A couple of weeks ago, I was in Amsterdam for a meeting of the EBIS group.  The EBIS (Evidence Based Investment Solutions) group are a collection of like-minded financial planning businesses from around the UK. The purpose of our meetings is to constantly challenge our individual and collective thinking.

Investment matters

The first item on our packed agenda was the make-up of our investment portfolios.  All EBIS members share the same investment beliefs with tweaks and variations that meet needs of our individual business. The questions raised included: Are we still using the best of breed funds?  Are the funds and resulting portfolios doing what we expect them to?  Are there any credible reasons to change our beliefs?  Are we using the best platforms to deliver our client’s needs?  How can we better analyse portfolio performance? What storm clouds or opportunities lie on the horizon?

I’m pleased to say that our investment choices at fund, portfolio, performance and platform level all continue to do exactly what we want them to do.

Modelling

We then moved to discussions around how we can best explain and demonstrate to our clients the risks associated with living off their portfolios; that is the impact of spending too much too soon, or the impact of poor portfolio returns early in “drawdown” or retirement.  We are exploring a number of new tools and applications to support our cashflow modelling.

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine

The real beauty of the group is the willingness to share best practices, challenges and successes. Whether that’s new annual reporting ideas, CGT calculators, presentations, new clients won (or lost), recruitment, technical knowledge or the benefits of different working practices in each individual business, from daily team meetings to ‘stand up’ desks.

You are the company you keep

I returned to Navigator comforted that we remain at the forefront of financial planning best practice both in the UK and in Europe.

I trust this brief ‘behind the scenes’ insight to life managing Navigator is of interest to you.  Suffice to say, if you would like to know more about our business or EBIS, I would love to hear from you.