Five Ways Ready-Made Investments make investing easier

What you’ll learn:

• How our Ready-made Investments can provide a simple solution to building a diversified portfolio
• Why it’s important to take a long-term approach to investing
• The importance of asset allocation.

Picking a Ready-made Investment from Barclays Smart Investor takes some of the hassle out of making investment decisions. They offer a quick, efficient and affordable way to invest, while also helping you to diversify and access markets around the world. Here, we consider five ways Ready-made Investments can make investing easier.

1. Creating a diversified approach

One of the biggest challenges for investors is building a portfolio with the right mix of assets to help protect them against sudden losses. A diversified portfolio is made up of a range of assets which are expected to perform differently at various points in time. This helps limit overall volatility and reduce the level of risk. Investing in a Barclays Ready-made Investment fund takes the complexity out of building a diversified portfolio, because Barclays investment experts do it for you.

Of course, maintaining a spread of investments doesn’t mean all risk attached to the investments is wiped out, but it can reduce the likelihood of losing a chunk of your money if the market suddenly falls. One of its other effects is to reduce the potential for higher returns.

2. Catering for different approaches to risk

Deciding where to invest comes down to your attitude to risk, and time horizon. Barclays Ready-made Investments make it simple to pick between different levels of risk, with some more volatile than others, depending on what investments they hold.

You have the choice of five different ready-made Investments, offering a diversified mix of assets to suit different objectives and attitudes to risk

If you’re conservative in your approach to investing and are less comfortable with the thought of losing your capital the lowest risk fund on offer is the Barclays Wealth Global Markets 1 Fund. If you’re not comfortable accepting any risk of loss to your capital, you would need to avoid investment altogether.

Lower-risk investments are aimed at people who want to take limited risks in the hope of getting a better return than from cash deposits, with some protection against losses during periods of market volatility. They typically have a higher proportion invested in fixed income bonds, and invest to a lesser extent in company shares.

Alternatively, you may choose a more adventurous investment, if you are happy to accept a higher chance of losses in return for potentially higher returns over the long-term. A higher-risk fund, such as the Barclays Wealth Global Markets 5 Fund, has a larger proportion in shares, for a greater chance of returns.

Ideally, investing in the stock market should be done for a minimum of five years and remember that, no matter how much you diversify your investments, their value can still fall as well as rise, as can income derived from them and you may get back less than you invested.

3. Asset allocation

Asset allocation is about how much of your money is invested in which types of assets. The process for Ready-made Investments draws on Barclays’ investment philosophy and incorporates a deep understanding of how global markets work.

Our investment researchers take a view of how they think the markets will perform over a market cycle, typically 5 to 10 years. These forecasts and other investment processes are combined to form the ‘strategic asset allocation’ that’s used to build Ready-made Investments.

Once you’re invested, our experts follow the economic and political developments that can lead to shorter-term opportunities and risks. By monitoring day-to-day developments in the markets and altering the asset allocation accordingly, they can make sure it stays true to each fund’s investment objective. This process is known as our ‘tactical asset allocation’.

4. Professional management

By choosing our Ready-made Investment you benefit from Barclays’ investment expertise in finding the right balance between different assets. This may provide some peace of mind if you have limited time to monitor your investments yourself.

Experts invest in different assets and regions and monitor funds daily, regularly rebalancing assets if necessary in an effort to create consistent, sustainable levels of income and returns. The Barclays’ team will move investments around when they see fit, and in response to changing economic circumstances.

5. Value for money

Investors should always pay attention to charges, as these can take a big chunk out of their long-term returns. Our Barclays Ready-made Investments benefit from a clear and transparent charging structure, making it easy to understand how much you’ll pay.

Each of our five funds has an ongoing charge of 0.45% per year . There is also a 0.20% annual customer fee that covers the running of your account, making the total ongoing charges on the investment 0.65% per year.

Remember, Ready-made investments are not the right solution for every investor, and there are plenty of other investment options. Consider your situation and goals carefully before investing. The value of your investments may fall as well as rise, so you could lose money. We don’t offer personal advice. If you are unsure where to invest, you may want to seek professional financial advice.

* The account has a minimum £4 monthly fee. Please view our rate card for more information.

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The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invest. Tax rules can change and their effects on you will depend on your individual circumstances.