Using Online Investment Platforms

Arch Financial Planning Limited was an early user of investment platforms as we could see the benefits for our clients in terms of consolidation, convenience, choice, control and cost. Since 2000 we have used various platforms including the Cofunds Fund Supermarket.

Building on this experience of other platforms and our most recent research, in November 2007 Arch Financial Planning Limited joined with a selected number of other IFA firms and purchased a shareholding in the Nucleus Wrap as we felt that this offered outstanding value for our clients going forward.

The Nucleus Wrap is now suported by 95 IFA firms including ourselves. In January 2012 Nucleus had 3,025 unit trust/OEIC funds from over 100 fund management groups in addition to 270 investment trusts, 252 exchange traded funds (ETFs), 611 individual equity holdings, 99 gilts and bonds and 12 structured products.

We are able to create our own portfolios on the Nucleus Wrap and to achieve the best results for our clients we partner with Old Broad Street Research (OBSR), iShares and Vanguard. The portfolios can be rebalanced each quarter.

If you would like to make a new investment or would like to bring existing investments onto Nucleus, please contact us on enquiries@arch-fp.co.uk or telephone 01483 204600 (if local) or 0845 3700 660 (local call charge only) and ask for Sarah Bond.

Nucleus Wrap

The Nucleus Wrap provides you with (1) Ease of transactions; (2) Access and control; (3) Reduced administration; (4) Enhanced choice; (5) Cost and economies of scale; (6) Asset allocation; (7) Fund research; and (8) Automatic rebalancing.

The charges on the Nucleus Wrap are totally transparent. Apart from our fees you would pay 0.35% pa for the Nucleus Wrap charge and a reduced annual management charge to the fund manager (typically around 50% of their standard AMC). There is usually no initial fee apart from our fee.

Where Next For The Economy?

We have produced a précis of the economic outlook which was expounded by Stephanie Flanders, the BBC's Economic Editor, at the New Model Adviser Conference and Awards which took place in the Lancaster London Hotel on 12th and 13th January.

Stephanie said that this has been an unusual recession and gave examples such as the fact that we have not seen the level of corporate failures as in past recessions.

Stephanie also dealt with what we should look out for in 2012 and what is happening to the Euro.

The Outlook is More Encouraging From Kazakhstan!

If, as investors, we could get a better grip of what is happening in places like Kazakhstan and the way that the needs and desires of peoples like the Kazakhs will drive the world’s economy, we would stop leaving quite so much money in deposit accounts where it is of little use to anyone.  Instead we would invest in companies both here and abroad which can take advantage of the great global advancement in places which, until now, we might have found difficulty in finding them easily on a map.

For more information on this please refer to the Arch Blog.