Jim is fifty years old and has recently separated from his wife after many years together.

They had previously run a successful business together but have now made the decision to sell the business and go their separate ways.

Jim is seeking our advice as he will come into a significant amount of money from the proceeds of the sale of the business and also the financial settlement of his divorce. He wants to ensure these proceeds are invested purposefully and appropriately for his future.

Due to the nature of the divorce settlement and the sale of the business, he will receive funds staggered over an 18 month period and therefore needs flexibility in the way that he invests these funds.

After years of dealing with the complexities of running a business, he would like to adopt a less complex way to manage his future investments.

Whilst we were not involved directly with the business sale or divorce settlement, we worked together with Jim’s Accountant and Lawyer to understand the timing and the amounts of money that would flow through.

We spent a considerable amount of time with Jim discussing his overall investment objectives, his desired strategic asset allocation and his level of comfort with risk.

Given that we would be receiving vast sums of money to invest staggered over an 18 month period, our investment solution would need to allow for a great deal of flexibility for money to be added over a long period of time.

We utilised a private label investment administration platform that would provide Jim with access to hundreds of different investment options. Our investment committee would be able to construct a robust, well-diversified and high-quality investment portfolio for Jim.

Critically, these assets will be housed on one platform, which will make it simple for Jim to get a handle on where his monies are.

This was important for Jim so he could keep track of his investments in one spot. The private label platform also allowed us to add highly recommended unlisted wholesale assets to the investment menu that would provide Jim with exposure to uncorrelated returns over the fullness of time.

A Family Trust and Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) structure was recommended to house his assets. This allowed for greater tax management and had the added benefit of asset protection.

This private label platform ensured that Jim had visibility of his investment portfolio via the simplicity of one portal without compromising on quality or diversification on the investment front.

Jim was delighted by the solution we were able to implement for him. Having the investment portfolio accessible through one portal was critical for him and this has been achieved.

He was impressed by the depth and breadth of our advice which addressed areas he had not even considered.

With so much on his plate; dealing with the divorce and winding up the business, he is thankful that there is a high-calibre team taking care of the financial side of things whilst he focuses on resolving other matters.

We will meet quarterly with Jim to review the progress of the portfolio and consider additional investments and strategies as the financial settlement works its way through.