Investments
Allocation first. Products second.
How your capital is divided between asset classes explains most of what you will earn over a decade. Which fund or note implements that division matters — but it matters a great deal less, and it is sold to you a great deal harder.
Strategy & asset allocation
The decision that does the heavy lifting
Every TD portfolio starts from a strategic allocation set against your objectives and your liquidity needs, not against a peer-group benchmark. We then allow a limited tactical range around it — enough to respond to genuine dislocations, not enough to turn the portfolio into a series of guesses.
How a strategy is built
Set the return you actually need
Derived from your cash-flow plan, not chosen from a menu. A client who needs four per cent above inflation should not be sold a portfolio aiming at eight.
Fix the constraints
Currency, liquidity requirements, concentration limits, holdings you will not own, and any position — often company stock — that cannot be sold.
Diversify what you are actually exposed to
Not the number of funds, but the number of distinct risks. Six equity funds and a property holding is usually one bet on growth, held seven ways.
Rebalance by rule, not by mood
Bands agreed in advance, so the portfolio sells what has run and buys what has fallen — the discipline that is hardest to keep when it matters most.
| Asset class | Conservative | Balanced | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash & short bonds | 30% | 12% | 5% |
| Investment-grade bonds | 35% | 23% | 10% |
| Developed equity | 20% | 34% | 45% |
| Emerging & frontier equity | 5% | 11% | 18% |
| Private markets | — | 10% | 15% |
| Real assets | 5% | 7% | 5% |
| Hedge strategies | 5% | 3% | 2% |
Illustrative only. These are starting points for a conversation, not recommendations, and no client portfolio is managed to exactly these weights. Your own allocation is set after a full review of your circumstances.
Alternative investments
Paid to be patient — if you genuinely can be
Private equity, private credit, infrastructure, real estate and hedge strategies do not move in step with listed markets, and the better managers have historically earned a premium for locking capital up. Both halves of that sentence deserve scrutiny.
The dispersion between top and bottom quartile managers in private markets is far wider than in public ones. Access to a good manager is the whole proposition; a mediocre private fund combines high fees with the inability to leave.
- Private equity — buyout, growth and secondaries, accessed through funds and co-investments
- Private credit — direct lending and speciality finance, floating rate by nature
- Real assets — infrastructure, logistics and agriculture with inflation linkage
- Hedge strategies — used for diversification of return, not for excitement
Before you commit
Capital may be locked for eight to twelve years, drawn down on the manager’s timetable rather than yours, and valued infrequently — which makes these funds look less volatile than they are. They are suitable only for the part of your balance sheet you can genuinely ignore for a decade.
Structured products
A defined outcome, at a defined cost
A structured note can deliver something a plain holding cannot: capital protection to a stated level, an enhanced income in a flat market, or participation in an index with a known cap. That shape is bought, not created — and the price is embedded rather than invoiced.
We use them selectively and we tell you what the structure costs. Where a straightforward fund or bond achieves the same objective more cheaply, we will say so, even though the note would pay us the same.
- Capital-protected notes for liquidity money that still needs some upside
- Yield-enhancement structures for range-bound markets
- Participation notes where a direct holding is impractical or tax-inefficient
- Independent valuation and a documented exit route before purchase
What you are taking on
You take the credit risk of the issuing bank as well as market risk: if the issuer fails, protection fails with it. Secondary liquidity before maturity can be poor and priced against you. Returns are usually capped while losses below the barrier are not.
Sustainable investing
Held to a standard you set, and reported against it
“Sustainable” means very different things to different clients, so we start by writing down what it means to you. Some want specific exclusions. Some want the portfolio tilted towards measurable outcomes. Some want capital deployed into projects where the impact is the return.
Whatever you choose, you get a report against that standard — including where the portfolio falls short. A label on a fund factsheet is not evidence.
- Exclusion screens applied across the whole portfolio, not just one sleeve
- Tilts towards carbon intensity, governance quality or social outcomes
- Dedicated impact allocations in private markets, with contractual reporting
- Annual statement showing performance and the sustainability standard side by side
Global market access
Wherever the opportunity is, in whatever currency you spend
Clients rarely spend in only one currency, and the best risk-adjusted opportunity is rarely in only one market. Our custodial relationships give clients access across developed, emerging and selected frontier markets.
Multi-currency accounts
Hold, settle and report in the currencies you actually use, with hedging applied where a liability is fixed in one of them.
Best execution
Dealing routed for price and certainty rather than convenience, with execution quality reviewed annually and shown to you.
Frontier access
Where local-market participation makes sense, through vehicles that are properly custodied and can actually be exited.
Reporting & performance
Numbers you can check
Performance reporting is easy to flatter. We publish returns net of all fees, alongside the strategy’s own benchmark, and we show the contribution of each decision — including the ones that did not work.
- Time-weighted returns for manager skill; money-weighted for what you actually earned
- Attribution by asset class, currency and security selection
- Total cost of ownership: our fee, fund charges, custody, dealing and spread
- Tax reporting packs prepared for your accountant’s filing deadlines
- An annual review meeting with the numbers sent a week in advance
Risk warning
The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invested, and in some cases you can lose the entire amount. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Investments denominated in a currency other than your own carry additional exchange-rate risk. Private market and hedge strategies involve extended lock-up periods, limited or no secondary liquidity and infrequent valuation. Structured products additionally expose you to the creditworthiness of the issuer.
Nothing on this page is a recommendation or an offer. Any investment decision should be made only after a full assessment of your circumstances and the relevant offering documentation.
Second opinion
Bring us the portfolio you already have
Send your latest statements and we will map the real exposures, the overlaps and the total cost you are paying — as a written note, with no obligation.