We started our business back in 2001 and are proud that over the years we have become known as specialists in ISA and SIPP Investment and the pioneers of ‘Shadow Investment’, a simple way to grow your ISA and SIPP. Together with our clients, we have £57 million actively invested in ISAs and pensions*.
In case you weren’t aware, our personal investment service allows you to look over our shoulder and buy into exactly the same funds as we are buying. These are investment funds that we personally own and so you can be assured that they are good quality. We are proud to say that by ‘shadowing’ us, our clients have made an annual return of 17% per year over the last three years** versus the FTSE 100’s 7.9%.
We currently have close to 400 carefully selected clients. Most of them have over £100,000 actively invested and the majority are DIY investors such as business owners, self-employed professionals and corporate executives. We also have clients from the financial services sector such as IFAs, wealth managers and fund managers. ISACO Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Our firm reference number is 525147.
Cirque du Soleil is a dramatic mix of…
In case you didn’t know, Cirque du Soleil is a dramatic mix of circus arts, street entertainment and theatre. Cirque created a totally new category by fusing together the circus industry with the theatre industry. They also removed some elements of the circus and theatre that they found unappealing and added some ingredients that they thought were lacking that would add tremendous value to the end consumer.
And voila, by doing this they created a totally ‘unique’ business that many people find difficult to describe. Lots of people who have had the opportunity to sample the luxurious experience simply say, ‘just go and see it’. When Stephen and I were recently in Vegas, we saw Cirque for the first time and it blew us away. If you’ve not experienced it, please put it on your bucket list.
So how is ISACO and Cirque similar? The answer is, we are both unique businesses that have been created by fusing together two separate industries. What are the two industries we have fused together? The answer is the ‘stock market seminar’ industry and the ‘investment advice’ industry. Just like Cirque removed some elements they found unappealing and added some ingredients that they thought were lacking, we did the same. The one thing we added that has proved to be an essential element is 'ongoing daily guidance.'
$31,409 into $1.28 million over a 38 month period
When we first set up in business, we began by offering stock market education via seminars. People wanted to learn how Stephen had turned $31,409 into $1.28 million over a 38 month period. They also wanted to know how we’d bought our Dad a Bentley with just one day’s’ trading profits.
LUXURY: Paul (far right) and Stephen Sutherland with proud parents Brian and Marie and the Bentley Continental
It soon became clear that clients found the most value in learning Stephen’s personal strategy for picking the right funds for his Stocks and Shares ISA and pension portfolio. Stephen and I both explained that to do this correctly, you have to put in the time and eventually become a full time investor.
As we staged more and more seminars, clients started to discover that I was looking over Stephen’s shoulder and seeing what funds he was buying and then copying his choices. It was easy. It allowed me to get the same returns as Stephen without putting in volumes of time. On discovering this, clients at the seminars also wanted to know how they could 'Shadow' the pair of us and so we set things up so that they could look over our shoulder and buy the same funds as we were buying.
The stock market education industries biggest downfall
At this stage we had changed from a stock market education company into stock market education plus 'shadowing' service business. This was a welcome addition to the stock market education business because the biggest downfall in this industry is lack of support after the seminar is over. Some seminars offer extremely good quality education and others not so good.
Stephen and I have attended many of these seminars and so I’m speaking from personal experience here. What we discovered is that when people attend these seminars, they get all 'pumped up', but when they get home they struggle to make the strategies they learn at the seminar work. This is because they simply can't dedicate enough hours to it and so most of them give up.
What most of the people really wanted from those seminars was to be able to invest side by side with one of the speakers. In all the courses we attended, nobody offered this service and yet there was a clear demand for it. That’s when we knew that we were onto something by offering our ‘Shadow Investment’ service.
No support after the seminar is over
There are two weaknesses in the stock market seminar industry. The first is that the companies that run these seminars are not authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, which means people who attend these seminars and courses are exposed if they end up signing up to a dud course. The second weakness, and I mentioned this before, is there is no support after the seminar is over. In other words, people are just left to fend for themselves.
And so when the Financial Services Authority approached ISACO in 2009 saying they thought our business needed to be regulated, even though we initially disagreed, in the end we realised that it would really strengthen our company as well as give our clients consumer protection. After two arduous years, which involved Stephen, Steve Todd (ISACO’s Global Market Strategist) and I having to sit and pass examinations set by the IFS School of Finance, the FSA gave us the stamp of approval.
The exams we had to sit are the same exams investment advisers have to take. I have to say that the three of us were shocked by the lack of information taught. I know this may be hard to believe, but in the syllabus you learn nothing about the stock market and you learn nothing about how to pick the best funds. You also learn nothing about stock market cycles, nothing about analysing the market and nothing about timing the market. It was a complete joke!
Stock market education + investment advice = Shadow Investment
ISACO has fused together the ‘stock market seminar’ industry with the ‘investment advice’ industry and added ‘ongoing daily guidance’,
By listening to our clients over the years, we stuck to our knitting and specialised in ISA and SIPP Investment instead of becoming ‘generalists.’ We also pioneered ‘Shadow Investment’ which provides you with a simple way to grow your ISA and SIPP.
About ISACO
Together with our clients, we have £57 million actively invested in ISAs and pensions.*
Our personal investment service allows you to look over our shoulder and buy into exactly the same funds as we are buying. These are investment funds that we personally own and so you can be assured that they are good quality. We are proud to say that by ‘shadowing’ us, our clients have made an annual return of 17% per year over the last three years** versus the FTSE 100’s 7.9%.
We currently have close to 400 carefully selected clients. Most of them have over £100,000 actively invested and the majority are DIY investors such as business owners, self-employed professionals and corporate executives. We also have clients from the financial services sector such as IFAs, wealth managers and fund managers. ISACO Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Our firm reference number is 525147.
*15th November 2012: Internal estimation of total ISA and pension assets owned by ISACO Investment Team and ISACO premium clients.
**(31st December 2008 - 31st December 2011)
ISACO investment performance verified by Independent Executives Ltd.
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