As 2015 draws to a close at GFIN we wish everyone every success for the New Year.
The last few months have been a mix of enthusiasm and anticipation for our clients and all of us here at GFIN Green as we commenced our relationship. After many months of background work the Managed Account finally launched during November. Firstly clients ‘endured’ the account opening procedure, a requirement of the modern financial system. Jack at GFIN and the administrators at our referral firms worked tirelessly to make this process as seamless as possible, although I am sure it never felt that way for anyone!
On the account management side the investment process was adapted to all our clients’ requirements and also for use on the SAXO platform. While there always will be improvements to be made, a great base has been built for ongoing efficiency and success.
The markets are finishing 2015 in quite an apprehensive state. The much anticipated interest rate increase by the US Fed has occurred, and as I write commodity markets, interest rate markets and stock indices are still adapting to the new economic environment and its likely ramifications. In times like this trading in a systemized way is less problematic than having to make discretionary investment decisions!
After such a positive period from January to the beginning of December where the fund was up approximately 31%, it is a little disappointing but not that surprising that our managed accounts gave back about 6% of the profit in the last month of the year. Depending on when your account started trading will reflect on your account balance. It’s a bit of a “life’s like that” moment that the accounts began trading just as markets began to trade in a choppy range. While the current 6% drawdown from the account high watermark is nothing unusual it never feels good.
Other than the obvious goal of making money, projects for the New Year includes client education and continued development of our investment process and offerings. On the education side we would like to feel confident that clients are able to log in and check their account if they are inclined. While it is debatable if it is a good idea to do this too often, once a client has an understanding of the investment process we feel that all information is “good”. At some stage we are planning a presentation for our clients on the investment process. Armed with this knowledge an investor will be better able to ride out any account volatility.
At GFIN we will be launching an updated website in 2016. On this we will feature more blogs, client education articles and general market information. Until this happens we will continue the Facebook page “GFIN Group – Barwon MDA”. Here we post a limited amount of articles, blogs and results. Please be aware that results posted here may vary slightly from some account results. Also a major initiative will be the launch of our equities managed account, plus a pooled wholesale fund. We are enthused by these developments as they are client driven, which we vainly take to mean that we are doing something right!
Best wishes and safe travelling to everyone over the holiday and festive period from all at GFIN.
