Expert Investment Guidance (New)

As we grow our wealth, you grow yours. Together we prosper.

What investment guidance service do you offer?

ISACO offer a high end service called ‘Shadow Investment.’ Put simply, we invest and you invest beside us. As we grow our wealth, you grow yours. To download our Shadow Investment brochure, click here.

What type of clients is your service aimed at?

Shadow Investment is a premium service suited to ISA and SIPP investors with over £250,000 actively invested. It’s been designed to take the hard work out of investing for DIY, self-directed investors who haven't got the time to sift through the thousands of investments available. The majority of our clients are wealthy retirees, business owners, self-employed professionals and corporate executives.

However, we also have clients from the financial services sector, such as IFAs and wealth managers. All clients enjoy unrestricted access to both Stephen and Paul Sutherland, ISACO’s two founders. This gives you the peace of mind of knowing you’ll always be dealing with the most senior members of the company, who between them have a tremendous amount of investment knowledge, experience and expertise. The two brothers are fanatical about client care, which ensures lightning quick response times to any questions or concerns you may have.

How does your service work?

Shadow Investment allows you to look over our shoulder and buy the same investments that we are buying. It’s an intensely personal service which gives you the opportunity to piggyback on our expertise and makes investing easier, simpler and much more enjoyable. Because we have ‘skin in the game’, it creates a huge incentive to deliver superior performance.

The service gives you the potential of achieving almost identical returns to the ones we make. It’s been created to save you the time and effort of having to become an investment expert and allows you to keep full control of your investment account.

Can you tell me some more about the service?

Yes, throughout the year you get to see what we are doing with our own personal money and if you agree with our investment pick, you have the chance to mirror the trade. This means you are in the driver’s seat at all times and can decide which investments you want to buy and how much you want to invest. Due to our outstanding track record of performance growth, most clients mirror our exact movements throughout the year. Some clients however, do begin their term with us by partially mirroring and as time passes, their confidence tends to grow in our ability, which results in them deciding to mirror us to the letter.

We have an active investment strategy which aims to control risk and deliver superior performance. Typically we only make about four or five trades in a given year. Together with our clients we enjoy tremendous tax benefits by buying the investments we select using an ISA and/or SIPP tax-efficient wrapper. This allows you to switch investments as often as is necessary without having to pay any Capital Gains Tax (CGT). To download our Shadow Investment brochure, click here.

What are your annual investment return aims?

Our aims are 8-10% per year.

What is your benchmark? What index are you trying to beat?

The FTSE 100.

What is your investment strategy?

We have an active investment strategy which aims to control risk and deliver superior performance. The investment team invest in a number of actively managed funds to form a complete investment portfolio. The team, led by Stephen Sutherland, select what they believe to be the best funds in each asset class, monitor all the investments selected, replacing under-performers and continuously rebalance the portfolios with the aim of maximising growth potential and managing risk. Fund allocations can be adjusted quickly to adapt to changing economic conditions or to capitalise on opportunities as they arise.

The investment process involves identifying the world’s best managers and combining them effectively to achieve diversification and reduce our exposure to risk – this strategy ensures our return is not dependent upon any one manager’s performance. We have resources that allow us to identify who we believe to be the world’s most skilled investment managers, wherever they are in the world. Through structured research and highly informed decision-making, our investment team can focus on taking bold, active decisions that they believe will positively contribute to superior performance.

Our team use a range of tools to fully understand the funds selected and use that deep understanding to build portfolios that seek to create the most compelling blend of different managers. Our strategy and the underlying fund managers are then monitored and reviewed. Whenever we change our view on a fund, or identify a better opportunity, we take swift, decisive action. In selecting the top experts in a market, country or sector, our Shadow Investment solution creates optimum diversification and improves risk management.

What is your investment track record? Have you beaten the FTSE 100?

Over the last 18 years1, we’ve beaten the FTSE 100 by 99.7% and over the last 3 years2, we’ve made an average annual return of 9.8% versus the FTSE 100’s 1.9%. But please remember that past performance is no guarantee of future performance. To download our Shadow Investment brochure, click here

1 December 31st 1997 - December 31st 2015 ISACO 121.0%, FTSE 100 21.3%.
2 December 31st 2012 – December 31st 2015.

What are the benefits of your Shadow Investment service?

The Shadow Investment Service offers the potential to achieve your long-term ISA and SIPP investment goals in an easy, simple, timesaving way. It’s been specifically designed to take the hard work out of investing and remove the uncertainty of knowing what investments to buy, when to buy, if to hold and when to sell. By having the ability to look over our shoulder and see what we are doing with our own money, it gives you the opportunity to buy the same investments that we are buying, effectively piggybacking on our expertise.

Key benefits:

  • We grow our wealth, you grow yours
  • Potential for superior ‘tax-free’ performance growth
  • Designed to take the hard work out of investing
  • Timesaving

What are the risks?

Performance aims are not guaranteed and the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

Are you authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)?

Yes, ISACO is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our firm reference number is 525147.

How much does the Shadow Investment service cost?

Shadow Investment is an institutional grade service at an affordable price. Fees start at only 0.5% per year and clients have the benefit of paying for the service through their investment account.

I’m interested in finding out more, what’s the next step?

Your next step is to either download our Shadow Investment brochure, or arrange a free financial review (valued at £495) with Paul Sutherland, ISACO’s Managing Director.