Invest with Confidence
Invest in the Future
Invest with Confidence
Invest in the Future
Letchford Advisory Practice
We are an independent investment advisory team offering asset and wealth management services to individuals, families, business owners and corporate investors. Our mission is to create wealth for clients and help them to achieve their financial and life goals. Through our association with Designed Securities Ltd. ("Designed"), the sponsor of our securities registration, we have access to a broad range of securities, investment types and asset managers.
Designed Securities Ltd.
Designed Securities Ltd. is an independent investment dealer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Designed is guided by principles of independence, transparency and technological advancement/strength. The company supports independent financial advisors by providing them with the freedom and flexibility to access and utilize the investments, systems and services they need to best meet the needs of their clients. This leads to an unbiased atmosphere without conflicting agendas or sales pressures to use proprietary or in-house investments.
Designed is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
Services
Portfolio Management
Portfolio management is the core of what we do. We design investment portfolios tailored to the client and manage the portfolio on an ongoing basis. Portfolios are designed to be suitable in light of each client's goals/objectives, financial picture, risk tolerance, investing experience, regulatory guidelines and other unique factors.
Our primary objective is to protect client capital. We do not chase quick returns from current fads or investment themes. Instead, we strive to build strong, durable and diversified portfolios that are expected to perform well and be resilient in any market environment. We aim to achieve strong long-term investment performance by owning high-quality investments and allowing them time to grow and compound. For equity exposure, exchange-traded funds, stocks and/or mutual funds are used depending on the client and scenario.
Capital is protected through an emphasis on portfolio diversification by allocating capital to a variety of investments differing by factors such as class, strategy, style and geographic coverage. Our independence allows us to avoid overconcentrating client capital in individual investments or fund companies, adding an additional layer of protection.
The asset allocation of client portfolios often resemble that of role model investors such as pension plans and endowment funds. Portfolios generally include a combination of public and private investments, as opposed to the typical 100% public investment portfolio that can be highly volatile due to the volatility inherent to public markets. Benefits of including private and alternative investments in a portfolio can include: enhancing the overall risk and return profile of the portfolio by achieving diversification benefits from adding additional new classes; steady and attractive returns; returns that are based on fundamentals as opposed to public market values driven by human emotion; and the potential to purchase private securities at a discount given the absence of the liquidity premium built into public security prices.
Asset classes such as private debt and private real estate have the potential to generate stable returns that have low correlations of returns to public fixed income and equity markets, generally leading to a more stable and predictable overall portfolio and ultimately a smoother client experience.
Wealth Management
Each client differs and has unique needs. Wealth management encompasses client needs beyond portfolio management. We provide advice, guidance and strategy execution in the following subject areas:
- Tax Planning: strategies to reduce & minimize the current and future overall tax burden.
- Retirement: planning and actions today to ensure a financially secure future.
- Debt Optimization: assessing and optimizing debt structure and terms.
- Risk Management: insurance and other strategies to protect oneself and others.
- Estate Planning: preparing for an orderly and desired future transfer of wealth to heirs.
- Cash Flow Management: evaluating and optimizing monthly cash flow.
- Leverage: increasing the size of one's investment portfolio by borrowing-to-invest.
Affiliations
Designed holds client assets in custody with Aviso Wealth ("Aviso"), a leading Canadian financial services company serving nearly all of the credit unions in Canada as well as a range of independent financial organizations. Aviso has over $110 billion in assets under administration and is backed by the collective strength of its owners: Desjardins, Co-operators/CUMIS and the Credit Union Centrals. Through Credential Securities, Aviso offers a full suite of investment, insurance and wealth services platforms and services.
The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization is the national self-regulatory organization that oversees all investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and trading activity on Canada’s debt and equity marketplaces. CIRO is committed to the protection of investors, providing efficient and consistent regulation, and building Canadians’ trust in financial regulation and the people managing their investments.
The Canadian Investor Protection Fund ("CIPF") provides limited protection for property held by a member firm on behalf of an eligible client, if the member firm becomes insolvent. Member firms are investment dealers that are members of IIROC. CIPF coverage is custodial in nature - it does not provide protection against any other type of risk or loss. If you have an account with a member firm, and that firm becomes insolvent, CIPF works to ensure any property being held for you by the firm at that time is returned to you within certain limits.