Investment Philosophy

We utilise a wide range of investment styles, vehicles and approaches from leading global and local investment houses and boutiques, combining them in a total portfolio context that best achieves goals while reflecting preferences and acknowledging constraints.

We utilise an investing approach we call “Portfolio-by-Design”.  This approach draws on global research into the successful application of ‘Design-thinking’ across a range of industries and applies its key principles to the world of investing.  It incorporates elements of Modern Portfolio Theory and Behavioural Finance which we believe better reflects the unique objectives and circumstances of successful, HNW clients.

Investment Beliefs

• Good governance and transparency help us to act in the best interests of our clients.
• Woodbury must seek alignment of interests between clients and all those acting on their behalf including internal staff and external providers or agents.
• Appropriate, clear, and accountable integration of internal capabilities and external provider relationships can have a positive impact on a client’s overall investment returns.
• Woodbury recognises that risk and reward are linked and that it is necessary to take risk to achieve client investment objectives.
• Investors are rewarded for taking long-term market risk.
• Strategic Asset allocation (SAA) is the most important driver of investment returns, followed by manager excess return, dynamic asset allocation and implementation efficiency.
• A disciplined, robust investment process is critical to navigating investment cycles and keeping portfolios on track to objectives.
• Markets vary in efficiency which means that anomalies arise that can be exploited through investment in a wide spectrum of approaches (eg. Active, passive, smart beta).
• Woodbury believes in the potential for active management to add value after costs but recognises that the level of inefficiency and the ability for different investors to access that value varies across markets.
• We believe skillful managers with the potential to add value after fees can be identified over time by a combination of qualitative and quantitative research.
• We view risk holistically and practically as anything that gives rise to permanent impairment of a client achieving their investment objectives. Diversification is the primary means of reducing investment risk.
• Woodbury recognises that there will be opportunities within markets to add value and/or reduce risk by varying asset allocation exposures.
• We believe that investment style premia exist in certain markets, and therefore at different points in the cycle the payoff to some styles of investing will be meaningfully different to others.
• We do not believe the objective of meeting our client’s investment goals is best achieved by high frequency, high turnover tactical asset allocation activity over short time frames.  Dynamic asset allocation adjustments should only be made with reference to risks and opportunities in a medium-term context (ie. minimum 1-year outlook).
• Shorter term views should only be taken into account to assist with execution and implementation of decisions based on medium to long term investment strategy.
• Management of costs (fees, tax, and implementation efficiency) is important.