Each investor has their own individual needs and there are many solutions available to meet these diverse needs.

You may want growth or income from your investments and may have requirements on tax efficiency, flexibility, the level of risk, or a mixture of these. With so many options available, an independent guide can help you select an investment that is suited to your personal circumstances.

Our consultants can lead you through the maze to find the solution tailored to your own needs. Candour researches the market to select the leading products for our clients, rejecting those that fall short of our standards. This gives you the confidence that our recommendations meet stringent selection criteria.

Savings

Candour will guide you through the options, including any tax considerations, and recommend a suitable scheme to fit your needs.
 
Whether you are looking to build up an emergency fund in an offshore bank account or save regularly into equity based savings plan, Candour have many years` experience in providing independent financial advice on all forms of savings schemes

Ask yourself these questions:

* What do I want to save for, a rainy day or something specific?

* How much can I sensibly afford to save?

* When will I need access to the savings?

* How do I minimise tax on my growing savings?

Investment

There are two important concepts in investment - risk and diversification.

All investments carry different degrees of risk; even some of the safest have the risk of their ‘real value’ being eroded by inflation. Invariably there is a trade-off between risk and the potential return - higher potential reward means accepting higher volatility. The important point is to match the level of risk with which each investor feels comfortable to the risk profile of selected investments.
 
Diversification reduces risk by spreading it. This meets one of the fundamental principles of investing: don’t keep too many investment eggs in too few baskets. Products such as Investment Bonds and Unit Trusts diversify your investment across a number of underlying holdings in a way that few private investors can match. Moreover, constructing a personal portfolio of investments can achieve further diversification with the portfolio being tailored to your needs.
 
The investment options on which we can advise include:
 
Offshore Investment Bonds

Offshore investment bonds are tax efficient products that can be used for growth or income. 

One of the greatest advantages of offshore bonds is that they offer access to a wide selection of investment options such as managed bonds, corporate bonds, property funds, equity funds, hedge funds and individual stocks & shares that usually are only available to high net-worth and corporate investors. Cash, with-profits bonds and distribution bonds can also be held in the products for the lower risk investor.
 
Offshore bonds can offer valuable tax benefits at the lower and higher ends of the tax scale. For those on the borderline of age allowance and for the higher rate taxpayer, a 5%p.a. ‘income’ can currently be taken free of all personal tax for up to twenty years (and does not have to be declared on your Self-Assessment Tax Return). This can enhance your after tax income and help simplify your tax affairs.
 
In conjunction with an appropriate Trust, portfolio bonds and investment wraps can play a very useful role in an Inheritance Tax planning strategy (enabling you to take regular withdrawals whilst any growth is outside your estate and therefore free of Inheritance Tax).
 
Collective Investment Funds

Collective investment funds enable you to pool your investment with others to access a diversified fund with the advantage of professional investment management. Changes in the underlying portfolio do not count as a disposal for capital gains tax purposes.

There are many different types available each with specific investment objectives for the fund. Candour advise on a wide range of investment funds including capital protected funds, fixed income funds, bond funds, low volatility hedge funds, ‘market neutral’ funds, index tracking funds, managed equity funds and commercial property funds.
 
The above are intended as medium to long-term investments. Because they may go down in value as well as up you may not get back the full amount invested, particularly if you withdraw in the early years. Additionally, it is important to remember that the past is not necessarily a guide to future performance.
 
Consequently, Candour always advise clients to retain a sufficient contingency reserve, perhaps in an accessible high interest offshore bank account, as an emergency fund to meet any unexpected short term expenditures.

Regular Contribution Investments

Regular contribution investments allow you invest small amounts on a regular basis (usually monthly, quarterly or annually) into cash, bond, equity, hedge and property funds that are usually only available to investors with large lump sums.

The investment term can be anywhere from 5 to 30 years and different products have different degrees of flexibility regarding contributions and withdrawals. As such, regular contribution investments have a wide variety of uses range from saving for a deposit for a house, building capital to cover a child’s future university costs, repaying a mortgage or saving for retirement.

Candour advise on all the leading regular contribution policies in the offshore market and look at your goals, future tax liabilities and flexibility requirements when advising on the most suitable option for each individual.