things more transparent and produce a ‘level playing field’, the combination of macroeconomic developments, investor risk attitudes and policy changes, mean advisers still have plenty of work to do in arriving at the right solutions for their clients.

    In this guide Financial Adviser and Investment Adviser, in association with our sponsor Aviva Investors, outline the key issues facing investors and advisers in the post-RDR world and the array of products before them, to try and make comparing strategies that little bit easier.

    Nyree Stewart is features editor at Investment Adviser, Melanie Tringham is features editor at Financial Adviser

    In this special report

    CPD
    Approx.60min

    Please answer the six multiple choice questions below in order to bank your CPD. Multiple attempts are available until all questions are correctly answered.

    1. The IMA Targeted Absolute Return sector was the second best selling IMA sector last year with net retail sales of how much?

    2. What is the average three-year return of the IMA Targeted Absolute Return sector?

    3. How many of the 37 IMA sectors saw positive net retail inflowsin the 12 months to June 2014?

    4. What is the score given to risk-rated funds to indicate how risky the portfolio is?

    5. How many consumers has the DWP estimated are under-saving for an adequate pension?

    6. What has Standard Life’s Gars fund achieved in gross return since its inception in 2006?

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