The importance of our investment beliefs

At a glance

• Our beliefs are central to our investment process
• They ensure that client outcomes remain at the heart of everything we do
• We’ve explored our beliefs in a series of articles that you can find below

Our investment beliefs provide the foundation on which we make our decisions.

We look at them as our North Star, and use them to ensure clarity, discipline and consistency in our decision-making.

Over recent months we’ve published a series of articles exploring the beliefs: what they mean, why they have the potential to help you, and why we think they’re so important in providing better long-term outcomes. Below are links to each article.

Investment belief 1: Achieving the right outcomes for our clients is the starting point for everything we do

It’s no coincidence this is our first investment belief. At the heart of our investment process, achieving the best outcome for our clients guides all our decision-making.

Investment belief 2: The main driver of investment returns is asset allocation

By assets, we mean different investment types – including equities, bonds, cash, and alternatives. We use strategic asset allocation to help you achieve your goals and prefer to look over a long time horizon than trying to tactically time or judge the market’s short-term swings.

Investment belief 3: Diversification between different asset classes and different fund managers leads to improved client outcomes

Spreading investments across assets that perform well in different market conditions helps reduce volatility and should lead to better long-term outcomes.

Investment belief 4: Active management of asset exposure and stock selection can add value

Although we blend different investment strategies depending on client needs, we believe that careful active management of asset exposure and stock selection can provide long-term returns.

Investment belief 5: We should always understand the risks within an investment strategy and try to remove risks we do not intend to take

Calculated risks are necessary to make the most of opportunities in the market. However, we can look to manage these through actions such as diversification.

Investment belief 6: Disciplined research and decision-making is the basis of long-term investment success, but not a guarantee of short-term performance

As recent market performance has shown, short-term performance can be difficult to predict, and can make investing emotionally draining. This is why we believe disciplined research and decision-making is such an important part of our ongoing monitoring of managers and the broader evolution of our fund range, with a view to achieving good client outcomes. 

Investment belief 7: Responsible investment is key to achieving long-term, sustainable returns and to delivering financial wellbeing in a world worth living in

We are proud of the work we’ve done around environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration. Through active engagement with companies, we believe we can have our cake and eat it – investing for good, without necessarily harming long-term returns.

­The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select, and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested. Some of the products and investment structures documented within this article will not be available to our clients in Asia. For information on the funds that are available please get in touch.