First, let's look at the main types of investments:

Broadly these represent a mix of a traditional asset classes.

Which assets should I pick?
This is a key question. The answer depends upon your personal circumstances, but in most cases the one thing you don't want to do is to have all your eggs in one basket.

The more you spread your investments, the less overall risk should result.

The end may be a portfolio of investments, such as:

The actual mix will of course depend on your circumstances and preferences – many individuals over recent years have opted for a higher property concentration.

It is also preferable where possible to diversify within each asset class – for example, the following might represent a good equity mix:

The Next Problem – How do I invest in each of these areas?
This is probably the hardest piece of the jigsaw.

There are a lot of financial institutions looking to fill each component, and there is a wide disparity in the quality of the offerings available.

This is one of the key jobs we do – we look at both domestic and international financial institutions (see the list of companies we deal with), and we source what we believe to be the best investments to fill the pie chart.